Billie Eilish's Oscar-nominated and Grammy-winning title track for No Time to Die, unlike most James Bond title songs that came before it, had the unique opportunity to conclude a Bond actor's tenure musically. In many regards, Eilish succeeded at that task. While the song initially functions as a reflection of Madeleine Swann's feelings over Bond's abandonment of her due to a supposed betrayal from SPECTRE, it grows to represent far more, including the death of Bond himself.
From the moment Eilish's title song begins, the seeds of Bond and Madeleine's difficulties of trusting one another are put on full display, with many of the song's lyrics going both ways in terms of their own perspectives. From the opening line to the pre-chorus, the song speaks of whether their relationship could have ever worked. Perhaps it may be, as is implied in both the film and song, that it never could have lasted. However, as the song and the film progress, things begin to slowly and subtly change.
The faces from Bond and Madeleine's past returning might refer to the film's lead villain Safin, Bond's former love Vesper and villainous SPECTRE head Blofeld - people whose effects on their lives they can never fully let go of. Letting something burn probably refers to the secrets the two burned on sheets of paper in Matera before everything went horribly wrong. Finally, whether someone is "death or paradise" just might refer to Bond's effects on Madeleine and her and Bond's child, Mathilde, and whether or not it might lead to her demise. No longer is Eilish referring to the events in Matera, rather, she is referring to their evolving relationship as a whole. Eventually, Eilish's title song lingers far beyond the opening titles.
From here, co-composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro take the lead, turning the song's instrumentation into a heart-wrenching representation of Bond and Madeliene's love. Much like the score's interpolation of "We Have All the Time in the World" from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, it is one fated to end in tragedy. From the moment Madeleine is reintroduced in the narrative through her security credentials, and later after she heads back to her home in Norway where Bond is introduced to Mathilde, Eilish's title song forms the heart of the film and score's third act.
Though it is used in romantic contexts, such as Bond's declaration of love, its most important use comes near the very end of the film. After Bond is poisoned with a strain of the Heracles nanobot virus intended to kill Madeleine and Mathilde with a single touch, facing mortal wounds from his confrontation and killing of Safin as well, Bond faces certain death from a missile strike on Safin's island ordered by him and M. Here, we do not hear a mournful version of the James Bond theme. Instead, the piano riff of Eilish's song, with violins directed through Zimmer and Mazzaro's score playing counterpoint, accompany Bond's final goodbye to Madeleine. To end Craig's tenure as Bond, in all essence, Eilish gets the final word.
Unlike many Bond songs that came before it, Billie Eilish's titular song for No Time to Die had the unique challenge of accompanying a Bond actor's finale - one that, instead of being a film that an actor simply chose to hang up the tux and martini on, served as a true culmination of their Bond story. In many regards, she truly succeeded. After all, it's not that often that your song gets better treatment than even the Bond theme itself.