Country Switzerland Selected entrant Sebalter Selected songwriter(s) Sebastiano Paù-Lessi | Selection date(s) 1 February 2014 Selected song "Hunter of Stars" | |
Selection process Die Große Entscheidungsshow | ||
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.
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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).
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. 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.
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. Internet users had between 4 and 18 November 2013 to vote for their favourite entries. 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. 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.
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%). The top six entries that proceeded to the "Expert Check" were announced on 21 November 2013. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. The top three entries that proceeded to the "Expert Check" were announced on 13 November 2013. 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.
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. 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. 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). In addition to the performances from the competing artists, Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest performed as a guest during the show.
The winner was determined by the combination of televoting (50%) and the votes of an expert jury (50%). Sebalter was the winner with the song "Hunter of Stars". 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.
At Eurovision
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. In the second semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Switzerland would perform 12th, following Macedonia and preceding Greece. 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. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Switzerland would perform 20th, following Spain and preceding Hungary. 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.
In Switzerland, three different stations broadcast the contest. Sven Epiney provided German commentary for both semi-finals airing on SRF zwei and the final airing on SRF 1. 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. 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. The Swiss spokesperson revealing the result of the Swiss vote in the final was Kurt Aeschbacher.
Split voting results
The following five members comprise the Swiss jury:
Semi-final 2
The Swiss votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.
Final
The Swiss votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.