No Time to Die: Dame Shirley Bassey says Billie Eilish did a ‘good job’ with James Bond theme

‘It’s a big honour for a young artist to live up to the Bond expectation’

Dame Shirley Bassey has praised Billie Eilish for “No Time to Die”, the song she wrote with her brother, Finneas, for the new James Bond film.

Speaking to The Big Issue, Bassey, who performed the Bond themes for Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Moonraker (1979), said Eilish did a “good job”, according to NME.

“It’s a big honour for a young artist to live up to the Bond expectation,” she said.

The Independent was positive about Eilish’s performance, commenting: “[‘No Time to Die’] is gratifyingly subtle compared to the try-hard nature of Sam Smith’s effort, ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, which threw every Bond trope they could think of at the wall in the hope that something would stick.”

The review continued: “It’s not as good as ‘Skyfall’ (some would argue Adele’s indecipherable lyrics bring the song down), although the two share similar elements, such as a move from stark piano into tense, shivery orchestration.”

No Time to Die is being released on 2 April next year, after being pushed back twice – first from 2 April 2020, and then from 12 November.