On May 22 he finished third at Eurovision 2021, giving Switzerland its best finish since Celine Dion’s win in 1988. And this past Saturday Gjon’s Tears was still enjoying memories of the oooos and ahhhs as he spoke with wiwiblogger Deban Aderemi in Tirana.
Gjon topped the jury vote with his on-point vocals and a complicated performance that conveyed the existential angst of his song “Tout l’univers” — which he says dives into the cyclical nature of construction and destruction. He did this partly by dancing across a series of moveable plinths, which were set against an ever-moving swirl of liquid silver.
And while he hit his marks and his falsetto, he tells us that the jury performance was not as easy as it looked: “I had some problems with my prop — it was moving.”
Scroll down for the full interview.
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His moveable plinth was meant to remain stationary while he sang and danced on top of it. But it gave him quite the scare during his jury performance.
“At the end, it was just rolling like this…bye bye. I am so happy that the camera followed me, so I finished the performance with the camera and with the light. I really don’t know what happened.”
“I was so scared because I had the feeling that I really, really failed my performance. I just didn’t want to show that to the jury.”
The jury show is not broadcast publicly. It takes place on the Friday night before the grand final on Saturday. But, owing to the presence of a live audience and an online press centre, footage of the performance leaked. Eagle-eyed Twitter users say they saw the precise moment Gjon is referring to.
Gjon says he spoke with the EBU’s team after the performance, but that they brushed aside his concerns.
“There was a crazy discussion,” Gjon says. “I said after that moment, ‘I want to speak with someone.’ I went off the stage. They told me, ‘No, everything was right, as usual.’ I said no. I saw the props moving. I was on it.”
“It was a crazy conversation between me and the EBU. They were like, ‘We don’t have time for you now, we have to go on with the other contestants.’ They were like, ‘We don’t care. It didn’t affect your performance and it wasn’t a technical issue because it didn’t touch your ears.'”
In the end, overcoming the obstacles actually made Gjon feel better about his performance. “I am really happy this happened because for me and my self-confidence, it was a really big boost.”
Were you watching the jury show and did you notice that Gjon’s plinth was moving while he was on it? Are you living for his honesty? Let us know in the comments box below!
Scrap the jury.
I was in the audience that night and saw the prop he was standing on moving back an forth while he was doing those wild swaying movements with his arms. I noticed it right away, it looked like the brake on the wheels of the prop was not secured firmly enough. It did not affect his performance though, he kept on singing and moving as usual. Very impressive.
Hm, and Senhit had problems with one of her onstage props during the Final Jury show too, and the EBU also brushed that aside.
I don’t know, I realize the EBU obviously are busy and have a lot of stress on their plates putting together a show like this, but a part of me feels like they were being a bit disrespectful to both Gjon and Senhit.
3 countries sing one more time in one jury dress rehearsal.
I saw wiwi’s behind-the-scenes footage that was showing the huge hurry of technical staff cleaning & preparing the stage between the performances and came to the conclusion that we need longest postcards or otherwise longest time break between the contestants. Maybe that could partly solve this problem.
this year had much shorter postcards than usual, I felt. In 2019 I managed to do pop quizzes in between the songs for my friends at a party, you had no time between them this time.
On Dutch TV, this year’s executive producer said that for this edition, the EBU requested shorter shows, because in previous years the shows ran untill too late at night. No idea who complained about that though, maybe the broadcasters in different countries? So they cut everything a little bit shorter, opening acts, postcards, interval acts, time before cutting off an overly talkative spokesperson giving votes, less green room interviews, etc, etc. I think this years grand final show was almost an hour shorter than the one in Tel Aviv, but I’m not exactly sure.
They tried, but in the end it was only 15 minutes shorter
Aw, poor guy, the awkward cheer he did after he lost to Måneskin was heartbreaking, even though I supported Italy…
I loved how professional and how good of a sport he was throughout the contest; it’s very admirable.
Indeed.
the real question is: what is wiwiblogger deban aderemi doing in tirana? he’s always where you least expect him to be lmao i hope i casually meet him one day, maybe in a monastery in thailand or in a church ruin in paraguay or something like that.
Kenga Magjike. Gjon was there for the same reason.
Gjon’s Tears: a true diamond! No offense to the other competitors, but he easily stood out. Thank you, Eurovision for introducing me to this Artist! I just hope he is lucky with his career, finding good composers and producers, so he has the career he deserves.
This is why we should all be able to see the and hear the jury final, even if only after the event. If something goes wrong (on right) in that show alone, it’s reflected in the jury score. Hard to understand for the 99.99% who only see the Grand Final.
I wonder if any of the jury watch the other shows?
Remember Keiino in 2019, their jury final performance went totally wrong.
And Blue allegedly in 2011
First San Marino, now Switzerland, EBU shows a total disregard for performers safety.
If you watch the video, you can see prop moved around itself. It’s starting in 2:32. https://youtu.be/9nvCtvaTh78
Yes but at the beginning, around the 4th sentence of the song, Gjon did slow down in the song as though something was already wrong …
Why it’s always technical issues occurring in jury show??
Because jury shows are rehearsals.
As for the Swiss props. There was stage staff underneath. You can clearly see them in backstage footage and pictures. They are the ones moving the stuff.
https://youtu.be/2Pe4cqSd3PM
I wouldn’t mind having him in Eurovision 2022. His two entries for 2020 and 2021 were just amazing.
Ngl I wouldn’t mind having about half of the artists from 2021 for 2022.
Regarding Gjon, I think he has an alternative rock band Weeping Willows? Would be cool if someday he comes back with them.
I’d like to see him in a superband for San Marino including Senhit, Valentina and maybe one of the hotties from Alcazar.
Deban!!! Hunty!!! We’ve missed you.
5 reasons why I adore Gjons Tears
– he is talented af and has voice of an angel
– he is cute, adorable kind and down to earth guy who loves music and food the most 🙂
– he is an amazing artist who pours his soul out during every performance
– he is very smart young man who can speak at least 4 languages and has an amazing sense of humor
– he is a good pal of iconic Go_A band and queen Kateryna herself is his biggest fan and close friend
Loved the song. Loved the promo video. He CAN totally sing. But why did he dress like a grandma for his eurovision performance?
He dressed smart and classy in the video, but high waste trousers and a baggy blouse on stage??? Looked awful.
His turquoise carpet look, on the other hand, was so cool. Loved it.
I’m looking forward to that collaboration between him and Go_A! 🙂
he is so adorable and talented young artist, Gjon deserves all love and respect from fans
When I saw those wheels on the props I knew something like this would happen. Thankfully he still scored top points with the jury.
Clearly he had nothing to worry about!
Is it clear? He might have got even more jury points but for this mishap. Probably not enough to stay ahead of France and Italy, but we’ll never know. I hope the EBU find a way of speeding up the jury vote process so that it can all be done on the same night.
I doubt the jury noticed this moment, he kept on singing and moving like nothing was happening.
one of the points of the jury and the public seeing two separate shows is specifically for this, in the event of a mishap – if you’re slightly off tune one night, it’s balanced out by your amazing performance the other. It’s a good back up.