Pop icon reveals she wrote James Bond theme but it got rejected

A music legend revealed her rejected James Bond theme tune (Picture: Eon Productions)

Lana Del Rey has revealed that one of her most iconic songs was written specifically for Bond – but it was rejected in favour of another artist.

The Video Games singer, 38, won a prize celebrating her career at the Ivor Novello Awards in London on Thursday and, while backstage at the event, she reflected on her career and plans for her music in the future.

She was asked if she would consider making a Bond theme tune and revealed she had already written one.

‘I mean, how has that not happened?’ she said.

Lana then sang part of her song 24, which was released in her 2015 album, Honeymoon. ‘I wrote that for them,’ the star then revealed to the BBC.

As 24 was released in 2015, it’s clear that the tune was written for the 2015 Bond movie Spectre, which featured Sam Smith’s song Writing’s On the Wall.

Sam’s theme tune was met with mixed reviews but won the Oscar for best original song at the 88th Academy Awards making it the second consecutive win of this award for a Bond song following Skyfall by Adele in 2012.

Lana chatting at The Ivors 2024 at Grosvenor House on Thursday(Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

The High by the Beach singer was in high spirits at the event in London (Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty)

‘Sam, you did a wonderful job,’ said Lana humbly, as she admitted she isn’t giving up on singing a Bond theme tune sometime in the future.

‘One day, maybe…

‘But I’m going to continue to do my little Nancy Sinatra thing every now and then and just pretend it’s the title track.’

24 does have a haunting quality that’s on brand for a James Bond theme tune, and the lyrics discuss murder, lying and diamonds, all themes that are common in Bond hits over the years.

Lana isn’t the only artist to create a song for the James Bond franchise only to have it rejected.

Over the years, Blondie’s For Your Eyes Only, Alice Cooper’s The Man with the Golden Gun, Pet Shop Boys’ The Living Daylights, and Muse’s Supremacy were all songs created for Bond but discarded.

For Blondie singer Debbie Harry, the loss wasn’t too great as she revealed ‘they just wanted me to sing on their track,’ which didn’t work for the artist as they write their own tunes. Speaking to Far Out she commented: ‘We actually wrote a song, our own version, and submitted it.’

The band lost out to Sheena Easton who agreed to perform the pre-written track, unlike Blondie.

Billie Eilish, Adele, and Sam Smith have all sung Bond theme tunes in the past (Picture: Col Pics/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

At the Ivor Novello Award show, other artists spoke about Lana’s Bond rejection.

‘I can’t believe she would have been rejected by them, because she just has the perfect energy for it,’ English artist Raye said.

‘I feel like she would eat that up – and I feel like that should happen in the future.’

The singer who made history at the Brit Awards earlier this year, added that she too would want to throw her hat in the ring at making a title track for the Ian Fleming franchise.

‘If they ever approached me, I’d roll over backwards, obviously.

‘I don’t know how those things happen, but it would be my absolute pleasure,’ she said.

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