It took 88 years, but Lys Assia appears to have found a love of rap.
Lys, the first winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, lost out to indie band Sinplus at last year’s Swiss National Final. But Switzerland’s SF is reporting that Lys will be giving it another go in 2013—with four black rap artists at her side.
New Jack, a Bernese rap group, has teamed up with the Grand Dame of Eurovision to sing (err, speak?) a song composed by Ralph Siegel (the man who brought you Valentina Monetta’s Facebook controversy). “We can do it this time” Assia told blick.ch. “The song has style and will appeal to youngsters.” Despite throwing a hissy fit in the aftermath of last year’s Swiss national final, Lys also admitted that her entry last year was “too slow… it had too little power.”
That’s a change of tone. At Eurovision 2012 in Baku, Lys seemed to slag off Sinplus during an interview with WiwiBloggs.Com. Commenting on the group’s failure to make it out of the first semi-final, she said: “Well I should have won, and then I have some points.”
Maybe this year she will.
Update: Listen to Lys Assia and New Jack’s “All In Your Head”
You go girl!