Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Country	Switzerland
National selection
Selection process	Die Große Entscheidungsshow
Selection date(s)	1 February 2014
Selected entrant	Sebalter
Selected song	"Hunter of Stars"
Selected songwriter(s)	Sebastiano Paù-Lessi
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (4th, 92 points)
Final result	13th, 64 points
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2013 • 2014 • 2015►

Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Swiss entry was selected through the national final Die Große Entscheidungsshow, organised by the Swiss broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). Sebalter represented Switzerland with the song "Hunter of Stars", which qualified from the second semi-final to compete in the final. Switzerland placed 13th in the final, scoring 64 points.

Die Große Entscheidungsshow

Die Große Entscheidungsshow was the fourth edition of the Swiss national final format that selected Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The national final was a collaboration between four broadcasters in Switzerland: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), the Swiss-French broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI) and the Swiss-Romansh broadcaster Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR).^[1][2]

Selection process

On 17 July 2013, SRG SSR confirmed Switzerland's participation in the 2014 Contest and published the regulations for the national selection, detailing several changes that modified the procedure of the selection from that of previous years.^[3] The selection was split into three stages before the finalists for the live show and ultimately the winner would be selected. The first stage of the competition included SRF/RTR, RTS and RSI each conducting varying selections in order to determine the candidates they would submit for the second stage of the competition. SRF/RTR submitted nine candidates, RTS submitted six candidates and RSI submitted three candidates. The second stage was an "Expert Check" of the selected candidates which took place on 30 November 2013 and featured live performances of the eighteen songs that qualified from their respective broadcaster selections. A jury panel selected three artists and songs to qualify from the SRF/RTR selection, two from the RTS selection and one from the RSI selection. The six artists and songs proceeded to the third stage, the televised national final, where the winning artist and song was selected to represent Switzerland in Copenhagen.^[1]

SRF/RTR selection

The SRF/RTR selection involved an online internet voting platform where interested artists could submit their songs and have them listed for public listening. The platform began accepting entries on 30 September 2013 and concluded on 28 October 2013. 159 entries were submitted following the submission deadline, including entries from 2006 Cypriot entrant, Annet Artani and 2011 Croatian entrant, Daria Kinzer.^[4][5][6] Internet users had between 4 and 18 November 2013 to vote for their favourite entries.^[4] The internet votes were to be combined with the votes from an expert jury and the top nine entries that proceeded to the "Expert Check" were announced on 22 November 2013.^[2][7] At the conclusion of the "Expect Check" on 30 November 2013, the three songs and artists that qualified to the national final from the SRF/RTR selection were "Together Forever" performed by 3forAll, "La luce del cuore" performed by Nino Colonna and "I Still Believe" performed by Yasmina Hunzinger.^[8]

RTS selection

RTS opened a submission period from 30 September 2013 until 28 October 2013 during which interested artists and composers could submit their entries. Following the submission deadline, RTS received 34 entries that were evaluated by the votes from internet users (50%), who had from 4 to 18 November 2013 to vote for their favourite entries, and the votes of an expert jury (50%).^[9][10] The top six entries that proceeded to the "Expert Check" were announced on 21 November 2013.^[7] At the conclusion of the "Expect Check" on 30 November 2013, the two songs and artists that qualified to the national final from the RTS selection were "Au paradis" performed by Christian Tschanz and "Une terre sans vous" performed by Natacha & Stéphanie.^[8]

RSI selection

RSI opened a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries from 21 July 2013 until the deadline on 30 September 2013.^[11] Originally, RSI planned a 7-song regional final that would have been broadcast via radio on RSI Rete Tre from Lugano, however, the broadcaster opted to suspend the regional final and extend the submission deadline to 28 October 2013.^[12][13] The winner of the regional singing competition Fattore Voce 2013, Agata Pelloni, was originally to be given a wildcard entry to compete in the regional final.^[14] After the submission deadline closed, RSI received 23 entries, which were evaluated by an expert jury consisting of 2008 Swiss entrant Paolo Meneguzzi, Ramona Cerutti and Igor Negrini.^[15] The top three entries that proceeded to the "Expert Check" were announced on 13 November 2013.^[16] At the conclusion of the "Expect Check" on 30 November 2013, the song and artist that qualified to the national final from the RSI selection was "Hunter of Stars" performed by Sebalter.^[8]

Expert Check

The second stage was an "Expert Check" of the selected candidates which was webcast from the SRF studios in Zurich on 30 November 2013 and was hosted by Sven Epiney.^[17] The candidates performed their songs in front of an expert panel which assessed the performers on criteria such as live performance skills, voice quality and stage presence. The expert panel consisted of two permanent judges, choreographer Rafael Antonio and vocal coach Freda Goodlett, which were joined by other experts that represented the Swiss broadcasters and only judged songs competing in their respective selection.^[8] Songs that competed in the SRF/RTR selection were evaluated by the director of strategic marketing at Universal Music Switzerland Moritz Faccin, the RTS candidates were evalauted by director of Option Musique Catherine Colombara and RTS entertainment production manager Emile Felber, and the RSI candidates were evaluated by musician Nicola Locarnini. Three artists and songs qualified from the SRF/RTR selection, two from the RTS selection and one from the RSI selection.

National final

Die Große Entscheidungsshow took place on 1 February 2014 at the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, hosted by Sven Epiney. The show consisted of two parts: in the first part the six candidate songs that were in contention to represent Switzerland were performed and in the second part each candidate performed a cover version of another song. In the second part, Christian Tschanz performed "Aux Champs-Élysées" (originally by Joe Dassin), 3 for All performed "All For Love" (originally by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting), Nino Colonna performed "L'Italiano" (originally by Toto Cutugno), Yasmina Hunzinger performed "Heavy on My Heart" (originally by Anastacia), Natacha & Stéphanie performed "Papaoutai" (originally by Stromae) and Sebalter performed "Wake Me Up" (originally by Avicii).^[18] In addition to the performances from the competing artists, Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest performed as a guest during the show.^[19]

The winner was determined by the combination of televoting (50%) and the votes of an expert jury (50%).^[2] Sebalter was the winner with the song "Hunter of Stars".^[20] The jury panel that accounted for 50% of the votes consisted of Luisa Rossi, Igor Negrini, Stefan Büsser, Catherine Colombara, Thierry Romanens, Pele Loriano, Tamara Steffen, Tanja Dankner, René Spescha and Dominik Flaschka.^[21]

At Eurovision

Sebalter at the second semi-final dress rehearsal

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Switzerland was drawn to compete in the second half of the second semi-final on 8 May 2014.^[22] In the second semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Switzerland would perform 12th, following Macedonia and preceding Greece.^[23] Switzerland qualified from the second semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winner's press conference for the second semi-final qualifiers, Switzerland was allocated to compete in the second half of the final.^[24] In the final, the producers of the show decided that Switzerland would perform 20th, following Spain and preceding Hungary.^[25] At the end of voting, Switzerland finished 13th overall with 64 points, marking the country's best placing in the final since 2005. It was later revealed that Switzerland finished 4th in the second semi-final, the best placing for a Swiss participant in the semi-final era.

On stage, Sebalter was joined by one backing vocalist and four musicians: Patric Scott, Marco Cuzzovaglia, Rocco Casella, Mattia Bordignon and Christoph Pedretti. The Swiss performance featured Sebalter playing the violin and drum on a backdrop of fiery elements projected on the LED screens and the use of pyrotechnic effects.^[26]

In Switzerland, three different stations broadcast the contest.^[27] Sven Epiney provided German commentary for both semi-finals airing on SRF zwei and the final airing on SRF 1.^[28] Sandy Altermatt and Alessandro Bertoglio provided Italian commentary for the second semi-final airing on RSI La 2 and the final airing on RSI La 1.^[29] Jean-Marc Richard and Valérie Ogier provided French commentary for the second semi-final airing on RTS Deux and the final airing on RTS Un.^[30] The Swiss spokesperson revealing the result of the Swiss vote in the final was Kurt Aeschbacher.^[31]

Points awarded to Switzerland

Points awarded by Switzerland

Semi-final 2 Points awarded in second semi-final: 12 points  Austria 10 points  Macedonia 8 points  Finland 7 points  Romania 6 points  Slovenia 5 points  Malta 4 points  Greece 3 points  Poland 2 points  Norway 1 point  Ireland

Final Points awarded in the final: 12 points  Austria 10 points  Netherlands 8 points  Spain 7 points  Germany 6 points  Sweden 5 points  Norway 4 points  Finland 3 points  Denmark 2 points  Italy 1 point  Hungary

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Swiss jury:^[32]

• Marcus van Lier – Chairperson – Managing Director Warner Music Switzerland
• Mélanie Freymond – television and radio host
• Ivan Broggini – singer, represented Switzerland in the 2012 Contest as part of Sinplus
• Sina Bellwald – singer, songwriter
• Pascal Vonlanthen – singer, songwriter

Semi-final 2

The Swiss votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.^[33]

Semi-final 2 – Swiss Results
Draw	Country	M. van Lier	M. Freymond	I. Broggini	S. Bellwald	P. Vonlanthen	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Malta	8	4	9	2	4	4	9	6	5
02	Israel	12	7	7	12	14	11	12	12
03	Norway	11	3	1	1	1	3	11	9	2
04	Georgia	5	8	12	14	13	12	14	13
05	Poland	4	14	5	13	5	9	5	8	3
06	Austria	3	2	6	3	2	2	1	1	12
07	Lithuania	13	11	11	11	12	14	13	14
08	Finland	2	1	2	5	3	1	7	3	8
09	Ireland	10	6	3	8	11	7	10	10	1
10	Belarus	14	13	14	7	7	13	8	11
11	Macedonia	9	9	4	6	6	6	2	2	10
12	Switzerland
13	Greece	7	12	13	9	8	10	4	7	4
14	Slovenia	6	5	8	4	10	5	6	5	6
15	Romania	1	10	10	10	9	8	3	4	7

Final

The Swiss votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.^[34]

Final – Swiss Results
Draw	Country	M. van Lier	M. Freymond	I. Broggini	S. Bellwald	P. Vonlanthen	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Ukraine	25	20	17	13	12	20	21	22
02	Belarus	23	21	20	20	17	23	22	23
03	Azerbaijan	24	17	21	8	19	22	25	24
04	Iceland	12	12	22	22	13	17	17	17
05	Norway	10	10	2	2	3	4	12	6	5
06	Romania	11	19	18	16	14	15	13	15
07	Armenia	15	9	14	9	11	11	10	12
08	Montenegro	18	18	19	15	18	21	16	20
09	Poland	16	25	9	25	9	18	7	14
10	Greece	13	22	25	24	25	24	9	16
11	Austria	6	1	8	1	1	1	1	1	12
12	Germany	17	5	12	12	8	9	4	4	7
13	Sweden	1	6	7	19	20	8	6	5	6
14	France	3	15	23	23	10	13	23	19
15	Russia	14	24	16	10	21	19	18	21
16	Italy	21	14	4	14	22	14	5	9	2
17	Slovenia	22	16	13	5	23	16	20	18
18	Finland	4	4	3	4	4	2	15	7	4
19	Spain	19	3	6	11	15	10	3	3	8
20	Switzerland
21	Hungary	5	13	10	18	16	12	8	10	1
22	Malta	7	8	15	6	7	6	14	11
23	Denmark	9	11	11	7	5	7	11	8	3
24	Netherlands	8	2	5	3	2	3	2	2	10
25	San Marino	20	23	24	21	24	25	24	25
26	United Kingdom	2	7	1	17	6	5	19	13

See also

• Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 2014

References

Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Artists 1950s Lys Assia Lys Assia Lys Assia Christa Williams 1960s Anita Traversi Franca Di Rienzo Jean Philippe Esther Ofarim Anita Traversi Yovanna Madeleine Pascal Géraldine Gianni Mascolo Paola Del Medico 1970s Henri Des Peter, Sue and Marc Veronique Mueller Patrick Juvet Piera Martell Simone Drexel Peter, Sue and Marc Pepe Lienhard Band Carole Vinci Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri 1980s Paola Peter, Sue and Marc Arlette Zola Mariella Farré Rainy Day Mariella Farré and Pino Gasparini Daniela Simmons Carol Rich Céline Dion Furbaz 1990s Egon Egemann Sandra Simó Daisy Auvray Annie Cotton Duilio 1995 Kathy Leander Barbara Berta Gunvor 1999 2000s Jane Bogaert 2001 Francine Jordi 2003 Piero and the MusicStars Vanilla Ninja six4one DJ BoBo Paolo Meneguzzi Lovebugs 2010s Michael von der Heide Anna Rossinelli Sinplus Takasa Sebalter Mélanie René Rykka
Songs 1950s "Das alte Karussell" "Refrain" "L'enfant que j'étais" "Giorgio" "Irgendwoher" 1960s "Cielo e terra" "Nous aurons demain" "Le retour" "T'en va pas" "I miei pensieri" "Non, à jamais sans toi" "Ne vois-tu pas?" "Quel cœur vas-tu briser?" "Guardando il sole" "Bonjour, Bonjour" 1970s "Retour" "Les illusions de nos vingt ans" "C'est la chanson de mon amour" "Je vais me marier, Marie" "Mein Ruf nach dir" "Mikado" "Djambo, Djambo" "Swiss Lady" "Vivre" "Trödler und Co" 1980s "Cinéma" "Io senza te" "Amour on t'aime" "Io così non ci sto" "Welche Farbe hat der Sonnenschein?" "Piano, Piano" "Pas pour moi" "Moitié, moitié" "Ne partez pas sans moi" "Viver senza tei" 1990s "Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus" "Canzone per te" "Mister Music Man" "Moi, tout simplement" "Sto pregando" 1995 "Mon coeur l'aime" "Dentro di me" "Lass' ihn" 1999 2000s "La vita cos'è?" 2001 "Dans le jardin de mon âme" 2003 "Celebrate" "Cool Vibes" "If We All Give a Little" "Vampires Are Alive" "Era stupendo" "The Highest Heights" 2010s "Il pleut de l'or" "In Love for a While" "Unbreakable" "You and Me" "Hunter of Stars" "Time to Shine" "The Last of Our Kind"
(Note : Entries scored out are when Switzerland did not compete)