Adele is both an obvious choice and one of the few well-considered choices for the theme-song performance, which says just as much about the state of the music industry as it does about public opinion about first-world espionage.
The artists chosen to accompany Bond have never been underdogs. But there’s been a distinct shift in the tone and character of Mr. Bond since Casino Royale, just as “men’s men,” cartoonish bad guys, and the ribald chuckles of Pussy Galore are a thing of the past, so too is the role of the genuine mainstream singer, much less one demure enough to frame Bond’s shtick as desirable (Carly Simon, Sheena Easton, Rita Coolidge); such magic tricks are hard to come by these days.
Adele’s ‘Skyfall,’ with its heavy debt to Shirley Bassey, might not have been camp - in another century, by Daphne Carr for Capital New York
