Switzerland in Eurovision
The Swiss have participated in Eurovision right from the beginning, hosting and winning the first ever contest, with Lys Assia’s ‘Refrain’. Their only other win came in 1988, with a certain Celine Dion and ‘Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi’ taking the title.
While Switzerland has won the Contest twice, it has also received nul points on four occasions. Recent results have been a bit patchy, only reaching the Grand Final five out of 16 times since the semi finals were introduced.
2021 Entry: Gjon’s Tears – ‘Tout l’Univers’
Semi-final: Gjon will compete in semi-final 2 in 16th position in the running order
My Eurovision Scoreboard fan ranking: 1st out of 39 entries
Odds to win ranking: 3rd out of 39 entries
Odds to qualify ranking: 1st out of 17 entries
(rankings as of 29 April 2021)
About the artist
Gjon’s Tears, aka Gjon Muharremaj is just 22 years old and was born in Fribourg, Switzerland. Gjon’s mother is Albanian and his father is a Kosovan Albanian. His stage name comes from when he was younger and performed for his grandfather Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”.
Despite his young age, Gjon has had a busy career. At age 12, he competed on Albania’s Got Talent, where he finished 3rd on the show. The year after, he appeared on Switzerland’s Got Talent, reaching the semi-finals. And finally, as a much more grown up Gjon, he participated on The Voice France, joining Team Mika and also made it to the semi-finals.
Gjon has not released that much music other than his Eurovision songs, but his other single, ‘Babi’, actually reached #1 on the Albanian charts. He was internally selected by the Swiss broadcaster to compete in ESC 2020 with ‘Repondez-moi’, before the Contest was cancelled, and he was invited back again in 2021.
About the song
‘Tout l’Univers’ is sung in French language and was written and composed by Gjon himself, along with Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans and Xavier Michel at a song writing camp.
The message of the songs revolves around past relationships and how we are able to live with them. About the song, Gjon states: “It was important for us to keep hope in this particularly difficult time: We must not give up and we must stay strong. With love, friendship, strength and courage, we can rebuild our future. I am convinced that in this exceptional situation it is possible to rediscover and reinvent ourselves”.
The song stays true to Gjon’s style, combining his incredible falsetto and vocals, with production elements of string and percussion. The accompanying music video is an out-of-this-world experience, taking place inside Gjon’s head after a car crash. The video has stunning visuals and really ties in the whole song into a great package.