In a weaker era for popular music which the 2010s is I suppose you have to expect a weaker Bond song. I've played Writing's On the Wall by Sam Smith a few times in the last couple of days and it's not growing on me. I wish they had picked another singer such as Lana del Rey, her powerful voice is a far better match.
Sam Smith's high pitched vocal performance seems wrong for a film about a macho action hero like James Bond. He told NPR. “Writing’s on the Wall” is supposed to be from Bond’s perspective—“I wanted a touch of vulnerability from Bond, where you see into his heart a little bit”. Perhaps in Spectre (2015) we will see an emotionally vulnerable 007.
Unfortunately the new song is quite annoying because of the vocal delivery. Sam Smith was selected because his debut album In The Lonely Hour (2014) was a big international chart success.
If you go online, the theme has its fans, yet many were underwhelmed. BBC entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson said it was "good enough, but not a classic". What do you think?
It's very Michael Bolton..
ReplyDelete@Courtney: Bolton, ok. Some have also compared it to Earth Song by Michael Jackson, which is quite obvious in the piano version at 0.28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_dbXWpKDKg
DeleteI will not hear this song. Sam Smith just plainly.... fucking sucks.
ReplyDelete@thevoid99: You’ll be forced to listen to the theme in opening credits of the movie, unless you cover your ears haha
DeleteI know. I'd rather hear it when I see the film and then boo it during the film because he made me act like an asshole.
Delete@thevoid99: Stick with old music if new music makes you feel angry. Hope you like the movie.
DeleteI haven't been able to listen to this one yet. I can't find a link to the song anywhere, and I don't have a Spotify account. The music that I've heard sounds very old school, but I like it...and I kind of love Sam Smith, which I guess is not popular anymore, but whatever.
ReplyDelete@Fisti: Spotify is free and takes 5 minutes to join, the ads only come occasionally. That's how I was able to listen.
DeleteParts of it are old school, a divisive song. I’m sure fans of Sam Smith will enjoy!
I actually heard it and unsure if I clicked the right link, or wrong?? It's very mellow-y. But I also didn't like Adele's song previously, but when I saw the film it made more sense. Let's hope it's like that again.
ReplyDelete@Andina: If you join Spotify (which is free) you can listen to the song. The singer was given the script to read, so the music is probably connected to the story a little bit. Think I prefer the instrumental version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_dbXWpKDKg
DeleteI listened to this when I was on the road during vacation and I hated it immediately. But then again I never liked Sam's voice and I thought he was a really poor choice to get this honor of singing the Bond theme song. Heh, this is right up there w/ the Madonna one which I also dislike vehemently. I can see why Shirley Bassey was trending on Twitter when this came out, well I can always just listen to her songs again and again.
ReplyDelete@Ruth: I can tolerate the new Bond song, but I don’t love it. Does actually improve a bit when you listen to it 10x. It’s very different to the powerful Bond themes of the past such as Shirley Bassey, no doubt.
DeleteI prefer the piano and strings version on youtube (without Sam Smith’s vocal). The instrumental rendering will likely be used as part of the score in the film, we’ll see.
I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Sam Smith, but I like a few of his songs. The new Bond theme has grown on me. I think it'll play better with Spectre's opening credits. That said, I'd love to have an old-school theme from someone like Duffy in the future.
ReplyDelete@Josh: I’m interested in how Writing’s on the Wall plays in the movie as well. Yeah, they may go old school in the future, although it’s not a given, because Sam Smith’s Bond theme went to #1 in the UK charts. Beating another guy called JB. Bieber. Justin Bieber :)
Deletehttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/02/sam-smith-writings-on-the-wall-first-ever-bond-no-1-disclosure-caracal