NO TIME TO DIE (2020) by Billie Eilish - Theme Song Discussion

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  • BondStuBondStu Moonraker 6
    Posts: 373
    Got to say - I like it. I actually REALLY like it.
  • edited February 2020 Posts: 3,164
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    yup!

    "Billie Eilish has been my number one choice to do this theme song since I came on board this project, 18 months later, I can hardly contain my excitement for this moment. She and Finneas have delivered a spectacular and haunting song that gives me chills every time I listen to it" - CJF on Insta. He's also been clapping back at some of the negative comments...
  • Posts: 3,333
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    I don't think there's any design to it at all. Hire a performer that's renown for dreary sleep-inducing songs and this is what you get. I didn't expect anything less. And no, Billie didn't subvert my expectations. This is another reason why title music has been omitted from 99.9% of all modern movies: it slows down the front-end of the movie. And boy, oh boy, is this song going to do that.
  • Posts: 3,164
    New interview with Eilish about the song - first iteration written in 3 days after getting presumably the pre-titles/Matera part of the script

    https://music.apple.com/us/post/idsa.a9691590-4ea8-11ea-8f20-58d902d86734?app=music&ign-itsct=con_zanelowe_newmusicdaily_null&ign-itscg=80029
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,179
    bondsum wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    I don't think there's any design to it at all. Hire a performer that's renown for dreary sleep-inducing songs and this is what you get. I didn't expect anything less. And no, Billie didn't subvert my expectations. This is another reason why title music has been omitted from 99.9% of all modern movies: it slows down the front-end of the movie. And boy, oh boy, is this song going to do that.

    Someone's salty.
  • There's a great comment by Cary Fukunaga in that IG thread.

    "Passion has to disturb and push forward, otherwise it’s just slowly dying in nostalgia."

    That's encouraged me more than just about anything else I've heard from this cast/crew.
  • JamesPondJamesPond County Durham
    Posts: 2
    Can't say I like it, can't say I hate it.
    It meanders to nowhere really and the vocals are weak and wispy for the most part.
    It's a direct mashup of Spectre and The Writings On The Wall.

    Maybe it'll work in the context of the film and over the credits . .
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    Posts: 3,497
    bondsum wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    I don't think there's any design to it at all. Hire a performer that's renown for dreary sleep-inducing songs and this is what you get. I didn't expect anything less. And no, Billie didn't subvert my expectations. This is another reason why title music has been omitted from 99.9% of all modern movies: it slows down the front-end of the movie. And boy, oh boy, is this song going to do that.

    Someone's salty.

    Just a normal day.

    Let it be, let it be...
    Speaking words of wisdom, let it be...

    ;)
  • Two thoughts occur:

    a) This may augur an opening like SF, in which the PTS action ends on a quiet note, with a lull in the action, a shock/tragedy of some sort, and then a quiet fade into this rather quiet song.

    b) More than ever I'm thinking about the next phase. EON really can't go darker, harder, more tormented than Craig, and the theme songs can't get more quiet or melancholy. So perhaps the other thing this song augurs is an upcoming shift to something more colourful and dynamic.
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    edited February 2020 Posts: 4,343
    antovolk wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    yup!

    He's also been clapping back at some of the negative comments...

    He even replied to me. :D He agrees that this is the best song of the Craig era.
  • JamesPondJamesPond County Durham
    Posts: 2
    "Best song of the Craig era".

    Hahaha.

    'You Know My Name' and 'Skyfall' are way better . .

  • Posts: 11,425
    I think I actually prefer TWOTW. But this is decent enough. Nothing spectacular.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,341
    Regarding the soundtrack session in the church: I really like the use of a choir starting at 0:11.

    And I was surprised that they need an optical metronome. Surely the musicians don't need that, they watch the conductor, so is it a guide for editing?
  • silva13silva13 Australia
    Posts: 198
    matt_u wrote: »
    I recently broke up after a 6 years relationship. NTTD is the first Bond theme ever that makes me wanna cry. Good job.

    I know the feeling.

    I also just come out of a relationship. So I have to admit this song hits me in the feels and I have no doubt the movie will resonate with me too. It's nice having a vulnerable Bond sometimes.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Before anyone comes out with a "oh suprise, surprise", I would say the same with that respose to my thoughts. With that out of the way.... it's a no from me. This wasn't like them hiring a death metal group, and expecting something silky smooth as Bryan Ferry. This is precisely in Billie Eilish's wheelhouse, and exactly what I didn't want for NTTD. People used to call Dido drawly and depressing. No, this was drawly and depressing.
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    Posts: 3,497
    JamesPond wrote: »
    "Best song of the Craig era".

    Hahaha.

    'You Know My Name' and 'Skyfall' are way better . .

    For you.

    Welcome btw.
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    Posts: 3,497
    Before anyone comes out with a "oh suprise, surprise", I would say the same with that respose to my thoughts. With that out of the way.... it's a no from me. This wasn't like them hiring a death metal group, and expecting something silky smooth as Bryan Ferry. This is precisely in Billie Eilish's wheelhouse, and exactly what I didn't want for NTTD. People used to call Dido drawly and depressing. No, this was drawly and depressing.

    Dido is exactly that, but wait until you hear her live.

    Prepare for the worst. ;)
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    Before anyone comes out with a "oh suprise, surprise", I would say the same with that respose to my thoughts. With that out of the way.... it's a no from me. This wasn't like them hiring a death metal group, and expecting something silky smooth as Bryan Ferry. This is precisely in Billie Eilish's wheelhouse, and exactly what I didn't want for NTTD. People used to call Dido drawly and depressing. No, this was drawly and depressing.

    Dido is exactly that, but wait until you hear her live.

    Prepare for the worst. ;)

    I never used to like her style when she was around before. I stumbled across some of her songs last year, having not thought about her for years, and i'll admit that I like her style more now, than I did then.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,179
    To the comments regarding how they want a more big and brassy Bond title, I think we ought to see how the film is done in order to see if such a song would fit the tone of the film. This doesn't look like something you could splice in "Goldfinger" and expect it to work.
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    Posts: 3,497
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    Before anyone comes out with a "oh suprise, surprise", I would say the same with that respose to my thoughts. With that out of the way.... it's a no from me. This wasn't like them hiring a death metal group, and expecting something silky smooth as Bryan Ferry. This is precisely in Billie Eilish's wheelhouse, and exactly what I didn't want for NTTD. People used to call Dido drawly and depressing. No, this was drawly and depressing.

    Dido is exactly that, but wait until you hear her live.

    Prepare for the worst. ;)

    I never used to like her style when she was around before. I stumbled across some of her songs last year, having not thought about her for years, and i'll admit that I like her style more now, than I did then.

    Hmm... :-?

    The older, the wiser? ;)
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    Before anyone comes out with a "oh suprise, surprise", I would say the same with that respose to my thoughts. With that out of the way.... it's a no from me. This wasn't like them hiring a death metal group, and expecting something silky smooth as Bryan Ferry. This is precisely in Billie Eilish's wheelhouse, and exactly what I didn't want for NTTD. People used to call Dido drawly and depressing. No, this was drawly and depressing.

    Dido is exactly that, but wait until you hear her live.

    Prepare for the worst. ;)

    I never used to like her style when she was around before. I stumbled across some of her songs last year, having not thought about her for years, and i'll admit that I like her style more now, than I did then.

    Hmm... :-?

    The older, the wiser? ;)

    I think the former is more likely the the latter. ;)
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited February 2020 Posts: 16,337
    Shardlake wrote: »
    1. You Know My Name
    2. No Time to Die
    3. Skyfall
    4. Another Way To Die







    5. Writings On The Wall

    At the moment I’d probably go:
    1. Skyfall
    2. Spectre (Radiohead)
    3. Another Way to Die
    4. You Know My Name
    5. No Time To Die


    6. Writing's on the Wall



    It is a decent enough song and everything, but it is like she's listened to Skyfall and Writings and decided That's How Bond Songs Are. And basically written the two of them joined together (which is a shame as Writings was a reaction to Skyfall anyway). So it's becoming a sort of anonymous Bond-song-lite-paste. I wish she'd listened to all of the old ones and realised you can actually do quite a lot that's different and it still be a Bond song: you don't need to use the same chords.
  • edited February 2020 Posts: 5,767
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Regarding the soundtrack session in the church: I really like the use of a choir starting at 0:11.

    And I was surprised that they need an optical metronome. Surely the musicians don't need that, they watch the conductor, so is it a guide for editing?
    Could be that they want to mix it with electronically sequenced stuff and thus deliberately want it to be metronomically precise.



    bondsum wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    I don't think there's any design to it at all. Hire a performer that's renown for dreary sleep-inducing songs and this is what you get. I didn't expect anything less. And no, Billie didn't subvert my expectations. This is another reason why title music has been omitted from 99.9% of all modern movies: it slows down the front-end of the movie. And boy, oh boy, is this song going to do that.

    Someone's salty.
    Are you trying to heat up an argument with such a comment, or are you trying to tell other people how to react to the song?
  • ThunderballsThunderballs Brighton, UK
    Posts: 35
    I like it. And that's all you need to know.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,337
    There's a great comment by Cary Fukunaga in that IG thread.

    "Passion has to disturb and push forward, otherwise it’s just slowly dying in nostalgia."

    That's encouraged me more than just about anything else I've heard from this cast/crew.

    That seems slightly ironic, relative to this song. It's decent but certainly not 'pushing forward' from the previous two songs.
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    Posts: 3,497
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    Before anyone comes out with a "oh suprise, surprise", I would say the same with that respose to my thoughts. With that out of the way.... it's a no from me. This wasn't like them hiring a death metal group, and expecting something silky smooth as Bryan Ferry. This is precisely in Billie Eilish's wheelhouse, and exactly what I didn't want for NTTD. People used to call Dido drawly and depressing. No, this was drawly and depressing.

    Dido is exactly that, but wait until you hear her live.

    Prepare for the worst. ;)

    I never used to like her style when she was around before. I stumbled across some of her songs last year, having not thought about her for years, and i'll admit that I like her style more now, than I did then.

    Hmm... :-?

    The older, the wiser? ;)

    I think the former is more likely the the latter. ;)

    :)>-
  • mtm wrote: »
    There's a great comment by Cary Fukunaga in that IG thread.

    "Passion has to disturb and push forward, otherwise it’s just slowly dying in nostalgia."

    That's encouraged me more than just about anything else I've heard from this cast/crew.

    That seems slightly ironic, relative to this song. It's decent but certainly not 'pushing forward' from the previous two songs.

    I'd also say that 'pushing forward' is a bit complicated with Bond. The series is fundamentally formulaic, and has been for several decades and 20-odd films. 'Progress' in Bond films is always proscribed, it's always within the constraints of the formula.
  • Major_BoothroydMajor_Boothroyd Republic of Isthmus
    Posts: 2,722
    This is basically what I expected when they announced Billie Eilish. She has some decent tunes but they are fairly singular in sound and tone.

    So even though I'm not a fan of NTTD. I'm at peace with that and I'm glad other members on here have such positive feelings when they hear it.

    Since 1985 there are only three times when the bond series hasn't gone with flavour of the month artist (LTK, GE and CR) and the last four now have been among the hottest artists of the moment. I think this leads to wider public recognition but the actual songs are more hit and miss with only SF becoming iconic. And there seems to be less interest in actually writing a 'Bond' song for the ages.

    Left field choice for me would be to give the assignment to a chameleonic artist, someone like Nick Cave - capable of writing something as beautiful as Ship Song or Into My Arms, as playful as Breathless, as vulgar as Stagger Lee and as dark as The Curse of Millhaven. But also he is experienced at writing multiple soundtracks, screenplays and novels.
  • edited February 2020 Posts: 3,333
    bondsum wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    This song is not designed to open the film with a bang.

    This song is designed to follow and embrace Bond and Swann fallout in Matera.

    I don't think there's any design to it at all. Hire a performer that's renown for dreary sleep-inducing songs and this is what you get. I didn't expect anything less. And no, Billie didn't subvert my expectations. This is another reason why title music has been omitted from 99.9% of all modern movies: it slows down the front-end of the movie. And boy, oh boy, is this song going to do that.

    Someone's salty.

    That's kind of like using "triggered" or any other off-the-shelf response. Not very creative or informative. [-X
    I expected more from you @MakeshiftPython.

    I don't know about anyone else, but I'm definitely noticing subtle similarities in both Billie's song and Sam Smith's TWOTW—they're almost interchangeable. Do I smell a future law suit coming? Hans Zimmer does do a very credible job on the orchestral arrangement of this dreary song, giving it more texture and elevation than it would otherwise have, but it takes far too long to get going. I trust that this will be heavily edited down to fit the opening of the movie and this is the long version? In fact, the song could lose the whole first minute and nothing would be lost at all.
  • zerozerozerozero The far far east
    Posts: 58
    The lyric sounds like it's examining Bond and Madeleine but (and this may already have been said on this rapidly growing thread) what if it's actually a lament from Madeleine to Safin? Everything in the trailers hints at some kind of shared past between them. I also think Blofeld's line about "when her secret gets out, it'll be the death of him", if spoken to Bond, must therefore be referencing someone else, i.e. Safin.
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