Sad news has arrived that Paloma Faith won’t be building on her Brits success with a belter of a Bond theme. Apparently director Sam Mendes has already picked the musician he wants for the forthcoming 24th 007 film Spectre – and Paloma’s “found out” it’s not her.

A number of other big names have been suggested for the theme, including Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran. But we think Mendes should stop and really think about this. Whoever he’s got in mind, are they really as good as any of these acts?

1. Marina and the Diamonds

Marina and the Diamonds
(Yui Mok/PA)

Yeah that’s right, we’re going to start this list sensibly. Marina Lambrini Diamandis not only has the name of a Bond girl, she’s got the seismic vocal range of someone born to sing a Bond theme. Plus she’s Welsh – could this be the next Shirley Bassey?

2. Shirley Bassey (again)

Shirley Bassey
(Lionel Cironneau/AP)

But then why break with tradition? Shirl’s already got three Bond themes under her belt – Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever (both classics), and Moonraker (about as lame as the film was). It’s high time we let her atone for that last one, whaddaya say Sam?

3. X Factor “winner” Leon Jackson

Leon Jackson
(Andrew Milligan/PA)

Poor Leon, his career never really took off after “When You Believe” hit the Xmas number one. The problem, we think, was that there was no brass orchestra behind him, and that’s what we want to see for Spectre.

Of course in five years’ time we fear we’ll be recommending Ben Haenow on similar grounds…

4. McBusted

McBusted
(Andrew Milligan/PA)

Just imagine the lyrics (to the tune of “Year 3000″)…

“I said I’ve been to Blofeld’s lair, not much has changed but he lives underwater…”

Plus Busted sung the theme to the Thunderbirds film, so they’ve got previous with iconic cinema creations.

5. Metallica

Metallica
(Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Who said the Bond theme can’t be a metal track? Out of all the metal mega-bands we reckon Metallica fit the bill best – they’ve already got some nice ballads, although they’d need to hire a session trombonist.

6. Shakira

Shakira
(Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

You want lungs, you want Shakira. And we think it’s about time that the Bond themes got a bit of a Latin feel.

7. Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan
(Charles Sykes/Invision)

Daniel Craig’s Bond films have all been super gritty and modern, and what could be more modern than a ’90s hip hop collective? Mendes might struggle to get a clean radio edit from the Clan though.

8. Lethal Bizzle

Lethal Bizzle
(Yui Mok/PA)

Perhaps Wu-Tang Clan aren’t really British enough? If so, may we suggest Lethal Bizzle. He’s got a tried and tested formula of shouting the name of the song, followed by his name, followed by the name of an instrument that’s about to play.

“Spectre, Spectre! Bizzle, Bizzle! Trumpets!”

9. Tom Jones ft. will.i.am

Will.I.am Tom Jones
(PA)

Okay, so maybe Wu-Tang Clan and Bizzle were too far out there as suggestions. We now propose a nice power ballad / hip hop cross-over with Tom (whose already made a Bond theme) and Will. Now we’ve seen them collaborate on The Voice and its, erm… not terrible. We’ve got a feeling this could be a classic 007 track.

10. Kanye West

Kanye West
(Jonathan Brady/PA)

Can Kanye really claim himself as the Messiah before he’s recorded a Bond theme? We think not. Plus think how proud Nori will be of her dad.

11. Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa
(Matt Sayles/Invision)

GaGa’s recent Oscars performance showed off her elegance and versatility. Plus her back catalogue includes titles such as Poker Face, Bad Romance and LoveGame. We reckon all of these could be legitimate Bond titles in the future.

12. Mis-Teeq

Mis-Teeq
(PA)

Ever since Alesha Dixon started being a TV judge we’ve been longing for the Mis-Teeq reunion tour. A Bond theme could be an excuse just about big enough, plus UK garage always brings the glamour.

13. The Script

Danny O'Donoghue
(Dan Harr/Invision)

We don’t know the plot of the next Bond film, but based on Daniel Craig’s previous features we reckon it’ll be depressing. And who are more depressing than The Script?

14. SuBo ft. The Pretenders

Susan Boyle
(Peter Byrne/PA)

The last Bond film heavily emphasised Bond’s Scottish roots. In the wake of M’s death might Bond spend a lot of time walking some miles (possibly 500) through the Scottish Highlands trying to clear his head? If so we think this combo would make the perfect soundtrack.

15. The 1988 Liverpool FC team

You want quintessentially British? Don’t look at tuxedos, casinos and cocktails. You want a 1980s football squad making fools of themselves in a misjudged parody rap.

16. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift
(Yui Mok/PA)

Well she’s everywhere else – why not in a Bond credit sequence?

17. Go back to just having an orchestra again

Orchestra
(Laura Lean/PA)

For our money, two of the best Bond themes were the classic Dr No tune and the score from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Plus there’s the added bonus of cutting out all this speculation and never upsetting poor Paloma Faith again!