Switzerland: Wiwi Jury reviews Christian Tschanz with Au Paradis

Earlier this morning the Wiwi Jury—our in-house panel of music unprofessionals—devoured some rösti and headed to Switzerland to review Christian Tschanz’s “Au Paradis.” Did his Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow entry take us to heaven? Or was his vision of Paradise more akin to hell? Read on to find out…

Angus: I loved ‘Il Pleut de L’Or’ so am a bit biased towards any French entry the Swiss put forward. I love this. Christian’s raspy vocal floats over stripped back piano bars and floats serenely over the subtle backing vocals. It also sounds quite contemporary which is a bonus. It is quite slow which won’t help it if it ends up going out first, but given the right running slot Christian could be on to a good thing here.

Score: 7/10

Bogdan: I don’t want to be mean, because the message of the song is positive, but I have to admit that it bored me to tears, just like school (the video doesn’t help). Good voice, good melody, good lyrics, but nothing extraordinary, that would capture the imagination of a pan-European voting audience. I don’t see this advancing to the Eurovision stage, nevermind to the Final.

Score: 5/10

Padraig: Is it possible to be duller than dull? Because if it is Au Paradis certainly fits the bill. Unadventurous, uninspiring, I could go on. I can’t see Christian making any impact in Copenhagen. And should things go bad for him, he could always quit the music business and start a new career flogging cures for insomnia – silver linings and all that.

Score: 1/10

Anthony:  Ah, the piano ballad entry, previously demonstrated by Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Maya Sar in 2012. There’s certainly a lot of emotion going on with this entry, especially when combined with Christian’s raspy vocals. In my opinion, not the worst one of the lot from this year’s national final, but based on the entry overall, it lacks the wow factor so it’s a bit of a hit-and-miss on this one.

Score: 6/10

Deban: I like this entry, but there are two main strikes working against it. Firstly, soft rock is not a genre that fares well at the Eurovision Song Contest. Secondly, singing soft rock in French signals an early death. That aside, I love the rasp in Christian’s vocal delivery, and the smoky quality of his voice. I hope he continues to pursue his passion for music. Who knows? Perhaps a bilingual duet with Jon Bon Jovi in the near future.

Score: 6.5/10

Wiwi: Did y’all ever read The Divine Comedy? The Inferno was amazing. Purgatory was OK. But Paradise was boring and made me want to be sin, sin, sin so I wouldn’t end up there. This song is as thrilling as Bingo night at your local nursing home, or a night out with the Nolan Sisters. He has a nice voice, but the word SONG features prominently in Eurovision Song Contest for a reason. Needs to go. Switzerland: please do not take a Tschanz with this one!

Score: 1/10

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