Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

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 2004 contest, 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 (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 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.

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 (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

The Swiss selection process will be carried out over three phases. Changes for the 2017 edition were introduced, one of the 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 (the performer, composer, or lyricist) were required to have a Swiss passport or be a resident in Switzerland. A 21-member jury panel composed of music experts (producers, representatives of the music industry, musicians, journalists, etc.) evaluated the submitted entries between 31 October 2016 and 14 November 2016. The members of the jury were:

Up to twenty entries were selected for the second phase of the competition, the Live Check (formerly titled the Expert Check). During the second phase, the selected entries were performed in front of an expert panel where the top six to ten entries would proceed to the third phase, the televised national final, where the Swiss entry for the Eurovision Song Contest would be chosen. The jury panels involved in the selection were required to have the following member quotas representing the different language regions: 68% German/Romansh, 23% French and 9% Italian.

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".

Promotion

Timebelle will make several appearances across Europe to promote "Apollo" as the Swiss Eurovision entry. On 5 March 2017, they performed at the Selectia Nationala final in Romania. They have also been confirmed to participate at Eurovision in Concert at the Melkweg in Amsterdam.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will take place at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine and will consist of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017. 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.