Billie Eilish won a Grammy for James Bond theme song “No Time to Die” on Sunday, taking home the visual media trophy ahead of the anticipated film’s Oct. 8 release.
The rare occurrence of the best song written for visual media hailing from an unreleased movie comes after the tentpole has been delayed several times amid the ongoing pandemic. The 25th installment in the iconic spy franchise, starring Daniel Craig in the titular role and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, was pushed back to the fall from April 2 in late January. The film sparked a wave of high-profile shuffles at the box office when it became one of the first casualties of the blockbuster season to be delayed at the height of the pandemic.
Eilish had released “No Time to Die” on Feb. 13 before the fall delay. The track debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She is the youngest artist to ever write and record a theme song for the 007 franchise.
The singer-songwriter — who also performed during the 63rd annual show — accepted the award during the pre-show on Sunday with her co-winner, brother Finneas O’Connell, who co-wrote “No Time to Die.” She beat out Taylor Swift (“Beautiful Ghosts,” Cats), Cynthia Erivo (“Stand Up,” Harriet), Brandi Carlile (“Carried Me With You,” Onward), and “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2.
At the 2020 Grammys, Eilish became the youngest artist to sweep the big four general field categories. Heading into the 2021 televised show, her “Everything I Wanted” was nominated in the coveted best record and best song of the year categories, as well as for best pop solo performance. She ended up winning record of the year, marking her second consecutive win in the night’s final category.
Elsewhere in the film categories handed out during the pre-show, Joker won best score soundtrack for visual media and JoJo Rabbit won best compilation soundtrack for visual media. CNN’s documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice nabbed the best music film win and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow took home the nod for best spoken word album for Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth.
Meryl Streep had been among the Hollywood stars nominated in the best spoken word album category, alongside Ronan Farrow for his nonfiction thriller Catch and Kill, which explored the decades of sexual misconduct by imprisoned media mogul Harvey Weinstein, and Jeopardy veteran Ken Jennings for Alex Trebek — The Answer Is …
Meanwhile, Tiffany Haddish won best comedy album for Black Mitzvah and Diablo Cody’s Jagged Little Pill won for best musical theater album.
Trevor Noah hosted the televised Grammy Awards show, which aired live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Los Angeles Convention Center. Overall, winners in a total of 83 categories were handed out at Sunday’s ceremonies.
