Adele - Skyfall

After being leaked online, Adele's Bond theme Skyfall will be released on Friday. A snippet of the song, Adele's first recording since her million-selling album 21, surfaced overnight. Skyfall was written and recorded with Paul Epworth at Abbey Road studios in London with a 77 piece orchestra. In a press release, Adele said she was initially hesitant to record a Bond theme. "There's a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song," Adele said. "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, 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 back combing my hair when I'm 60 telling people I was a Bond girl back in the day I'm sure!"

The leaked sample of Skyfall indicates Adele has harked back to the lush feel of Shirley Bassey's theme songs for Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger.Skyfall will premiere in full on adele.tv at 9.07am this Friday (it is launched at 0.07am UK time in a nod to Bond) and will then be available to purchase on iTunes.

Adele's 21 has sold over 24 million copies, the biggest selling album of 2011 as well as still 2012's highest-seller to date.She has taken most of 2012 off to prepare for the birth of her first child.October 5 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr No and the start of the James Bond film franchise.Skyfall is released in UK cinemas on October 26 but Australians will have to wait until November 22 to see it.