Another song has dropped, and this time it's the Swiss entry for Eurovision 2021, 'Tout l'univers' (translation: The Whole Universe).
We've known since March of last year that Gjon Muharremaj, alias Gjon's Tears, would be back to represent Switzerland, following his popular and highly rated entry for the cancelled 2020 Contest 'Répondez-moi'. But overnight we learnt that his distinct, powerhouse vocals would once again on another French track.
'Tout l'univers' was selected internally by Swiss broadcaster SF1 in December with the help of a panel consisting of 100 members of the public and a jury of 20 industry professionals. A total of 13 songs were developed at a song writing camp, scored and reviewed by the panel, performed live by Gjon and recorded, before being re-judged and ranked. The musician wrote his latest Eurovision entry with songwriters Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans and Xavier Michel.
'Tout l’univers' is a dramatic, impassioned account of a tragic and destructive incident, its aftermath and - according to co-writer Gjon’s Tears - hopes for the future. With a “whole universe” of instrumentation, including stirring strings, emotive piano chords and a building percussive beat, the song is hauntingly compelling.
Gjon is a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from the Gruyère district of western Switzerland. Born to an Albanian mother and a Kosovar father, Gjon has performed and released music in three languages: Albanian, French and English.
He's also no stranger to live competition, having competed in two national versions of the "Got Talent" franchise (Albania in 2011 and Switzerland in 2012) and reached the semi-final of France's 'The Voice: la plus belle voix' two years ago. Add in his skills on the piano and his self-confessed love for the Contest, Gjon's selection as the standard bearer for Swiss hopes in Rotterdam should come as no surprise!
The 65th Eurovision Song Contest in May will see Switzerland compete for the 61st time, having hosted and won the inaugural edition thanks to the late Lys Assia and her song 'Refrain' back in 1956. The country's second - and to date only other - victory came courtesy of a certain Canadian songstress more than thirty years later and over thirty years ago, when 20-year-old Céline Dion's performance of 'Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi' took out the win over the UK's Scott Fitzgerald and 'Go' by a single point in 1988.
In more recent years, on both occasions following several years of non-qualification, the two Swiss success stories at Eurovision have been Sebalter, who whistled the country to 13th place in 2014 with 'Hunter of Stars', and Luca Hänni, the country's 2019 internal selection who came 4th (missing out on a bronze medal by just six points!) with 'She Got Me'.
You can listen to all the competing Eurovision 2021 entries via the Aussievision playlist on Spotify: