Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
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Switzerland| Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2019 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) | |||
| Country | Switzerland | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | 7 March 2019 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "She Got Me" | |||
| Artist | Luca Hänni | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (4th, 232 points) | |||
| Final result | 4th, 364 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "She Got Me" written by Laurell Barker, Frazer Mac, Luca Hänni, Jon Hällgren and Lukas Hällgren. The song was performed by Luca Hänni, who was internally selected by the Swiss broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) to represent the nation at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. "She Got Me" was presented to the public as the Swiss entry on 7 March 2019.
Switzerland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 16 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 4, "She Got Me" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. This marked the first time Switzerland managed to qualify to the final after five years since 2014. It was later revealed that Switzerland placed fourth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 232 points. In the final, Switzerland performed in position 24 and placed fourth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 364 points.
Prior to the 2019 contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-nine times since its first entry in 1956.[1] Switzerland is noted for having won the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia. Their second and, to this point, most recent victory was achieved in 1988 when Canadian singer Céline Dion won the contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". 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 onwards, Switzerland has managed to qualify to the final twice out of the last eight years. In 2018, Zibbz and their song "Stones" failed to qualify Switzerland to the final placing 13th in their semi-final.
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 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 May 2018. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Swiss entry for the 2019 contest would be selected internally for the first time since 2010 after Die Entscheidungsshow was dropped as part of austerity measures.[2] Switzerland has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest through both national finals and internal selections in the past. Since 2011, the broadcaster has opted to organize a national final in order to select their entry.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
SRG SSR opened a submission period between 1 September 2018 and 1 October 2018 for interested artists and composers to submit their entries. Artists and songwriters of any nationality were able to submit songs; however those with a Swiss passport or residency were given priority.[3] In addition to the public submission, each of the four broadcasters in Switzerland: Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI), Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) and Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR) were also able to add up to three wildcard entries to the selection process.[4][5] The RTS wildcard selection involved interested artists submitting their entries to the broadcaster between 27 July 2018 and 30 August 2018, while RSI opened a submission period between 27 July 2018 and 30 August 2018 for interested artists and composers to submit their entries for their wildcard selection.[6] For the RSI selection, internet voting held between 10 and 28 September 2018 among the 13 entry submissions received selected the top six songs for a regional final.[7] The regional final, hosted by Clarissa Tami and Axel Belloni, took place on 30 September 2018 from the RSI Studio 2 in Lugano and was broadcast via radio on RSI Rete Uno.[8][9] The three entries ultimately selected as the RSI wildcards were: "Mama (I Walk Alone)" performed by Julie Meletta, "Carry the Light" performed by 2014 Swiss entrant Sebalter and "Playground" performed by Scilla Hess.[10]
On 1 October 2018, SRG SSR announced that 420 entries were submitted following the submission deadline and five of the songs were shortlisted on 16 November 2018.[11][12] The five songs were then tested by their music producers with various artists and the combination of a 100-member public panel (50%) and the votes of a 21-member international expert jury (50%) selected the Swiss entry. The members of the public panel were put together from 6,100 applications from Swiss residents 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.[13]
| Name | Country | Profession |
|---|---|---|
| Typh Barrow |  Belgium |
Singer, composer |
| Maria Marcus |  Sweden |
Music producer, songwriter |
| Leonid Shirin |  Belarus |
Composer |
| Mark De-Lisser |  United Kingdom |
Vocal coach |
| Rennie Mirro | Sweden |
Actor |
| Sasha Saedi |  Austria |
Music manager |
| Alexey Gross | Belarus |
Singer |
| Adrienn Zsédenyi |  Hungary |
Singer, actress, author, producer, mentor, social worker |
| Anders Øhrstrøm |  Denmark |
Singer, composer, music producer, sound designer, vocal coach |
| Deivydas Zvonkus |  Lithuania |
Composer, producer |
| Tinkara Kovač |  Slovenia |
Singer, flautist, represented Slovenia in the 2014 contest |
| Grzegorz Urban |  Poland |
Composer, arranger, pianist |
| Ovidiu Jacobsen |  Romania |
Songwriter, musician, producer, represented Romania in the 2010 and 2014 contests |
| Helga Möller |  Iceland |
Singer, represented Iceland in the 1986 contest as member of ICY |
| Gore Melian |  Armenia |
Singer, songwriter, producer |
| Rafailas Karpis | Lithuania |
Opera singer |
| Danielle Spencer |  Australia |
Singer, actress |
| Argyro Christodoulidou |  Cyprus |
Composer, songwriter |
| Gordon Groothedde |  Netherlands |
Composer, producer |
| Henrik Johnsson | Sweden |
Television presenter and producer |
| Ruth Lorenzo |  Spain |
Singer, songwriter, represented Spain in the 2014 contest |
On 8 March 2019, "She Got Me" performed by Luca Hänni was announced as the Swiss entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Hänni had previously participated in and won the ninth season of the German reality talent show Deutschland sucht den Superstar. The official music video of the song, directed by India Rischko and Traviez The Director, was presented to the public on the same day via the official Eurovision Song Contest's YouTube channel. "She Got Me" was written by Luca Hänni together with Laurell Barker, Frazer Mac, Jon Hällgren and Lukas Hällgren.[14]
Promotion
Luca Hänni specifically promoted "She Got Me" as the Swiss Eurovision entry on 6 April 2019 by performing during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Edsilia Rombley and Marlayne.[15]
