SWITZERLAND 2024

 

Switzerland promised us that after four years in a row, we wouldn't be getting a male ballad. Instead, we got a non-binary...whatever this song is. It's Nemo with "The Code":




About the Artist

Nemo Mettler is a 24-year-old rapper and singer from Biel, a lakeside watchmaking town in the canton of Bern (Omega and Swatch are both based in Biel). They've had some success domestically already, winning five Swiss Music Awards and competing in The Masked Singer Switzerland (as a panda).  

Song Analysis

I've listened to this like ten times already, and I still don't quite know what's going on here. Lots of genre mixing - operatic rap??? It's very catchy, though, and despite the delegation's promise, there's definitely some elements similar to previous Swiss ballads - if it weren't for the rap bits, this could definitely fit with Gjon's Tears. Arguably this feels more Belgian than anything, and that's a compliment.

Switzerland's History


Switzerland hosted and won the first contest in 1956, then picked up another win in 1988 with a Canadian you may have heard of. Otherwise, not a ton of success - the Swiss struggled through most of the 2000s and 2010s with things like DJ BoBo's "Vampires Are Alive" before striking gold with some top-5 finishes in recent years, and four straight trips to the final.


So....this is not a great selection. As I've said, Switzerland's had a rough century, and most of their rare successes haven't resonated with me. They're 46th of 48 countries, dead last among those participating this year. That's despite Gjon's Tears being my 2021 winner (shame that his excellent 2020 entry doesn't count towards these rankings).


Prognosis

Now, I have absolutely no idea how this will look live. But evidence suggests Nemo really can sing, this is in the second semifinal, and Remo (not to be confused with Nemo) made it with not as good of a song in a tougher semi last year. I'd feel good about this one.

Current Rankings








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