Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country  Switzerland
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)4 March 2020
Selected entrantGjon's Tears
Selected song"Répondez-moi"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final resultContest cancelled
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Switzerland was scheduled to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with the song "Répondez-moi" performed by Gjon's Tears. Its selected entry was internally chosen by Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) in March 2020. To this point, the nation had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty times since its first entry in 1956. In March 2020, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the contest's cancellation due to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its rapid spread across Europe.

Background[]

Main article: Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2020 contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty times since its first entry in 1956.[1] The nation is noted for having won the 1956 contest with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia.[1] Their second and, to this point, most recent victory was achieved in 1988, when Céline Dion won the contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi".[1] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Switzerland had managed to participate in the final four times up to this point. In 2005, the internal selection of Estonian girl band Vanilla Ninja, performing the song "Cool Vibes", qualified Switzerland to the final where they placed 8th. Due to their successful result in 2005, Switzerland was pre-qualified to compete directly in the final in 2006. Between 2007 and 2010, the nation failed to qualify to the final after a string of internal selections. Since opting to organize a national final from 2011 to 2018, Switzerland has managed to qualify to the final twice. In 2019, following a return to the internal selection method, Switzerland qualified for the final for the first time since 2014, placing 4th in the final with the song "She Got Me" performed by Luca Hänni.

The Swiss national broadcaster, Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), broadcasts the event within Switzerland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SRG SSR confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 11 July 2019.[2]

Before Eurovision[]

Internal selection[]

SRG SSR opened a submission period between 2 September 2019 until 16 September 2019 for interested artists and composers to submit their entries.[2] In addition to the public submissions, the four broadcasters in Switzerland: SRF, RSI, RTS and RTR were also able to add wildcard entries to the selection. Multiple songwriting camps were also held in order to create potential songs for the selection. 515 entries were submitted following the submission deadline.[3] Songs shortlisted from the submissions received were tested by music producers and various artists, and the combination of votes of a 100-member public panel (50%) and a 21-member international expert jury (50%) selected the winner. The members of the public panel were put together according to selected criteria in cooperation with Digame, while the international jury consisted of members who had been national juries for their respective countries at the Eurovision Song Contest.[4]

On 10 March 2021, "Répondez-moi" performed by Gjon's Tears was announced as the Swiss entry for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest via the release of the official music video, directed by Janine Piguet, on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel.[5] Gjon's Tears previously participated in the first season of Albanians Got Talent where he placed third in the final. He later participated in season two of  [de] and season eight of The Voice : la plus belle voix where in both shows he qualified to the semi-finals. The song was written and composed by Gjon's Tears himself along with Xavier Michel, Alizé Oswald and Jeroen Swinnen.

At Eurovision[]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was initially scheduled to take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and consist of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and the grand final on 16 May 2020.[6] According to the Eurovision rules, each participating country, except the host nation and the "Big Five", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, would have been required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the final, although the top ten countries from each semi-final would have progressed to the grand final.[7] In January, it was announced that Switzerland would be performing in the second half of the second semi-final of the contest.[8] However, in March, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the contest's cancellation due to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Europe.[9]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Eurovision Song Contest Country Profile: Switzerland". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b Jumawan, Tim (July 11, 2019). "Switzerland confirms participation and reveals submissions process for Eurovision 2020". escxtra.
  3. ^ Jumawan, Tim (September 16, 2019). "Switzerland receives 515 submissions for Eurovision 2020". escxtra.
  4. ^ "Eurovision 2020 - Gjon's Tears (Switzerland)". ESCKAZ. Retrieved 12 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Lewis, Oliver (11 December 2019). WIKI