Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Apollo" written by Elias Näslin, Nicolas Günthardt and Alessandra Günthardt. The song was performed by Timebelle. The Swiss entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine was selected through the national final ESC 2017 – Die Entscheidungsshow, organised by the Swiss German speaking broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen in collaboration with the other broadcasters part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Artists that were interested in entering the Swiss national final had the opportunity to apply to one of three open selections with defined submission periods: an online platform where entries could be uploaded for public viewing, which was organised by the Swiss-German broadcaster SRF and the Swiss-Romansh broadcaster Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha, or by submitting an entry directly to the Swiss-French broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse and/or the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera. Up to 20 entries were selected to advance to a "Live Check" round. The "Live Check" was held on 4 December 2016 Zürich and involved an expert panel evaluating the live performances of the entries and selecting six entries to advance to the televised national final. The six finalists performed during the national final on 5 February 2017 at SRF's Studio 1 in Zürich where a public vote ultimately selected "Apollo" performed by Timebelle as the winner.
Switzerland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 13, "Apollo" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-seven times since its first entry in 1956. 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, 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 2016, Switzerland failed to qualify to the final, placing last in the semi-final with the song "The Last of Our Kind" performed by Rykka.The Swiss national broadcaster, Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, broadcasts the event within Switzerland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SRG SSR confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 June 2016. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Swiss entry for the 2017 contest would be selected through a national final. 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 2017 – Die Entscheidungsshow''
ESC 2017 – Die Entscheidungsshow will be the seventh edition of the Swiss national final format that will select Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The national final will be a collaboration between four broadcasters that form SRG SSR: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, the Swiss-French broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse, the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera and the Swiss-Romansh broadcaster Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha.Selection process
The Swiss selection process was carried out over three phases. Changes for the 2017 edition were introduced, one of which saw the end to the individual broadcasters running independent submissions and selections in order to determine their quota of entries for further phases of the selection. The first phase of the selection involved an open submission period that ran from 26 September 2016 until 24 October 2016 during which eligible entries could be submitted via an online platform. Submitted entries were not made accessible to the public as in previous editions. A new regulation for the 2017 edition underscored that the entries must have had a link to Switzerland; at least one person were required to have a Swiss passport or be a resident in Switzerland. A 21-member jury panel composed of music experts evaluated the submitted entries between 31 October 2016 and 14 November 2016. The members of the jury were:- Gülsha Adilji – Journalist and presenter
- Bettina Bendiner – Head of the Entertainment Department, 20 Minuten
- Roman Camenzind – Music producer
- Camille Destraz - Music journalist
- Beppe Donadio – Musician and journalist
- Freda Goodlett – Vocal coach
- Michael Kinzer – Swiss Music Prize jury president
- Pascal Künzi – General Manager, Musikvertrieb
- Nicola Locarnini – Musician
- François Pinard – Director, Make Sense Production
- Simone Reich – Television magazine journalist, Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz AG
- Jocelyn Rochat - Music journalist
- Oliver Rosa – Swiss Music Awards organiser and artist manager
- Peter Röthlisberger – Chief editor, Blick
- Yves Schifferle – Programme development SRF Entertainment
- Lina Selmani – Chief editor, watson.ch
- Dano Tamásy – Music editor, Radio SRF 3 Best Talent
- Christoph Trummer - President, Musikschaffende Schweiz
- Flavio Tuor – Music editor, RTR
- Denise Vogel - Production Coordinator, 360° Show Production AG
- Sébastien Vuignier – Director, TAKK Productions
Live Check
The Live Check of the selected candidates took place in Zürich on 4 December 2016. Up to 20 entries were performed in front of an expert panel who assessed the performers on criteria such as live performance skills, voice quality and stage presence. Six entries were selected to proceed to the televised national final.National final
ESC 2017 – Die Entscheidungsshow took place on 5 February 2017 at SRF's Studio 1 in Zürich, hosted by Sven Epiney. The show was televised by SRF zwei and RTS Deux. The winning entry was determined solely by a public televote. The finalists were announced on 5 December 2016. In addition to the performances from the competing artists, Swiss Eurovision Song Contest 2014 entrant Sebalter performed his song "Weeping Willow".| Draw | Artist | Song | Composer | Televote | Place |
| 1 | Nadya | "The Fire in the Sky" | Ricardo Sanz | 18.02% | 2 |
| 2 | Ginta Biku | "Cet air là" | Johan Czerneski, Daniel Kromo Kromolowski, Ginta Biku, LIM | 8.31% | 4 |
| 3 | Michèle | "Two Faces" | Laura Kloos, Hermann Niesig, Nils Brunkhorst, Michèle Bircher | 11.44% | 3 |
| 4 | Freschta | "Gold" | Iris Bösiger, Christoph Bauss, Christopher Heath, Simon Adrian, Freschta Akbarzada | 6.79% | 6 |
| 5 | Shana Pearson | "Exodus" | Denniz Jamm, Andreas Stone Johansson, Mahan Moin | 7.56% | 5 |
| 6 | Timebelle | "Apollo" | Elias Näslin, Nicolas Günthardt, Alessandra Günthardt | 47.88% | 1 |
Promotion
Timebelle made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Apollo" as the Swiss Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, they took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where they performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue. On 8 April, they performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir. On 15 April, they performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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 31 January 2017, 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 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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. Originally, Switzerland was set to perform in position 14, following the entry from Norway and before the entry from Belarus. However, following Russia's withdrawal from the contest on 13 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, Switzerland's performing position shifted to 13.
Points awarded to Switzerland
Points awarded by Switzerland
Jury members
The following five members comprised the Swiss jury:- Michael von der Heide – Chairperson – singer, actor, musician, represented Switzerland in the 2010 contest
- Pele Loriano – songwriter, producer, session musician
- Daniela Simons – singer, represented Switzerland in the 1986 contest
- Anna Känzig – singer, songwriter
- Jean-Marie Fontana – artist, A&R consultant
Points awarded from Switzerland