Speaking to Music Week, U.K. producer Stephen Lipson explained that Daniel Craig — who will be making his final appearance as the iconic agent — wasn’t initially shaken or stirred. “I asked Finneas and Billie to give me a climactic vocal moment which Billie wasn’t too sure about, but when I heard it I knew it would deliver,” Lipson said. “Most important was getting Daniel’s approval. I finished the mix and everybody was happy but we still had to get Daniel on board. From the start, quite understandably, he wasn’t all that sure that the song delivered the right emotional climax for his final Bond outing, so satisfying him was key.” This is understandable, and nobody would want to disappoint Craig with any aspect of a franchise he has been a part of for 15 years.
With no time to waste, efforts were made to ensure Craig heard the song in the best environment possible. “I got in a few hours before Barbara and Daniel were due to arrive just to make sure it sounded as good as it could,” recalled Lipson. “Listening to it as if I was Daniel, I [realized] that the climax needed to be enormous so I spent some time massaging the mix so that, without any perceivable change, it was very much louder at that point. I then set the volume of the song so that it was pretty muscular, knowing that the climax would be earth-shattering.” Once Lipson had everyone seated, a nerve-wracking couple of minutes commenced when he would learn the fate of his efforts.
