If you like your rock music (although given that you’re reading this website, it’s unlikely you do) then one of the entries of this year’s Melodifestivalen will be a refreshing interval from the likes of your Alcazars and your Shirley Clamps. That entry will be ‘Tick Tock’ by Nina Söderquist. The songwriters describe it as an up-tempo rock song with a lot of energy, a touch of flamenco, and a rock diva attitude. Nina herself calls it a tough rock song. Hmmm, we like the bit where they describe it as flamenco! Nina will be performing first in Heat One, which is arguably the strongest Heat this year, containing some of the most anticipated debutantes and comebacks.
Nina may well be familiar to UK readers as she has recently appeared on the West End, playing the lead character of ‘Lady of the Lake’ in Monty Python’s ‘Spamalot’. She got the job in the now quite conventional way of winning the part via a television show. Similar to the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows that have been on the BBC schedules for the past couple of years, TV3 ran a tv programme called West End Star. The winner of which was guaranteed a lead role in Spamalot which is currently playing at the Palace Theatre in London. Nina won the final with 59% of the votes.
It’s her first year in Melodifestivalen but nevertheless, she’s expected to do well – as her appearance on Saturday night prime time television in Sweden was less than 12 months ago. ‘Tick Tock’ was composed by Johan Nylander and Matti Alfonsetti. Both writers are stalwarts of the rock genre so we aren’t very familiar with them. However, they’re probably most known to Schlager fans for the previous entries to Melodifestivalen – performed by The Poodles. Nina herself looks like a lot of fun though, and quite quirky, so we’re actually quite looking forward to hearing her entry.
