James Bond music legend explains why Lana Del Rey was the perfect fit for 007 First Light - and talks her previous Bond song attempt

007 First Light will be the first James Bond video game in 14 years – and developers IO Interactive are pulling out all the stops, recruiting award-winning singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey to perform the title song.

Del Rey's track debuted last week to a positive reception from critics and fans, with David Arnold, who scored five Bond films between 1997 and 2008, returning to co-write the song.

Speaking to Radio Times, Grammy winner Arnold suggested that Del Rey's "timeless" style – with her music drawing on both mid-20th-century Americana and late-20th-century melancholy pop – made her a perfect fit for the enduring 007 franchise.

"What I love about her is that as an artist she feels timeless to me," said Arnold. "I think she could be 'Lana Del Rey' in any of the last eight decades and still be Lana Del Rey – it seems to be that no matter what fashion is doing, she’s being herself.

"I’ve always loved that in an artist and certainly most of the ones that I’ve ever worked with are so absolutely, confidently and supremely themselves that you know what you’re going to get is pure, and you know it's going to be well thought through and examined, and there is an honesty and a believability and a credibility in that."

Back in 2024, Del Rey revealed that she had previously pitched her song '24' (featured on her 2015 album Honeymoon) to the Bond producers as a potential title theme for Spectre, only to lose out to Sam Smith's 'Writing's on the Wall'.

"She’s a big fan of the songs – she submitted a song for Spectre – and so I think she was excited about the idea of doing one for real," Arnold explained. "I was obviously super thrilled that she said she would, because there is something about her which transcends a lot of issues that you might have with an artist that maybe feels like they need to be a certain way to do a Bond theme – she is just effortlessly herself, which is why it feels right."

The final effort blends classic 007 grandeur with Lana’s melancholic glamour and feels unmistakably true to the franchise – though Arnold still isn’t entirely sure what the essential ingredients are, only that you "know when it is [a Bond song] and also when it isn’t."

"I still don’t know after all these years what makes a Bond song 'a Bond song'," said Arnold. "If you think about the history of them, they’re all incredibly different but yet somehow the spirit of them is the same.

"I think people can spot a fake a mile away and if you’re committed to it, then it’ll work."

007 First Light is a wholly original Bond origin story from IO Interactive, following a young James Bond as a "resourceful, and sometimes reckless" recruit in MI6’s training programme. The game re-imagines Bond before he becomes 007, with the character described by IOI as a promising but rebellious former Royal Navy air crewman whose instincts and combat heroism earn him a place in the agency’s newly reinstated 00 section.

IO Interactive has also confirmed a sizeable cast around Bond, with Patrick Gibson playing the young 007, alongside Priyanga Burford as M, Alastair Mackenzie as Q and Kiera Lester as Miss Moneypenny. The supporting line-up also includes Lennie James as Bond’s mentor John Greenway, Noemie Nakai as Miss Roth, and Lenny Kravitz as villain Bawma.

• How 007 First Light can learn lessons from James Bond novels and films to tackle the hero's origins
• Why James Bond's biggest 'failure' was actually a trailblazing moment for the 007 franchise

007 First Light releases on 27 May 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

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