Billie Eilish gets a Grammy nomination for her James Bond theme song, “No Time to Die.”
Billie Eilish has snagged a nomination for her theme song in the new James Bond movie in spite of the movie not being aired to the public. The movie, which was shot in Jamaica, was set to premiere in Jamaica with the Jamaica Tourist Board as one of its main sponsors. However, the coronavirus pandemic, which saw high numbers of cases and deaths in the United Kingdom, and lockdown measures in Jamaica made it impossible to have the launch in April. A tentative November date was also not successful, and now, the movie is set to hit box offices in 2021.
Eilish’s nomination for the theme song “No Time to Die” breaks with long-held Grammy precedent: it appears to be the first nominated in the “best song written for visual media” category for a movie that won’t open for months.
The reason for this is because the song was released during the 2019-2020 eligibility period, on Feb. 13, in anticipation of an April release of the movie. So the song is out there with the trailers, but no one has seen the movie for which it was written.
The title song peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard charts in America and debuted at No. 1 in Great Britain. They released a teaser video (directed by veteran Bond title designer Daniel Kleinman) on Oct. 1, just before the film’s release got changed again due to covid-19 uncertainty and bans on gatherings.
The movie song category dates back to 1987 when it was called “song written specifically for motion picture or television.” Only two previous Bond themes have been nominated: “You Know My Name,” the theme for “Casino Royale” in 2007, and Adele’s “Skyfall” in 2013; the latter won.
