Ed Sheeran said this week he came close to writing and recording the theme song for the most recent James Bond movie, No Time To Die.
“I was within a f**king gnat’s pube of doing one,” the singer said during an appearance on That Peter Crouch Podcast, "and they changed directors, and then they just changed scripts and that was it – but we had done all the meetings, I had started writing it."
Instead, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas did the theme, which earned them an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
“No Time To Die” was the third Bond theme after Adele’s “Skyfall” in 2013 and Sam Smith’s “Writing’s On The Wall” in 2016, to win an Oscar. Eilish became the second-youngest winner of the award, behind Markéta Irglová, who was four days shy of her 20th birthday when she won in 2008 for "Falling Away" from Once.
Sheeran said it’s no time to give up on his dream. “You’ve got to – eventually, as an English singer – want to do a Bond song,” he said. “"I’m not gonna pretend it didn’t hurt not doing it. If they come back, I’ll be like, ‘Yeah yeah, of course.’”
In 2014, Sheeran said he would love to do a Bond theme song but his voice wasn’t suited for one. “You never know – I’m not ruling it out,” he said. “Maybe in 10 years time, when my balls drop.”