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Billie Eilish brought James Bond’s newest theme song to life on a London stage, and then walked away with a BRIT to match.
On the night of February 18, 2020, Billie Eilish gave the world its first live performance of “No Time to Die,” the theme for the 25th James Bond film, at the 40th BRIT Awards inside London’s The O2 Arena. She wasn’t alone up there — the performance reunited the exact team that built the track in the studio, and by the end of the night Eilish had a trophy to go with the moment.
- Eilish debuted “No Time to Die” live at the BRIT Awards with her brother and co-writer Finneas on grand piano, composer Hans Zimmer conducting a live orchestra, and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr on the Bond-style guitar riffs.
- At 18, Eilish became the youngest artist in history to write and record a James Bond theme, with the studio version having dropped just days before the BRIT Awards performance.
- Eilish won the BRIT Award for International Female Solo Artist that same night, beating out Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Lana Del Rey and Lizzo.
The Full Band Behind the Bond Theme
What made the BRIT Awards performance more than a standard TV promo slot was who Eilish brought with her. Finneas, her co-writer and the producer behind nearly all of her music, sat at the grand piano. Hans Zimmer, the composer who scored the studio version, conducted a live orchestral ensemble for the arena crowd. And Johnny Marr, the guitarist who defined The Smiths’ sound in the 1980s, supplied the twanging, minor-key guitar line that ties “No Time to Die” to six decades of Bond scores. It was the first time the public had seen the song’s creative team perform it together outside the studio.
A Theme Song Built for the Franchise
“No Time to Die” had only been released days before the BRIT Awards, timed to the promotional run for the 25th Bond film. Eilish, still 18 at the time, became the youngest artist ever to write and record a Bond theme — a distinction that put her name alongside Adele, Sam Smith and Shirley Bassey in the franchise’s musical lineage. The BRIT stage gave the song its first true public airing, orchestra and all, ahead of the film’s release.
An Emotional Win for International Female Solo Artist
Later in the ceremony, Eilish took home the BRIT Award for International Female Solo Artist, edging out a stacked field that included Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Lana Del Rey and Lizzo. Accepting the award, she visibly fought back tears and opened up about the toll of the past several months.
“I’ve been feeling very hated recently” — but seeing the crowd’s reaction made her “genuinely want to cry.”
It was a rare unguarded moment from an artist who, at that point, had spent barely a year as a global pop headliner. The trolling she referenced had followed her rapid rise, and the O2 crowd’s response — loud, immediate, affectionate — clearly caught her off guard.
Eilish’s night at The O2 capped a stretch that had already seen her sweep the Grammys weeks earlier, and it lands right as “No Time to Die” heads toward theaters with the rest of the film’s marketing push. The song, the orchestra, and that BRIT statuette all point the same direction: toward a release date the Bond franchise is banking on to be worth the wait.
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