British music paper NME is reporting on a story that appeared in The Sun stating Adele has turned down the opportunity to record the theme to Bond 24 and the producers are looking at other choices that include Sam Smith.
The Mirror seems to be the first to put forward Smith as a likely choice, although their article lacked credibility. Many media outlets have now repeated the story, although I hadn’t seen the angle on Adele; either it wasn’t in the Mirror piece, or I skimmed the article and missed it.
However, even if Smith is talking to MGM/Eon Productions it is by no means a done deal and it is may simply be a fabricated story by Smith’s management team to help publicise him. After all, prior to this I’d never heard of him (which doesn’t mean much).
What do you think of this story?
Source: NME
August 12th, 2014 at 04:21
I can understand EON wanting to create a Shirley Bassey for the 21st Century and it would have been great to see (and hear) Adele do another number for Bond 24, even though I didn’t think “Skyfall” was a great song, musically and in terms of melody. Adele did a great job on it, but it didn’t make full use of the power of her voice. Like Dame Shirley B, Adele can really belt out a song when necessary.
However, Adele is still young. She may have declined Bond 24, but she (and Bond) will be around for a while. Never say never ;-)
September 2nd, 2014 at 15:29
Thank God if this is true (the bit about Adele, that is, not the bit about Sam Smith). Adele is vastly over-rated in my opinion and her (equally over-rated and over-awarded) dreary caterwaul over Skyfall’s titles was the only thing I didn’t enjoy about the last Bond film. When the rumours first started almost immediately afterwards (put about no doubt by her PR machine) that the 007 producers were thinking of giving her an honour not even bestowed upon true musical greats like Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Matt Monro, Tina Turner and Madonna – the chance to do two Bond themes in a row – I could have wept. It really was the proof that excitable hype can get you anywhere these days. Thank heavens that sense (not least a sense of proportion) will prevail after all, it seems. But Tham Thmith? Another over-hyped, chattering class fake? Saints preserve us. Bond has stood the test of time – he deserves theme performers who’ve done the same.
September 2nd, 2014 at 15:40
I agree with much of what teeritz writes, but not quite everything. Skyfall certainly was not a great song, musically or melodically, as teeritz says, but I disagree that Adele did a great job on it. She was credited as co-composer, after all, so I’m sure teeritz will agree she certainly didn’t do a good job on that bit of it :) But seriously, I know teeritz is referring to her performance – it’s just that I don’t think she did a good job in that respect either. On the top notes of the chorus her delivery lacks any soul or conviction and she’s slightly flat. It’s like listening to a cat wailing. She made her name doing admittedly plausible karaoke impressions of blues belters but when taken out of that comfort zone and required to display a wider range of emotions on the Skyfall gig, she was found out, in my view. But if they like you in Hoxton whilst sipping their cappuccinos, that’s all that matters, as Tham Thmith is now discovering to his hopefully temporary benefit.
September 2nd, 2014 at 15:45
Why not Coldplay? They would surely do a terrific Bond theme and to please the Sony bean counters they’re one of the most commercially viable acts on the planet. They even cut the mustard in Hoxton, I believe.
September 2nd, 2014 at 17:00
Please, bring back Dame Shirley Bassey!