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Bond Film ‘Spectre’ Lands Sam Smith For Theme Song ‘Writing’s On The Wall,’ The Internet Reacts

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 04:15 PST, Sep 25, 2015

Daniel Craig’s Bond film Spectre has an official theme song, but not everyone is pleased. Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall” was revealed today, and the reactions have been mixed across social media.

Other songs didn’t make the cut for the soundtrack, but that didn’t stop pop star Lana Del Rey from releasing hers anyway. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the singer included the track, which was passed over for the film, on her latest album Honeymoon.

Unless you have a Spotify account, you probably won’t hear it yourself. Some on YouTube have attempted to upload the song, only to have it quickly flagged. Others have trolled listeners by swapping the song with something else entirely. Paramount Pictures might want to release the official music video soon before someone gets “Rick rolled,” a term meaning that instead of seeing the video you expected, you end up watching Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

On writing the Bond film Spectre‘s theme song, Sam Smith took to Twitter and told the world “I have been dreaming of this moment for a long, long time.” This isn’t the first time a male vocalist has been chosen to croon the theme for the series, but Smith does have some big proverbial shoes to fill following Adele’s “Skyfall.”

Previous male vocalists to sing the theme have included A-Ha, with “The Living Daylights” and Tom Jones’ “Thunderball,” as reported by Rolling Stone. The Beatles’ “Live and Let Die” and Jack White’s “Another Way to Die” with Alicia Keys are other notable male singers involved with the theme songs of the past.

The Guardian‘s Alexis Petridis is among those who have admitted to not really liking the Bond film Spectre‘s theme song.

“‘Writing’s on the Wall’ doesn’t feel anywhere near as striking as ‘Skyfall.’ That may be because it’s essentially offering more of the same, while ‘Skyfall’ felt like a break with the recent past, or it may be because it just isn’t as good a song.”

“There’s something quite bold about a male singer using a Bond theme to convey vulnerability – you need a high falsetto threshold to get through the whole thing – but the melody doesn’t dig into your brain: you keep expecting it to arrive at a showstopping chorus that never comes.”

“Perhaps there’s something telling about Smith’s boast that it took him 20 minutes to write: the result feels less like a Bond theme song than a [latter-day] pop ballad – the kind of thing that X Factor contestants have a crack at – with big strings and 007 references bolted on.”

With Petridis’ words leading the wave, others have felt similar about Sam Smith’s Bond film Spectre theme “Writing’s on the Wall.”

Some have claimed that Smith was simply the wrong choice to write and sing the tune, while others call it beautiful and elegant. The Bond film Spectre theme isn’t the first time a lead Bond track didn’t seem to fit with the feel of the franchise for some. Madonna’s “Die Another Day” was slammed for being too electronic, while The Beatles’ own theme seemed all over the place, switching moods faster than Amanda Bynes in her media frenzy of 2013.

Opinions cross the spectrum with Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall,” and maybe that was what director Sam Mendes was aiming for. Controversy has always been a source of fast fame.

What do you think of the Bond film Spectre‘s theme song by Sam Smith?

[Feature Image via Kevin Winter / Getty Images]

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