Billie Eilish joined by Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr for ‘No Time to Die’ live debut

Billie Eilish released the James Bond theme song ‘No Time to Die’ last week. Composer Hans Zimmer and guitarist Johnny Marr contributed to the recording, and they joined Eilish for the song’s live debut at the BRIT Awards. 

Eilish wrote the song with her brother and regular collaborator Finneas O’Connell (aka FINNEAS). Finneas also joined her for the song’s live debut at the BRIT Awards in London on February 18. The crowd, as you might imagine, absolutely lost their minds.

Watch: Billie Eilish – No Time to Die (BRIT Awards)

‘No Time to Die’ is a creeping ballad that comes to a soaring finale. Eilish reaches for some magnificent high notes in the song’s final third before it breaks down to a whispered outro. The chorus lyrics are Bond-appropriate, yet ambiguous enough to give the song wide application.

“Fool me once, fool me twice/Are you death or paradise?” sings Eilish. “Now you’ll never see me cry/There’s just no time to die.”

Eilish and Finneas told BBC Breakfast they’d been wanting to make a Bond song for years. “At the beginning of last year we told our whole team, ‘if any Bond things come up we want to be involved … Whatever we have to do we will do it,’” Eilish said.

Watch: Billie Eilish and Finneas on BBC Breakfast

Reviews for ‘No Time to Die’ have been almost unanimously positive. The Independent called it “one of the best [Bond themes] we’ve had in some time.” Pitchfork praised Eilish’s “ruthless precision” and said her performance “carries the Bond legacy into a new generation.” The Guardian gave it four stars out of five, calling it “a confident, appealing addition to the Bond theme canon.”

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