Billie Eilish is up for an Oscar March 27 for her No Time to Die James Bond film title song that she co-wrote with her brother, FINNEAS. But Billie says she wasn’t thinking about super-spies when she wrote the haunting theme.
“I wrote the song from the perspective of somebody I had hurt,” she explained to Deadline. “We never think about how our own actions are perceived from other people’s point of view. Or, we do, but we don’t do it enough.”
Billie said composing “No Time to Die” was a “really interesting situation” because it challenged her to step out of her comfort zone.
“It taught me a lot, to put myself in somebody else’s shoes, and it was fun, too, because you can create a character and write about something other than yourself,” Billie explained. “You don’t have to expose yourself; you don’t have to be telling your truth.”
“It was actually kind of fun to write… Sometimes writing songs is a horrible experience,” Billie admitted. “What was cool about writing a song from the perspective of the movie itself was that we love writing characters and narratives into our music, and I feel the music we’re most proud of is the music where we’ve come up with a plot for the song ahead of writing it.”
The “bad guy” singer revealed she doesn’t normally enjoy the process of writing music, which is why “No Time to Die” was a singular experience for her.
“I feel like people always say making music is therapeutic, and I genuinely don’t agree. I don’t really enjoy it. I only enjoy it afterwards, when I play it,” admitted Billie. “I love listening to what I’ve made.”
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