Newly introduced to Billie Eilish due to her and her brother writing and performing the Bond song, I had subsequently played much of her output. And loved it.
Soulful and edgy.
However, this track, for me, plays too much on ballads of before and less on the edginess of Billie herself, I believe.
It also has an element of Sam Smith’s Writing is on the Wall which I found distracting.
All in all, (with the all too important word) ‘currently’, it seems to miss the point of Billie’s involvement altogether. Albeit beautifully done.
Yeah I think it basically conveys the theme well enough, but all of these songs and credit sequences have been getting more and more tied directly to the plot of the film since Skyfall so I’m not surprised it continues in that direction.
This is a good observation. When you compare the recent songs to FRWL or GOLDFINGER for example, the plot seems only hazily present in the lyrics of those days. FRWL‘s sound like a very young guy inside a too deep romance. And GOLDFINGER‘s turn the character into a ladykiller.
Giving it a second listen, and I’m liking it. I can really hear the Zimmer in the orchestration. Now we wait for the true test, its integration into the opening credits.
I quite like it. The overal theme is great and I think it will play very well in accompanying the film itself.
As for the song, and apart from the fact that I really don’t like her voice (I hate those drawling voices which seem to be the fashion since a few years), I mainly have 2 issues:
the lyrics are way too personal (I loved you / I was betrayed / I won’t get fooled again); it’s like it was written for a drama film.
the rythm, although I really do like the theme, is too “slow” for an adventure movie. Not “Bondian” enough (think LALD, TLD, CR). Even SF had a quicker pace.
WotW did the same thing arguably to a more cringe worthy extreme with
How do I live?
How do I breathe?
When you’re not here I’m suffocating
I want to feel love
Run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
I’ve been listening to the song repeatedly and I’m liking the thoughtful darkness it has. It gets better as it goes on. I think Writing’s on the Wall had a stronger melody, but this has a better chorus and is the better song overall. I’m happy with how it turned out.
I liked it but was expecting Billie to own it a little more. Meaning, I think she overdoes that mushy, whispering voice, although she compensates near the end.
Instrumental builds a strong case of a song overall although lacked a bit more pace for my taste.
Purchased it as an LP.