Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) organised an internal selection in order to select the Swiss entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	Switzerland
National selection
Selection process	Internal selection
Selection date(s)	7 March 2019
Selected entrant	Luca Hänni
Selected song	"She Got Me"
Selected songwriter(s)	Laurell Barker Mac Frazer Luca Hänni Jon Hällgren Lukas Hällgren
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (4th, 232 points)
Final result	4th, 364 points
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Background

Main article: Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2019 Contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-nine times since their 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. In 2018, Switzerland failed to qualify to the final, placing 13th in the semi-final with the song "Stones" performed by Zibbz. The last time they had qualified was in 2014.

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 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 May 2018.[2] Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Swiss entry for the 2018 contest would be selected through a Die Entscheidungsshow which has been used to select the Swiss entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 has been dropped as part of austerity measures, and would therefore opt for an internal selection to select their entry for 2019. The last time Switzerland internally selected their entry was in 2010.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 19 July 2018, it was announced that Switzerland would drop Die Entscheidungsshow and select their entry by having 120 jury members to select the song that will represent them on stage at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.[3]

Format

The juries consisted of a 100-member public panel that was put together according to selected criteria in cooperation with Digame, while a 100-member International Expert Jury was formed of former members of the respective country juries at Eurovision. Both juries will each have a 50% say in the Swiss entry for Israel. Once the submission window closed on October 1 the two juries were invited to listen to all of the songs. All of the Swiss broadcasters; SRF, RSI, RTS and RTR had the ability to add wildcard entries to the selection. The final decision on the Swiss entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was then be made by the public jury and the international expert jury, with the winner revealed on 8 March 2019 by the Swiss broadcasters.[4] On 19 December 2018, SRF revealed the 21-member international jury panel who will help to determine the Swiss entry and artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

Members of the International Jury

Typh Barrow – Singer, composer Maria Eva Lundin (Maria Marcus) – Music producer, songwriter Leonid Shyrin – Composer Mark De-Lisser – Vocal coach Rennie Mirro – Actor Sasha Saedi – Musician Alexey Gross – Singer Adrienn Zsédenyi – Singer, actress, author, producer, mentor, social worker Anders Øhrstrøm – Singer, composer, music producer, sound designer, vocal coach Deivydas Zvonkus – Composer, producer Tinkara Kovač – Singer, flautist, represented Slovenia in the 2014 Contest Grzegorz Urban – Composer, arranger, pianist Ovidiu Jacobsen – Songwriter, musician, producer represented Romania in the 2014 Contest and Romania in the 2010 Contest Helga Möller – Singer, represented Iceland in the 1986 Contest as part of ICY Gore Melian – Singer, songwriter, producer Rafailas Karpis – Opera singer Danielle Spencer – Singer, actress Argyro Christodoulidou – Composer, songwriter Gordon Groothedde – Composer, producer Henrik Johnsson - Producer, presenter Ruth Lorenzo Pascual – Singer, songwriter, represented Spain in the 2014 Contest

RSI selection

On 21 July 2018, Switzerland’s Italian language broadcaster, RSI, launched its search for the nation's next entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Interested singers and songwriters were able to submit their entries between July 27 and August 30.[5] On 10 September 2018, RSI revealed the thirteen songs in the running for their Eurovision 2019 selection. A public poll was also launched for the public to vote for their favourite until 28 September. On 30 September, RSI revealed the three entries that advanced to the next stage of the selection.[6]

RSI Selection – 21 July 2018
Artist	Song	Votes
Davide Buzzi	"Mama"	0
Dianaerika Lettieri	"Amore infernale"	0
Iris Moné	"Lift My Soul Up"	0
Iris Moné	"Torno a casa"	0
Julie Meletta	"Mama (I Walk Alone)"	13
Karin Cerini	"Sorry"	2
Max Deste	"Dove finisce il giorno"	0
Nick Antik	"Until You Will Be Mine"	3
Scilla Hess	"Playground"	7
Scilla Hess	"Silence Breakers"	3
Sebalter	"Carry the Light"	12
Theo	"One More Time"	0
Tommaso Giacopini	"Mi hai detto ama"	0

SRF selection

On 16 November 2018, Switzerland’s German language broadcaster, SRF, revealed that five songs had made it through to the final round, which would be tested by music producers and various artists, who would then face the jury for further evaluation, with the final entry to be revealed in March.[7]

Final selection

On 8 March 2019, Luca Hänni was announced as the Swiss entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "She Got Me".[8]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Switzerland was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[9]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Switzerland was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from Moldova and preceding the entry from Latvia.[10]

Semi-final

Switzerland performed fourth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Moldova and preceding the entry from Latvia. At the end of the show, Switzerland was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Switzerland placed fourth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 232 points: 137 points from the televoting and 95 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[11]

Points awarded to Switzerland

Points awarded to Switzerland (Semi-final 2)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Austria  Germany  Malta	Azerbaijan	Armenia  Croatia  Netherlands	Norway  Romania	Albania  Denmark  Ireland  Italy  Moldova  United Kingdom
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
	Lithuania  Russia  Sweden	Latvia	North Macedonia
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Sweden	Croatia  Ireland	Germany  Netherlands  Norway	Austria	Armenia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Albania  Lithuania  North Macedonia	Denmark	Romania	Azerbaijan  Russia

Points awarded to Switzerland (final)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Austria	Germany  Romania  Spain	Armenia  Azerbaijan  Malta	Australia  Cyprus  Greece  Iceland  Ireland  Israel  United Kingdom	Croatia  Denmark  Netherlands  Norway  Serbia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Belgium  Czech Republic  Hungary  Poland  Portugal  San Marino	Albania  Belarus  Estonia  Moldova  North Macedonia  Slovenia	Italy	Finland  France  Lithuania  Russia	Latvia  Sweden
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
	Albania  Austria  Estonia  Ireland  Netherlands  Sweden	Croatia	Armenia  Belgium	Denmark  Germany  Norway
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Iceland  Serbia  Slovenia  United Kingdom	Belarus  Romania	Finland  Georgia  Hungary  Israel  North Macedonia  Spain	France  San Marino	Cyprus  Portugal

Points awarded by Switzerland

Semi-final 2 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Albania  Netherlands 10 points  Norway  Sweden 8 points  Sweden  North Macedonia 7 points  North Macedonia  Latvia 6 points  Netherlands  Norway 5 points  Croatia  Moldova 4 points  Azerbaijan  Malta 3 points  Russia  Lithuania 2 points  Denmark  Denmark 1 point  Lithuania  Russia

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Italy  North Macedonia 10 points  Albania  Netherlands 8 points  Norway  Sweden 7 points  Serbia  Norway 6 points  Netherlands  Germany 5 points  Spain  Italy 4 points  Sweden  Australia 3 points  France  Russia 2 points  North Macedonia  France 1 point  Denmark  United Kingdom

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Swiss jury:[11]

• Cyrill Camenzind – Chairperson – studio manager, producer
• Leticia Ribeiro De Carvalho – singer
• Eliane Müller – musician, producer
• Rocco Casella – musician, teacher (backing musician for Sebalter at the 2014 contest)
• Willy Dezelu – singer, represented Music programme responsible La 1ère

Split voting results from Switzerland (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		L. R. De Carvalho	C. Camenzind	E. Müller	R. Casella	W. Dezelu	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	15	17	8	13	14	15		15
02	Ireland	10	14	17	12	11	14		17
03	Moldova	5	12	5	5	5	6	5	13
04	Switzerland
05	Latvia	8	5	6	7	1	4	7	16
06	Romania	14	11	9	14	16	13		11
07	Denmark	9	7	16	8	7	9	2	9	2
08	Sweden	1	4	3	1	3	2	10	3	8
09	Austria	17	9	10	11	15	11		12
10	Croatia	7	16	12	17	17	12		6	5
11	Malta	6	6	14	9	8	7	4	14
12	Lithuania	4	8	13	10	10	8	3	10	1
13	Russia	13	10	7	6	12	10	1	8	3
14	Albania	11	15	15	16	9	16		1	12
15	Norway	12	3	4	4	6	5	6	2	10
16	Netherlands	2	1	1	3	2	1	12	5	6
17	North Macedonia	3	2	2	2	4	3	8	4	7
18	Azerbaijan	16	13	11	15	13	17		7	4

Split voting results from Switzerland (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		L. R. De Carvalho	C. Camenzind	E. Müller	R. Casella	W. Dezelu	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	11	11	20	8	15	15		20
02	Albania	17	20	19	21	7	17		2	10
03	Czech Republic	12	9	8	9	14	11		19
04	Germany	4	5	7	18	9	5	6	11
05	Russia	14	12	5	5	13	8	3	14
06	Denmark	18	13	22	7	8	13		10	1
07	San Marino	24	25	25	22	24	24		25
08	North Macedonia	1	2	3	2	1	1	12	9	2
09	Sweden	2	3	1	1	10	3	8	7	4
10	Slovenia	23	21	21	19	18	22		16
11	Cyprus	15	10	16	20	23	19		21
12	Netherlands	3	1	2	4	3	2	10	5	6
13	Greece	25	24	24	25	25	25		23
14	Israel	19	19	14	24	22	21		18
15	Norway	5	6	4	3	5	4	7	3	8
16	United Kingdom	7	14	6	10	16	10	1	22
17	Iceland	21	8	18	14	11	16		17
18	Estonia	20	15	11	17	17	20		15
19	Belarus	10	7	15	13	21	14		24
20	Azerbaijan	16	4	13	16	12	12		12
21	France	6	17	9	12	6	9	2	8	3
22	Italy	8	18	17	11	2	6	5	1	12
23	Serbia	13	16	10	15	20	18		4	7
24	Switzerland
25	Australia	9	22	12	6	4	7	4	13
26	Spain	22	23	23	23	19	23		6	5

References

1. "Switzerland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
2. Granger, Anthony (15 May 2018). "Switzerland: SRF Will Continue Eurovision Participation Despite Run of Poor Results". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
3. Granger, Anthony (19 July 2018). "Switzerland drops Die Entscheidungsshow as Eurovision selection". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
4. Granger, Anthony (1 September 2018). "Switzerland: SRF opens applications for audience jury". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
5. Granger, Anthony (21 July 2018). "Switzerland: RSI announces Eurovision 2019 selection details". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
6. Granger, Anthony (30 September 2018). "Switzerland: Three songs progress to next round of RSI selection". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
7. Herbert, Emily (16 November 2018). "Switzerland: Five Songs Through to Next Round of Eurovision Selection". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
8. Groot, Evert (8 November 2019). "Switzerland sends Luca Hänni with 'She Got Me' to Tel Aviv". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
9. Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
10. "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
11. Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.

External links

• (in German) Official site SRF
• (in French) Official site RTS
• (in Italian) Official site RSI