Five years after the release of her first track "Ocean Eyes," Billie Eilish is more successful than ever. Now she's writing the title song to the latest James Bond movie. What is behind the Billie Eilish phenomenon?
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Breaking records seems to be her thing. The 18-year-old Billie Eilish is the youngest artist ever to be nominated in all four top categories at the Grammy Awards, to be presented on January 26. And now she is also the youngest artist ever to contribute a song to a James Bond film.
Despite her anti-star image, she's a superstar reaching so many people with her music. What's her secret?
Her lyrics are smart and reflective, sometimes dark and abysmal. Her beats get your feet moving and are hard to get out of your head. Her videos are disturbing and at the same time aesthetically appealing. Her attitude is both very direct and unusual.
When she made her debut with her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? in March 2019, it climbed straight to number one in the US charts. But on social media, she had already long been celebrated as a star.
Billie Eilish's James Bond song and its iconic predecessors
The 18-year-old star becomes the youngest musician to create a James Bond theme song. DW looks back at some of the most famous 007 songs — certainly just as impactful as any shaken-not-stirred martini.
The 18-year-old star of weird mainstream pop has been hired to create a fresh theme song for the venerable 007 franchise — becoming the youngest artist to ever take up the task. "It feels crazy to be a part of this in every way," said Eilish. "James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist. I'm still in shock." "No Time to Die" hits theaters in April.
Sam Smith read the screenplay to the James Bond film "Spectre" and then penned the title song in 20 minutes — a record even for him. "The pressure to deliver a Bond song that stands against all the rest feels quite intense," he said in an interview upon the release of "Writing's on the Wall," on September 25, 2015. It became the first theme song in the history of the franchise to top the charts
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Golden words
Shirley Bassey sang the theme songs for not one but three memorable Bond films: "Goldfinger" in 1964, "Diamonds are Forever" in 1971 and "Moonraker" eight years later. In 2014, the Welsh singer with the strong voice released a new album that includes a 50th anniversary re-recording of "Goldfinger," which starred a slick Sean Connery as secret agent 007.
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The tiger and the thunderball
Tom Jones, nicknamed "the tiger" and also from Wales like Shirley Bassey, sang the title song for the fourth James Bond movie, starring Sean Connery. The song's lyrics rhyme a fitting description of the film's hero: "He always runs while others walk, he acts while other men just talk, he looks at this world and wants it all, so he strikes like thunderball." If that isn't James Bond to a T!
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Neal
On the wings of danger
Paul McCartney and his wife Linda wrote the title theme for the 1973 Bond movie "Live and Let Die." McCartney's band Wings performed the song, which became one of the group's most successful singles. It was certainly the most successful Bond song at the time. After six films with Sean Connery, this edition starred Roger Moore as the quintessential agent.
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One of a kind
"Nobody Does It Better" was recorded by Carly Simon as the title song for the 1977 Bond film, "The Spy Who Loved Me." It was the first theme song titled differently than the movie since "Dr. No," the very first Bond flick in 1962. The song was a huge international hit, one of the most successful Bond theme songs ever and it hit number two on the US charts.
Image: Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival/J. Corrigan
Singer on screen
Grammy-award-winning, Scottish-born Sheena Easton sang "For Your Eyes Only" in the 1981 Bond hit movie, again starring Roger Moore. So far, Easton is the only artist to actually be seen singing on film during the opening scenes.
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I've got you in my sight
"Golden Eye," the title song for the 17th Bond movie in 1995, was written especially for pop icon Tina Turner — and, not surprisingly, it was a huge success. It was also Pierce Brosnan's first shot at the role of James Bond.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Volfik
Die please, just not today
Madonna wrote and performed the title song for "Die Another Day." Although different from traditional Bond theme music, the song was a commercial success worldwide. The 2002 film was Pierce Brosnan's final performance as 007.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Trueba
Let the sky come down
Adele, one of the UK's bestselling singer/songwriters, wrote and composed "Skyfall" for the 23rd James Bond movie, calling it "one of the proudest moments" of her life. In 2013, the soulful singer won the best original song Oscar for "Skyfall" — the first Oscar for a Bond film in 47 years.
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Young, musical, creative
She released her first song on SoundCloud in autumn 2015. Finneas O'Connor, Eilish's four-year-older brother, helped the then not quite 14-year-old to record "Ocean Eyes" — a love ballad, but also a song about burning cities under a napalm sky — in her bedroom at home.
The two kids come from an artistic family and were home-schooled with plenty of room for creativity. Eilish, whose full name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell, wrote her first songs at the age of 11. She also took photographs, shot videos and did drawings — often of her nightmares.
"Ocean Eyes" became a SoundCloud hit, catching the attention of Interscope Records, who signed Eilish. Finneas was also brought on board and since then has appeared on all their releases as producer and co-songwriter. In 2016, the video followed, and it was a huge YouTube hit.
With her intense clip — Billie looking directly into the viewer's eyes almost the entire time, with only occasional wafts of mist clouding the view — she hit the nerve of her time and her generation. Queer kids had long had enough of the glossy stars of the day, choosing instead to celebrate Eilish's anti-star approach, without all the glamour and perfect styling.
It's not surprising, then, that she's also found her unique voice on Instagram too. Billie Eilish stands out in the pop alternative cosmos, or whatever you want to call it. And not only because of her colorful outfits. Flashes of vulnerability are visible in her appearance, and it doesn't feel like it's just a calculated style.
Billie Eilish at the Lollapalooza Festival in BerlinImage: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
In her songs, she openly addresses her fears, her pain and her self-doubt. "Don't say that I'm not your type. Just say that I'm not your preferred sexual orientation" are lines from "Wish You Were Gay." Such lyrics create for her fans a feeling of community; she offers them prospects and also alternatives.
In our standardized society, people of all ages feel like outsiders, which is why Eilish's fanbase keeps growing. And now even fans of the venerable James Bond franchise will get a taste of her refreshing weirdness.
