Die Another Day (song)
"Die Another Day" is the theme song from the James Bond film of the same name by American singer and songwriter Madonna. The song initially leaked onto the internet in early October 2002 prior to the official release, prompting radio to play the track. It was released commercially as a single on October 22 by Maverick Records. The single was then included on her ninth studio album American Life (2003) as well as on her greatest hits compilation, Celebration (2009). Following the release of the previous Bond single, "The World Is Not Enough", MGM wanted a high-profile artist for the theme of Die Another Day, and Madonna was their choice. She wrote and produced the song with Mirwais Ahmadzaï while French composer Michel Colombier was enlisted as composer.
"Die Another Day"
While developing, the track went through numerous changes. After Madonna saw the initial version of the film she adapted the song to its theme, described as a metaphor for destroying one's ego. Ahmadzaï re-arranged "Die Another Day" at his home in Paris while Colombier finished the string sections in Los Angeles. An electroclash and dance-pop number, "Die Another Day" is a mixture of strings and interpolating electronic swirls, and stuttered editing on Madonna's voice, cutting the main signal on the chorus.
"Die Another Day" received mixed responses from music critics; one group of reviewers favored its departure from traditional Bond soundtracks, while others panned its production and called it uninteresting. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and two Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording and Best Short Form Music Video. The song was a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was the top selling dance song in the US for both 2002 and 2003. "Die Another Day" topped the charts in Canada, Italy, Panama, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Uruguay; and reached the top-ten in a number of countries worldwide.
The music video was directed by Traktor, and was developed as an independent video from the film but contained Bond influences. It depicts Madonna as a prisoner in a torture chamber, alternating with scenes of a fencing duel between good (clad in white) and evil (clad in black) personas of the singer. Wounds inflicted on both fencers are mirrored on the imprisoned Madonna, and in the end she escapes being electrocuted in the chamber. The usage of Jewish religious texts and objects in the music video led to controversy, with scholars of Judaism deeming it sacrilegious. Madonna has included the song on three of her world tours; the first being the 2004 Re-Invention World Tour, as a video interlude on the 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour, and on her 2023-24 The Celebration Tour.
Background and conception[edit]
After the September 11 attacks, Madonna was in an introspective mood and started writing songs for her next studio album, American Life, with producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï. Recording started in late 2001 but was put on hold as Madonna shot for her film Swept Away in Malta, and also starred in the West End play Up For Grabs.[1] In the meantime, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was filming the twentieth James Bond film, Die Another Day, directed by Lee Tamahori. The previous film in the franchise, The World Is Not Enough (1999) was a box office success earning US$362 million worldwide. However, the eponymous soundtrack single by alternative rock group Garbage failed to gain commercial success in the United States. The music management at MGM went to look for a high-profile artist to write and perform the title song for Die Another Day.[2]
Madonna was their first choice, since she had been successful with soundtrack singles in the US, most recently with "Beautiful Stranger" (1999) from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me which was a top-twenty hit and earned her a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Anita Camrata, executive vice president of MGM Music explained the choice in 2002: "With every other artist, you're taking a chance. But with Madonna, she has an extraordinary track record. She has written songs for films before and they were always perfect."[2]
By mid-February 2002 sources from the film set revealed that negotiations were under process for Madonna to sing the title song and make a cameo appearance in Die Another Day. The song deal was confirmed in mid-March with journalists reporting a complex contract which might have cost MGM around one million dollars, including Madonna's fees for music and acting, promotion, the single release and the music video.[3][4]
"Die Another Day" was officially released in United States on October 22, 2002. It was supposed to be released on October 10, but got leaked a week prior to that to the radio stations. Website Hollywood.com reported that "Madonna and members of her camp were beside themselves when the song—which they claim wasn't even finished—aired on a pop station in New York City."[5]
Recording and composition[edit]
Once the song structure was finished, MGM sent Colombier in Los Angeles a rough edit of the opening sequence of the film, while Ahmadzaï sent him a longer version of the demo. Colombier had to create something inline the film score with "Die Another Day". He added some more lyrics and then went to London to conduct an ensemble of 60 string players at AIR Lyndhurst Studios.[3] Ahmadzaï, who was already mixing and recording the other tracks for American Life, explained that the process "was often laborious but with a less-is-more philosophy that is reflected in the music's sparse arrangements." They wanted minimalist production for the song, but at the same time make them sound "futuristic".[9]
After the orchestra sections were done, Ahmadzaï took the track back to his home in Paris and did a complete re-arrangement. String engineer Geoff Foster recalled that Madonna wanted something "big and brass" which Ahmadzaï denied, since Madonna had already done that with her 1998 single, "Frozen".[11] Colombier explained that the final version was not the way he had structured the song, it was according to Ahmadzaï's mixing and ideas. "He's a master manipulator. Sixty real strings, played live, became audio files in his computer. They can be chopped like real pieces of fabric. He's amazingly brilliant with that," concluded Colombier. Madonna attended the recording sessions at Olympic Studios in London. There was a tango section in the song which Colombier recalled was composed perfectly during rehearsals. But during the actual recording it did not work out as expected, prompting Madonna to grab the talkback mic and telling the crew, "It's not sexy enough, think about sex!"[3]
"Die Another Day" is an electroclash and dance-pop number, starting with strings which continues for eleven seconds, when Madonna's vocals starts with the lines "I'm gonna keep this secret / I'm gonna close my body now..."[3][12][13] It follows with the stuttered editing on her voice, which keeps cutting the main signal, especially on the chorus "I guess.. I would die... another day". The strings again gain prominence at around the 2:20 mark. During the intermediate verse, a "raucous" laugh by Madonna can be heard.[14] The song ends with interpolating electronic swirls and the orchestra fading out. Sterling Clover from The Village Voice explained that the ending recalled the snare drums and bass usage in songs of the microhouse genre, describing it as "cacophony of harmonic fragments".[15] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the song is set in the time signature of common time with a fast tempo of 130 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E major with Madonna's voice spanning from the notes B3 to D♯5.[16]
Credits for "Die Another Day" are adapted from American Life and the single liner notes.[110][111]