After earlier confirming they were sticking with the successful internal selection format for Eurovision 2020, German-Swiss broadcaster SRF has now opened applications for Switzerland‘s 2020 song selection process. And this year’s process has some good news for creatives outside of Switzerland.
When Swiss broadcaster SRF announced in 2018 that it was scrapping the national final in favour of internal selection, fans were unsure if this was a good move. But after Luca Hänni sailed through to the grand final and gave Switzerland its second-best Eurovision result since Céline Dion’s 1988 victory, it seems like internal selection is the ticket to success.
The broadcaster launched the online applications today, including a version of the entry form in English. With Canadian and Swedish songwriters on the “She Got Me” team, SRF know the power of an international team.
As with previous years, SRF says that it is looking for a “modern, striking song”. The broadcaster notes that “Words must have a strong, clear and understandable message.” When she go low, she go so low, y’all!
Songwriters can send their #Eurovision submissions to Switzerland's @srfesc between now and 16 September 2019. Further information available on https://t.co/kTVzRn6xJg. Good luck everybody!?? #SRFESC #ESC2020 pic.twitter.com/S86cZ290cx
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) September 2, 2019
The broadcaster elaborates on what they’re looking for:
“One of the purposes of the Eurovision Song Contest is to arouse the feelings of the viewers and jury members by addressing certain topics. We therefore encourage composers and lyricists to submit songs that address topical issues or which trigger an emotional reaction or recognition among ESC viewers with their content.”
While last year’s application process started with looking only for songs with the intention of later matching them with singers, this year applicants can note if the singer on the demo also wishes to perform the song at Eurovision.
Open to all
The competition is also reverting to the popular rule from previous years, having no restrictions on the nationality of either the performer or the songwriter. The contest, however, is still interested to know of any Swiss connections. And if there is a tie-break at any point during the selection process, the Swiss act will win the tie.
Since the 2017 national final, entrants had been required to have some sort of Swiss connection. Prior to that, the contest was open to all, which led to the online video submissions website becoming a last chance saloon for the unsuccessful songwriters of Europe.
But with the current internal process, SRF promises that the unselected songs will not be made public.
The exact process of selecting Switzerland’s song for Rotterdam hasn’t been detailed, but it will involve “various levels and stages” and a 100-person viewer jury and a 20-person expert jury.
Applications are now open and will close on 16 September 2019 at midday.
What do you think? Who would you like to see enter this year? What sort of song should Switzerland send to Eurovision 2020? Tell us your thoughts below!
If internal selection needs a renowned regional singer, Bastian Baker or Loco Escrito, maybe they will be the best swiss choice.
Ginta Biku pls
I think Robyn and all readers who are here since last year know exactly which artist I wanna see for Switzerland 😀 Go Scilla, go Scilla, go Scilla 😀
The Dutch were able to build a sustainable streak because the one continuous thread in all their acts since Malmo was an organic connection between the artists and their songs (save for 2015 but doesn’t that just prove the pattern with their only NQ during their Renaissance?), not least because most of the artists were involved in the songwriting process heavily. The Swiss would be dependant on foreign, Swedish-style songwriters being willing to contribute to the Swiss rather than Azeri efforts, making it less sustainable as songwriters may not be that enthusiastic to keep working for the same delegation.
I don’t understand why there isn’t a rule about having some national connection. If there isn’t one – why even bother having country the basis of the competition?? Just have 43 random people singing from anywhere and everyone vote
Beovizija submissions opened like 4 days ago, but I guess you’re just too busy to report about that ?
Serbia also opened submission for songs, but Wiwi is ignoring news about Serbia as always. I wonder how much does it cost to get an orgasmic reaction video and a couple of interviews with the next representative? Give us a number Wiwi, we don’t want to be ignored year after year!
Serbia opened their submissions three days ago. But still no news on Wiwibloggs. Why?
At least the singer should be Swiss. Vanilla Ninja’s result was definitely not a Swiss success. Maybe partly the success of the Swiss delegation person who had to look after them. From what a Swiss guy told me, they were quite bratty. If they sent a good non-Barker song with good non-Baptiste staging, I’d be very surprised. Very happily surprised.
I worry that if Laurell Barker is involved, Switzerland might get a song like “Sister” or “Bigger Than Us”. Hopefully Switzerland can get back in the game again after over 2 decades of terrible results!
i don’t want the same composer every year, it gets boring. i hope they send something original n outstanding in a good way like sebalter
Switzerland played the game last year, and I’m curious to see if they can build on their success and whether they will go for something similar to Fuego again. Will they hire Sacha Jean-Baptiste is my question though considering that Bulgaria and Cyprus (two countries achieving great results without doing well recent years) did the same after the successes of «Beautiful Mess» and «Fuego» – her track-record of succeeding with a country and then next year fail with the same country while doing great for another country, suggest that Switzerland should stay away from her. I think Switzerland can do… Read more »
I don’t understand what Sacha Jean Baptiste is doing good in the first place. Nobody was successful because of her in particular.
I disagree! I think she did a great job with the Swiss entry this year and had a lot to do with its success!
Euphoria, Beautiful Mess, Lovewave and Fuego are all staged by her, so she’s a big deal.
Euphoria was not staged by Laurell Barker, it was staged by Ambra Succi who also staged Chameleon.
Sacha Jean-Baptiste is great, she’s just so terribly inconsistent that you’re starting to wonder how it’s even possible. I mean, “Fuego” is no doubt one of the most iconic stagings this decade. However this year, for example, she worked with “Replay” and “She Got Me”, two songs clearly inspired by Fuego and I think that you objectively can say that they’re both pretty even in term of quality although you can always make the case for one of them. Anyway, my point is that nothing justifies “She Got Me” receiving over 200+ more points from the public vote than “Replay”… Read more »
True. She should ideally just work with one act per year- last year Jessica was shortchanged for Eleni. Although she can work with a wide variety of songs- Fuego, We Got Love, Euphoria and Beautiful Love are all very different songs.
She is an artist who makes money with that job. Why should she decline when more than one country wants to work with her? I really doubt that she decides to put more work into one act then another. But it’s normal for an artist to connect to. Song more than to another. It’s like a singer that suits better to a song than to another song…
The problem was Jessicas vocal delivery! Not the staging!
Both staging and vocals