UPDATE “Writing’s on the Wall” and off the charts. The Sam Smith single is gone from the US iTunes top 150 after 16 days. It’s still number 2 in the UK. But something went wrong stateside. The single has almost no radio play at all, too. After Smith’s big hits earlier in the year, it’s surprising that radio hasn’t embraced his newest release. But they haven’t. Meanwhile, I did read Daniel Craig’s interview in Time Out London. Very melodramatic. But also very English and woe-is-me. Misinterpreted. He loves playing James Bond, he’ll be back. Good lord.
PREVIOUSLY It’s two weeks since Sam Smith introduced his James Bond theme song “Writing’s on the Wall” to what seemed like rabid fans.
Alas, the party was brief. The theme song for “Spectre” is now at number 124 on iTunes for the US. And if you by Spotify, no one is streaming the song in the US.
“Writing’s on the Wall” is a modest hit in the UK. It spent one minute at number 1 on their charts, then fell to 8 on UK iTunes.
This is certainly not what happened with Adele’s “Skyfall,” which was a monster hit from Day 1 and eventually won the Academy Award. The Smith song doesn’t seem like an Oscar entry– unless it rebounds after “Spectre” is released November 6th.
Is the writing on the wall for “Spectre”? Something seems to have gone wrong. Not only is the song not a hit, but star Daniel Craig is slagging the whole Bond enterprise in advance interviews. Why is he so unhappy? James Bond has made him richer than he could have imagined, and a household name. It made it possible for him to do Broadway shows in recent years.
Maybe Daniel doesn’t like the song either. No one’s asked him about it yet.
Music meantime PS: I sure hope Drake paid big time for his sample of “Why Can’t We Live Together” by Timmy Thomas (Glades Records). “Hotline Bling” is pretty much based on it. Timmy Thomas, the writer, is very much alive.
