Adele was initially "hesitant" to sing the theme tune for the new James Bond movie because of the "pressure" that comes with the job.

The Rolling In The Deep hitmaker has long been rumoured to be the voice of the new 007 Skyfall anthem and she finally confirmed the news on Monday (01Oct12).

She has now spoken out about her decision to record the song, which she wrote with her collaborator Paul Epworth, and revealed she almost turned the offer down.

Adele tells the official Bond website 007.com, "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, 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!"

A snippet of Adele's track leaked online on Tuesday (02Oct12), but it will be premiered in full on the singer's website at 0.07am (GMT) on Friday (05Oct12), which has been declared Global James Bond Day to mark 50 years since Sir Sean Connery made his debut as the superspy in 1962's Dr. No.

The singer follows in the footsteps of other Bond theme tune stars including Lulu, Dame Shirley Bassey and Sir Tom Jones.