NOTD, Nina Nesbitt – Cry Dancing

“YES HONESTLY CAN’T YOU SEE I’M ENTIRELY FINE, FINE IS WHAT I AM, I’M FINE”

Tim: NOTD, a Swedish production duo we’ve featured a couple of times and who are just starting to make waves over here, and Nina Nesbitt who’s off Scotland and has been fairly successful over the years. Together, this.

Tim: Love those lyrics, with the great sense of self-denial, going through all the possible reasons she could be crying with the sole insistence that it’s not You, until at the end we’re stuck wondering who she’s actually trying to convince, the target of the song or actually herself.

Tom: I’m not quite as convinced by the lyrics: I recoiled slightly at that “issues / tissues” couplet at the start of the second verse. And I’m not sure “outstanding” works in that chorus either. But setting that aside: does this sound a bit like it’s in the spirit of “Dancing On My Own” to you? It’ll never be as good as Robyn, of course, nothing could be, but it’s in that spirit .

Tim: It does, yes – both songs have a “look at me I’m doing fine without you YES HONESTLY CAN’T YOU SEE I’M ENTIRELY FINE, FINE IS WHAT I AM, I’M FINE”. It’s a hell of a song musically as well, mind – really good beat, and melody, and production, and I can absolutely see why they’re getting big over here.

Tom: The fact I’m not immediately slating it with that Robyn comparison means it must come off fairly well. There’s a lot to be said for this.

Tim: Love it.