Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Switzerland | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | ESC 2018 – die Entscheidungsshow | |||
Selection date(s) | 4 February 2018 | |||
Selected entrant | Zibbz | |||
Selected song | "Stones" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
Finals performance | ||||
Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (13th) | |||
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
|
Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Stones" written by Corinne "Coco" Gfeller, Stee Gfeller and Laurell Barker. The song was performed by the duo Zibbz. The Swiss entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal was selected through the national final ESC 2018 – die Entscheidungsshow, organised by the Swiss broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). Songwriters that were interested in entering the Swiss national final had the opportunity to apply during a submission period organised by SRG SSR. Six entries were selected to advance to the televised national final, and the six finalists performed during the national final on 4 February 2018 where a combination of international jury voting and public voting ultimately selected "Stones" performed by Zibbz as the winner.
Switzerland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 8 May 2018. Performing during the show in position 17, "Stones" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Switzerland placed thirteenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 86 points.
Background
Prior to the 2018 contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-eight times since its first entry in 1956.
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 30 June 2017. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Swiss entry for the 2018 contest would be selected through a national final.[2] Switzerland has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest through both national finals and internal selections in the past. Between 2005 and 2010, the Swiss entry was internally selected for the competition. Since 2011, the broadcaster has opted to organize a national final in order to select their entry.
Before Eurovision
ESC 2018 – die Entscheidungsshow
ESC 2018 – die Entscheidungsshow was the eighth and final edition of the Swiss national final format that selected Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The show took place on 4 February 2018 at the SRF Studio 1 in
Competing entries
SRG SSR opened a submission period between 1 September 2017 and 22 September 2017 for interested composers to submit their songs via an online platform.[6] Songwriters of any nationality were able to submit songs; however those with a Swiss passport or residency were given priority.[7] A songwriting camp was also held in Maur during which 18 songs were created and 16 of which were submitted for the competition.[8] 670 entries were submitted following the submission deadline. A 20-member jury panel consisting of music and media experts, Eurovision fans and television viewers evaluated the received submissions and selected six songs, which were then tested by their music producers with various artists. The six artists and songs that qualified for the national final were announced on 9 January 2018.[9]
Group | Members |
---|---|
Experts |
|
Eurovision fans |
|
Television viewers |
|
Final
The final took place on 4 February 2018. The six candidate songs in contention to represent Switzerland were performed and the combination of televoting (50%) and the votes of seven international juries (50%) selected "Stones" performed by Zibbz as the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 252 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 252 points rounded to the nearest integer: 25 points.[11] In addition to the performances from the competing artists, Swiss Eurovision Song Contest 2017 entrants Timebelle opened the show with "Apollo", while singer Leticia Carvalho and the group Appenzeller Sängerfreunde performed the Portuguese Eurovision Song Contest 2017 winning song "Amar pelos dois" as the interval act.[12]
Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Zibbz | "Stones" | Corinne "Coco" Gfeller, Stee Gfeller, Laurell Barker | 76 | 77 | 153 | 1 |
2 | Angie Ott | "A Thousand Times" | Jonas Gladnikoff, Sara Ljunggren, Glen Vella | 26 | 39 | 65 | 5 |
3 | Naeman | "Kiss Me" | Kate Northrop, Eric Lumiere, Ken Berglund, Alejandro Reyes | 14 | 19 | 33 | 6 |
4 | Chiara Dubey | "Secrets and Lies" | Chiara Dubey, Janie Price, Jeroen Swinnen, Darcy Proper, Sally Herbert
|
22 | 44 | 66 | 4 |
5 | Alejandro Reyes | "Compass" | Alejandro Reyes, Laurell Barker, Lars Christen | 72 | 48 | 120 | 2 |
6 | Vanessa Iraci | "Redlights" | Borislav Milanov, Joacim Bo Persson, Johan Alkenäs, Jessica Ashley Karpov, Jesse Saint John | 42 | 25 | 67 | 3 |
Draw | Song | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Stones" | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 76 |
2 | "A Thousand Times" | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 26 | |||
3 | "Kiss Me" | 6 | 8 | 14 | |||||
4 | "Secrets and Lies" | 6 | 8 | 8 | 22 | ||||
5 | "Compass" | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 72 |
6 | "Redlights" | 10 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 42 | ||
International Jury Spokespersons | |||||||||
|
Country | Members |
---|---|
Albania |
|
Armenia |
|
France |
|
Germany |
|
Iceland |
|
Israel |
|
Italy |
|
Promotion
Zibbz made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Stones" as the Swiss Eurovision entry. Between 8 and 11 April, Zibbz took part in promotional activities in
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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 17, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from Ireland.[18]
In Switzerland, three broadcasters that form SRG SSR aired the contest.
The Swiss spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Swiss jury during the final, was Letícia Carvalho.Semi-final
Zibbz took part in technical rehearsals on 29 April and 3 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 7 and 8 May. This included the jury show on 7 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[23]
The Swiss performance featured the members of Zibbz performing on stage; Corinne Gfeller wore a short top with strings, skinny jeans and a maroon hat while Stee Gfeller wore a leather jacket with a white shirt underneath. The performance began with the duo at the main stage on a podium, after which Corinne stepped off to make use of both bridges and outer ring of the stage. Before the final chorus, the duo both held flares with Corinne shouting "This is for everybody who has ever been hurt!" before walking back onto the main stage to conclude the performance.
At the end of the show, Switzerland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Switzerland placed thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 86 points: 27 points from the televoting and 59 points from the juries.[27]
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 were released shortly after the grand final.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Switzerland and awarded by Switzerland in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
Points awarded to Switzerland
Score | Televote | Jury |
---|---|---|
12 points | ||
10 points | ||
8 points | Austria | |
7 points | ||
6 points | ||
5 points | ||
4 points | Finland | United Kingdom |
3 points | Portugal | |
2 points | Albania | |
1 point |
Points awarded by Switzerland
|
|
Detailed voting results
The following members comprised the Swiss jury:[30]
- Georg Schlunegger (jury chairperson) – producer, songwriter
- Alizé Oswald – singer
- Michael Kinzer – boardmember of Swiss Music Export and Fondation pour la Chanson et les Musiques Actuelles
- Eva Bellomo – singer
- Nicola Kneringer (Nickless) – singer
Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G. Schlunegger | A. Oswald | M. Kinzer | E. Bellomo | Nickless | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
01 | Azerbaijan | 9 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 15 | ||
02 | Iceland | 10 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 16 | |
03 | Albania | 8 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 13 | 2 | 10 | |
04 | Belgium | 13 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 14 | ||
05 | Czech Republic | 18 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 3 |
06 | Lithuania | 5 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 12 | |
07 | Israel | 4 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
08 | Belarus | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 18 | ||
09 | Estonia | 1 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 1 |
10 | Bulgaria | 14 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 13 | |
11 | Macedonia | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 11 | ||
12 | Croatia | 11 | 16 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 4 | |
13 | Austria | 3 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 12 |
14 | Greece | 15 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 9 | 2 | |
15 | Finland | 7 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
16 | Armenia | 12 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 17 | ||
17 | Switzerland | |||||||||
18 | Ireland | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 6 |
19 | Cyprus | 6 | 7 | 2 | 17 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G. Schlunegger | A. Oswald | M. Kinzer | E. Bellomo | Nickless | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
01 | Ukraine | 25 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 25 | ||
02 | Spain | 15 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 20 | 10 | 1 | |
03 | Slovenia | 22 | 22 | 11 | 21 | 4 | 12 | 26 | ||
04 | Lithuania | 3 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 20 | |
05 | Austria | 5 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
06 | Estonia | 1 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 18 | |
07 | Norway | 20 | 11 | 19 | 5 | 16 | 14 | 22 | ||
08 | Portugal | 9 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
09 | United Kingdom | 18 | 13 | 21 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 16 | ||
10 | Serbia | 23 | 19 | 26 | 13 | 25 | 23 | 1 | 12 | |
11 | Germany | 2 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 6 |
12 | Albania | 16 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 21 | 21 | 4 | 7 | |
13 | France | 21 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 17 | 17 | 11 | ||
14 | Czech Republic | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 19 | 11 | 13 | ||
15 | Denmark | 17 | 26 | 12 | 26 | 18 | 22 | 9 | 2 | |
16 | Australia | 8 | 21 | 25 | 12 | 22 | 18 | 17 | ||
17 | Finland | 10 | 23 | 5 | 16 | 20 | 13 | 21 | ||
18 | Bulgaria | 14 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 24 | |
19 | Moldova | 19 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 19 | ||
20 | Sweden | 4 | 9 | 16 | 19 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 23 | |
21 | Hungary | 24 | 24 | 20 | 23 | 15 | 24 | 14 | ||
22 | Israel | 13 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 23 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
23 | Netherlands | 11 | 17 | 23 | 18 | 11 | 19 | 15 | ||
24 | Ireland | 7 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 12 | |
25 | Cyprus | 6 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
26 | Italy | 12 | 15 | 18 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 3 | 8 |
References
- ^ "Switzerland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (30 June 2017). "Switzerland: Eurovision 2018 Participation Confirmed". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ^ Granger, Anthony. "Switzerland: Six Eurovision 2018 Hopefuls Revealed". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
- ^ "Eurosong". rsi.ch (in Italian). 4 February 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Eurosong - Finale Suisse". rts.ch (in Chamorro). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2018". srf.ch. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ Ioannou, Dimitris (1 September 2017). "Song submissions open in Switzerland!". escxtra.
- ^ "Switzerland 2018". ESCKAZ.
- ^ "Which of these songs will represent Switzerland in 2018?". Eurovision.tv. 9 January 2018.
- ^ "Die 6 Finalisten in der «ESC 2018 – Entscheidungsshow»". srf.ch (in German). 9 January 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Switzerland: ESC 2018 – Die Entscheidungsshow". eurovisionworld.com. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Leticia Carvalho vergibt die Punkte für die Schweiz". srf.ch (in German). 19 April 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ Leichman, Abigail Klein (12 April 2018). "'Good evening Europe, this is Israel calling!'". israel21c.org. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ "Eurovision in Concert 2018 Videos". Eurovisionworld.com. 15 April 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (5 April 2018). "Tonight: London Eurovision Party 2018". Eurovoix. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ "Over 20 acts to appear at Madrid's ESPreParty this weekend". eurovision.tv. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
- ^ Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (16 April 2018). "Switzerland: Sven Epiney Returns to the Commentary Booth". Eurovoix. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (19 April 2018). "Switzerland: Leticia Carvalho Revealed as Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- ^ "La Radio Télévision Suisse RTS se distance de l'Eurovision et ne diffusera pas les deux demi-finales !". L'Eurovision au Quotidien (in French). 3 May 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Finale internationale 2018". rts.ch (in French). 12 May 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Lisbon 2018: Rehearsal Schedule". eurovisionworld.com. 16 April 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ Malam, Luke (30 April 2018). "Day 2: Zibbz rebel for Switzerland and blows us all away – REVIEW". escXtra. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ Cobb, Ryan (4 May 2018). "Day 6: An arena anthem from Switzerland's ZiBBZ – PREDICTION & REVIEW". escXtra. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Switzerland". Six on Stage. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "First Semi-Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "Results of the First Semi-Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.