Skyfall

Having successfully recorded 19 and 21, Adele decided to have a crack at 007 when she recorded the theme tune for the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall. The track, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, got its first play on the singer's website at 0.07am GMT on October 5, 2012, as part of the "James Bond Day" celebrations by Eon Productions - the fiftieth anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr. No.

Adele teamed up with Paul Epworth, who co-wrote and produced her international hit "Rolling In The Deep," to pen the sultry ballad. Said the singer: "I was a little hesitant at first to be involved with the theme song for Skyfall. There's a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song. But I fell in love with the script and Paul had some great ideas for the track and it ended up being a bit of a no-brainer to do it in the end. It was also a lot of fun writing to a brief," she continued, "something I've never done, which made it exciting. When we recorded the strings it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I'll be backcombing my hair when I'm 60 telling people I was a Bond girl back in the day, I'm sure."

Speaking with BBC's 6 Music radio station, Epworth explained the song was intended to echo the narrative of the film. "The [Bond theme] songs seem to fall into groups, in terms of subject matter," he said. "Some of them have a romanticism to them, and some of them are very much about the narrative of the film. We went very much with the narrative of the film. We talk a lot about Bond's relationship to the country... and to MI6. There's a little bit of that in the lyrics, and I guess we were trying to find a way to almost make that romantic, you know? I think you will need to see the film and see where the song happens in the context of the film.... and it will all make sense."