Single Review: Sam Smith – Writing’s On The Wall

Sam Smith Writing's On The Wall

Sam Smith recorded classical Bond Theme for ‘SPECTRE’
Every few years when a new James Bond film is announced, there is lots of speculation going on about who will sing the theme song. This year for the release of SPECTRE in October, names like Ellie Goulding, Lana Del Rey, Paloma Faith and Adele again were mentioned, but in the end it turned out to be British soulful singer-songwriter Sam Smith. Smith, famous for hits like ‘Stay With Me’, ‘I’m Not The Only One’ and ‘Like I Can’, recorded the song ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ and it’s a typical Bond track with a lot of drama, strings and big notes.

With ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, the Bond soundtracks returned to their original form with a big chorus, huge vocals, strings, drama and a suspenseful atmosphere. Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ is in the same style, but is even a little slower than Adele’s effort. The instrumentation is a little less bombastic, but still dramatic enough to hit the right mood and with strong enough hooks to be memorable. The lyrics are written from the perspective of Bond himself and show a vulnerable side to the character with sentences like: “How do I live, how do I breathe, when you’re not here I’m suffocating.” Smith sings a large part of the track in falsetto, which is nice in the beginning, but later on I would have wanted him to belt out a little more as the high voice might get on the nerves of some people after a while. Still ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ is worthy Bond soundtrack!

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