The History of Switzerland at Eurovision - Part 2: The Long Road to Basel

Steven Perkins: 00:00:01

Hello London, we are ready for your vote. Hello, I'm Stephen Perkins and this is Douce Poir, the Eurovision podcast from the team behind Binge Watch.

iumphant return to the top in: 2024

But before we get into that, let's take a look at the latest headlines. The big news over the last week has come from Eurovision HQ itself.

As this year's contest starts to take shape, broadcaster SRGSSR has released a rendering of the stage to give us an idea of the space this year's representatives will be performing in. It's created by designer Florian Wieder and is inspired by Switzerland's mountains and diversity.

It features a long catwalk with a slightly arrowhead shaped performance area at one end and what looks like a wall to wall secondary performance area at the other, creating what would seem to be an immers performance space that will have the arena audience right at the heart of the performances.

The visual and audio brand identity for this year's show is the work of art director Arthur Deneuve, who wanted listening to be the main theme of the concept which he has called Unity Shapes Love. We've also had an update on this year's ticketing situation for those who are hoping to be in Basel for the event.

Swiss platform Ticket Corner is the official ticketing partner this year and the first batch of tickets will go on sale on 29 January, the day after the semi final draw takes place. And that's not all.

The broadcaster has also revealed that there will be an arena plus public viewing area in Basel this year where on Saturday 17th of May football stadium St.

Jakob park will play host to a screening of the Grand Final with an additional programme of entertainment, the details of which will be released at a later date.

And while we wait for details of who will be hosting this year's live shows, Swiss newspaper Blick has reported that the hosting team this year will consist of three women, TV presenter, model and actress. Michelle Hunziker is believed to be one of them, but the identities of the other two seem to be a mystery for now. More on this as we get it.

d for the UK in Birmingham in: 1998

be hosted by Cornard Maas and: 2021

rovision victory in Dublin in: 1988

And just a few years after Celine's triumph, Switzerland would find itself stuck in a Eurovision rut that it would take over 20 years to emerge from in the previous episode.

nd's fluttering fortunes from: 1989

So obviously: 1989

And in terms of that year's Swiss entry, well, I think we all know that in the year following a win, nations often feel a sense of freedom to truly go for broke, since it's the rare occasion when the pressure isn't really on them. As a result, this was the one and only year to date in which Switzerland chose to send an entry in Romansh, their fourth official language.

ying, but I'll say it anyway.: 1989

But hey, there was an entry in Esperanto that was shortlisted for San Marino last year, so you never really know what the future holds. And we still don't know anything about this year's Swiss entry either. Just saying. Anyway, we're getting off track already.

As for the song itself, it involves a Princess Diana lookalike at the piano with three gentlemen standing over her in the sort of blocking that looks a little bit like an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? I quite like it. It's certainly not a. Wait for it. Bad Romansch, I'm sorry.

It's a perfectly passable entry that ends up with a perfectly acceptable 13th place out of 22. At the risk of raising questions about my taste levels.

ord as saying their effort in: 1990

I can't even fully explain what it is about this song that I love, because if I try to look at it objectively I'm struck by the fact that it is quite low energy. The chorus feels weirdly underpowered and it does have distinct lift music vibes, but at the same time I adore it.

It's clearly designed to showcase Egon's violin playing rather than his vocals, and there's something just so earnest and delightful about the chorus that it fully ear wormed into my brain when I was researching this episode and I spent the next three hours humming it.

televote had been a thing in: 1990

But sadly the international juries were not quite as charmed as I was and Egon only finished in 11th place. This would not be his last hurrah at Eurovision, however.

ed on Switzerland's ill fated: 1998

e bit better for the Swiss in: 1991

Music Man, a big brassy French chanson that I imagine was targeted to get them big points from the francophone nations in the contest.

tzerland's worst result since: 1987

last year that focused on the: 1993

Already get a French Canadian in to take a huge sweeping ballad. This is another one that definitely ranks among the all time Swiss greats.

For me, it really gets everything right and I think has definite winning vibes. But in the end she had to settle for third place behind Neve Kavanagh and Sonja and to be fair, that's quite good company to be in.

Unfortunately, this is going to be the last piece of good news for Switzerland at Eurovision for quite some time.

1994 saw them sending Giulio with Stolpre Gando, Italian for I'm praying, which had a more relaxed vibe than a lot of their previous entries, to the point where I'm not even 100% certain that Giulio had ironed his shirt before going on stage. Stage, it's actually a pretty lovely song, but it doesn't quite take off in the last third in the way that I think it really needs to.

And it ended up in 19th place out of 25.

not be competing in Dublin in: 1995

Thus,: 1995

and comfortably qualified in: 1996

However, it is important to note here that the qualifying round was a audio only and B featured a completely distinct set of jurors to the ones that would be voting in the Grand Final. So success in the pre qualifying round was absolutely no guarantee of how it would perform on Saturday night.

And so it was for Cathy who ended up finishing in joint 16th place out of the 23 countries in the final.

I guess if nothing else, this just goes to show the capriciousness of the whole Eurovision experience and how so much of it is luck and whether your entry appeals to the taste of people who happen to be voting on a particular night.

By: 1997

I think this is the point where I start to see clear signs of Switzerland starting to lose their way at the contest because it's hard to see who this entry was designed to appeal to.

otton's third place finish in: 1993

And the not at all triumphant return of Egon Egerman on the aforementioned Las Een or Let him by Gunver, whose name my English addled brain constantly reads as governor. So I'm concentrating very hard at this point.

g memory of this entry at the: 1998

There's nothing wrong with this song or the performance at all, so I can only assume it was just that age old Eurovision trap of it simply not registering enough to make anybody's top 10.

points from: 1993

Returning in: 2000

to take part in Copenhagen in: 2001

nd yet, when they returned in: 2002

up yet another relegation for: 2003

time Switzerland returned in: 2004

Your previous performance at the contest didn't count unless you'd finished in the top 10 the year before, in which case you automatically qualified, or of course you were a member of the Big Four, in which case you could just sit the semis out every year. Regardless, the rest of the countries had to fight to earn their right to perform on Saturday night.

So with a clean slate and everything to prove, Switzerland came out with all guns blazing, right? Right? Absolutely not.

In fact, they sent what I would argue is the worst entry in Switzerland's entire Eurovision history, Celebrate by Piero and the Music Star. It's almost hard to put into words how monumentally misjudged everything about this entry is, but let me say this.

If your song is designed entirely around the concept of bringing everyone together to have a good time, you really need to make sure that it is sufficiently rousing. Otherwise you end up with what happened here.

Piero constantly exhorting the audience to clap their hands and celebrate, and the audience largely not feeling it at all. Honestly, if people aren't clapping their hands by the eighth time you've asked, it's not going to happen.

To make matters worse, for all that Piero is a fairly unappealing frontman, he at least has the stamina to survive three minutes on stage, which is more than I can say for the music stars. By the time they join in two thirds of the way through the song, most of them are out of breath and making Gemini sound positively tuneful.

This got zero points in the semi final, and it's one of the rare occasions when I can say that a song absolutely deserved it.

The one saving grace of: 2004

Admittedly, bringing in an act with a huge existing fan base in other countries is one of the most cynical things you can do at Eurovision, but it was a mutually beneficial deal.

Vanilla Ninja had already tried and failed to represent Estonia and Switzerland was in desperate need of a good result and it paid off for both of them. Naturally.

inal, their best result since: 1993

ake part in the semi final in: 2006

Not that it was going to stop the UK from sending Scooch one year later with a song called if We All Give A Little, which you can probably guess is about bringing everyone together in harmony, another concept that was pretty old hat at Eurovision. By this point they made it to joint 16th place in the final and frankly should count themselves lucky.

t Eurovision, the period from: 2007

It's truly a case of throwing mud at the wall and seeing what sticks.

2007 saw them trying a novelty song with DJ Bobo's vampires are alive, but frankly it lacked commitment to the bit, and thanks to some poor live vocals and truly cringe choreography, Switzerland couldn't even troll their way to the final. Live vocals were also a stumbling point for Paolo Meneguzzi's unfortunately titled Era Stupendo.

It was amazing in: 2008

ere was some brief respite in: 2011

rs unbreakable by SEN plus in: 2012

The group were apparently members of the Salvation army who had to be stopped from wearing their uniforms on stage by the ebu, and it was every bit as much fun as being proselytized to sounds.

It was noteworthy however for the inclusion of 95 year old double bass player Emil Ramshour, who remains the oldest person ever to compete at Eurovision, and they certainly didn't let you forget that with the camera cutting to him approximately every 20 seconds.

In: 2014

It was definitely a love it or hate it entry, but I was in the former camp because he had charm and presence and the song was a real earworm and the 13th place finish in what was a fairly competitive field that year felt like enough of a victory for a nation that had really been through it at Eurovision lately, especially considering they were seventh in the televote and would have done a lot better overall if it weren't for those darn juries. Unfortunately, things were about to get worse with a second streak of four consecutive non qualifiers.

anie Renee's Time to Shine in: 2015

ika's the last of our kind in: 2016

2017 was a particularly unfortunate year because that year's representatives Time Bell were offered a song called Yodelit, which they rejected in favour of a different song called Apollo.

Now I really liked Apollo and I was fairly gutted when it didn't qualify because it felt like a really strong entry at the time, but looking back on it now I think I can see the disconnect.

The chorus doesn't really go as hard as it should and the performance is a little bit too static because singer Miruna Manescu is stuck up on a podium for far too long Song, although it was an improvement on Switzerland's previous two placings, they still only made 12th in the semi final, which must have been particularly gutting because they were only four points behind the song in 10th place.

But probably the most galling element of all was that Jodalit was offered to Romania after time, Bell turned it down and ended up finishing in seventh place in the final.

Then in: 2018

Fortunately, in: 2019

Broadcaster SRGSSR reverted to an internal selection process in a bid to shake things up and selected Luca Heney with she Got Me, a former bricklayer with the arms to show for it and a cheeky smile to boot. Luca had plenty of teen idol appeal and crucially had a banger of a song to back it up.

She Got Me is an interesting case melodically, because it's kind of chorusless, the bridge ends up taking the role that the chorus normally would, and the chorus is swapped out for a dance break, but it absolutely works. His live vocals weren't flawless, but they didn't need to be because this felt like a modern pop package.

got their best results since: 1993

that Jean was invited back in: 2021

Jean proved that he was more than up to the task of the live performance and Switzerland emerged top with the Juries, though only finished sixth in the televote, meaning that the overall victory went to Italy, as Switzerland ended up with third place overall.

and tried a similar theme in: 2022

Indeed, Switzerland got lucky that this one missed the switch to televote only semi finals by one year because they owed their qualification entirely to the juries. They finished 16th out of 17 countries in the televote in their semi.

Unfortunately, they were left exposed again in the final and got the dreaded zero points in the televote. But having finished 12th with the juries, it was enough to leave them in 17th place place overall.

ed to come through though, in: 2023

Although he qualified for the final and finished 14th with the juries and 18th in the televote, due to some generally wide disagreements between both sets of voters across the board, he only made it to 20th place on the combined scoreboard. But we all know what happened next.

I can distinctly remember where I was when I heard the Code by Nemo, and I remember thinking that I'd almost certainly just heard the next winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. The track was a genre bending mix of rap, pop, drum and bass and opera that was sure to hit home with the juries.

And all accounts suggested that Nemo was an incredibly talented live performer, which we saw with our own eyes in Malmo when they sounded, if anything, better than they do on the studio version. Despite a physically demanding performance and some staging that proved that sometimes less is more.

Predictably, the song romped home with the juries finishing in first place with a lead of almost 150 points over its nearest rival, France's Slimane, with Mon Amour.

And even though Nemo only managed fifth place in the televote, they still secured enough points to remain on top when the two sets of scores were combined, maintaining a lead of more than 40 points over televote winner Croatia's Baby Lasagne with Rim Tim tagged him. And that brings us right up to the present day.

Who knows what Switzerland has in store for us this year, whether they'll use the free pass from last year's win to do something truly daring, or whether they'll play it safe.

But I feel like we can say they finally dragged themselves kicking and screaming into the modern Eurovision era after a lengthy, lengthy series of missteps. And long may it last. Phew. That's it for this week. Thank you for tuning in once again, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Please don't forget to subscribe on your podcast platform of choice if you haven't done so already. And if you'd like to leave us a nice review, that would even better. I will be back in a week's time with a roundup of the latest headlines.

So I'll see you then. Until next time, good night, Europe, and good morning, Australia.