Krystal Mills: Meet the Brit Who Wants to Sing for Switzerland

Two years ago Krystal Mills was training to become a hairdresser. But after trying her luck in a few music contests, the 20-year-old put down the scissors and picked up a guitar. Now she’s aiming to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. Krystal, who is among the 159 hopefuls with songs uploaded on the Swiss Eurovision Platform, recently told us about her ambitions, her song “Bang Bang Bang”, and why she’d be a worthy contestant for La Suisse!

The BBC has reported that you won a pub karaoke competition two years ago. How influential was that win on your ambitions?

It was a misprint from the BBC, as the competition was a national talent competition run by Best Western Hotels in 2010. I won the Cardiff heat and came 2nd overall in the UK. So I tried again the following year in Bristol which was in a shopping precinct with thousands of onlookers and the public voted for me to win and again I reached the national final.

It was from that point that I realised singing could be my vocation. So I continued singing at charity events and busking in City Centre high streets to gain confidence and experience, which then led onto festivals and arenas. I now perform to thousands at events such as the Godiva Festival, which had a foot fall of 120,000 over one weekend in 2013. However, I do enjoy singing to smaller intimate venues where I have eye to eye contact and encourage the audience to participate.

Can you tell us a bit about “Bang Bang Bang”? 

My song “Bang, Bang, Bang” was a track that was inspired from the James Bond films. Before I wrote this song I was watching the recent Bond Film “SkyFall” which Adele co-wrote and performed and thought I should have a go trying to write my own Bond Song in my own style.

I watched many other Bond films including “Goldfinger”, “On her Majesty’s Service”, “From Russia with Love”, “The Spy who Loved Me”, and “A View to Kill”, which were all filmed in various locations around Switzerland!

This song took me two days to write.

How would you characterise your musical style? What section would a record shop put Krystal in?

My musical style is Contemporary Country however I am quite versatile and can sing many genres including Pop and Rock too. My inspirations are Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and many more.

I would like to think that my music section would be under Country and can one day be seen in Major Retail Distribution Stores e.g. HMV, Virgin and the future retail of Online Stores e.g. ITunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon…

Have you ever been to Switzerland before? Do you think you’d be a good representative for Switzerland?

I have never been to Switzerland. However, from what my family and friends who have been there told me, it’s a picture perfect country and a must visit. I haven’t done a lot of travelling. However, I have seen photos of Lake Lucerne and Lake Garda which looks magical.

Representing Switzerland will give me the opportunity to see this beautiful country as well as a platform to sing to millions of viewers. The style of Eurovision songs over the years have varied and become modern in style of singing and I think my song is unique which would make it stand out. I believe that my song is very anthemic and hopefully the Swiss public will enjoy it and feel it could be the winning song for Eurovision 2014.
It would be an honour if I was accepted to be able to represent Switzerland who have had a great success in the past and hopefully I can be their new Celine Dion.

Have you listened to the other songs still in the running in Switzerland? What do you think of them?

I have watched a number of music videos and the great thing about the Swiss Eurovision Platform site is all songs are in different genres so I know the judges will have a hard time choosing who they think should represent Switzerland that is for sure! I have encouraged my UK supporters to vote for me as I know I am at a disadvantage being a non-national, but hope the Swiss people will welcome me to their country and judge me and my song fairly.

At this competition it’s run 50/50 between Judge Votes and Public Votes. I need the General Public’s help!

Any other words for our readers?

Please vote for “Krystal & The Rhinestones” by clicking here. Please remember to log in before you vote and click on “4 Stimmen”. Then be sure to submit your vote after seeing German writing on top in green. That is how you know your vote has gone through.

*Helpful Tip for non-German Speakers*- Use Google Chrome as the Swiss Site will translate itself to your own language.
You can only vote ONCE per account!

For more information, you can visit Krystal’s official web site and her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter.

You can keep up-to-date on the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.