In this busy Eurovision weekend, Switzerland will also decide their Eurovision entry with the Entscheidungsshow 2018. The Swiss national final is scheduled tonight at 20:05 CET and you can follow it on this live blog.
Six artists are competing to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon. The winner will be decided 50% by the televote and 50% by international juries. You can watch the show along with Brandon McCann through this link.
The six competing acts are:
1. Zibbz – Stones
2. Angie Ott – A thousand times
3. Naeman – Kiss me
4. Chiara Dubey – Secrets and lies
5. Alejandro Reyes – Compass
6. Vanessa Iraci – Redlights
Liveblog for the national final in Switzerland for Eurovision 2018:
[20:05] The show has begun! Thanks for joining this live-blog. Let’s find out who will represent Switzerland in Eurovision 2018!
[20:10] Our host discuss in German some info on tonight’s selection. We also see last year’s entry, Timebelle dressed beautifully – will she perform later on the show?
[20:12] The host explains the rules regarding voting for the artists before all six acts come out on stage. Chiara Dubey & Alejandro Reyes seemed to have the largest audience reaction.
[20:17] We see our 1st of tonight’s postcards – for band Zibbz. The image looks great especially for the lead, female vocalist but lets see if they can deliver live.
[20:20] #1 | Zibbz – Stones
Zibbs open the show with lead vocalist wearing a red, flowing top alongside a fluffy, black cardigan alongside a black hat. There’s also a drummer suggesting this is a duo. Song has a nice drum beat to it and she can deliver live however there’s no real journey for this song and it could be regarded as forgettable in Lisbon.
[20:23] We’re back with our main host who now goes into the green room and chats with Zibbz immediately after performing. Now it’s time for tonight’s second act – Angie Ott.
[20:27] #2 | Angie Ott – A Thousand Times
Angie transforms from her postcard image to live with a red dress and wavy, brunette hair. This is a very Eurovision-standard ballad but it works better live than it did in the studio version. Vocally, Angie can deliver but not flawlessly however she still should be commended. Audience reaction is strong and I believe this may become a contender for victory.
[20:30] We return back to the hosts who show the audience with hearts filled with Angie’s name – there’s quite a few! Naemen is next with “Kiss Me”. Their postcard seems more fun as we see some behind-the-scenes footage of them preparing for tonight with choreography.
[20:34] #3 | Naeman – Kiss me
Really strong, modern vocal on this young man. Naeman is dressed in a white top, baseball hat and jeans accompanied by four backing singers and dancers, two male, two female – all dressed in black. Vocals are one of the strongest but the song lets his vocal ability down as it is quite repetitive of the main chorus and doesn’t offer much to blow you away from watching his performance. Definitely an artist to look out for, however just not with this entry.
[20:37] Large female reaction to Naeman in the audience and he comes across well while speaking to the hosts. We’re now being shown a quick history respective of classic Eurovision entries including Buzz’s Fizz, Conchita Wurst, Lena, Loreen and other more obscure classic entries. Chiara Dubey’s postcard next. Perhaps, tonight’s favourite artist to represent Switzerland.
[20:45] #4 | Chiara Dubey – Secrets and lies
Chiara takes the bold move to stand out on stage alone with stunning, cascading white lights circling around her. She loves very well however I can’t get the image of Miranda Sings out of my head while watching her. Chiara wears a one-piece outfit of black and white. Vocals sound better than the studio which is to be expected from her. The song however seems to require a revamp, it’s quite hollow in terms of composition but the audience reacts strongly to her. Standing ovation by many. Will she finally get her chance to win tonight?
[20:48] Chiara speaks in Italian, therefore, she requires a live dub in order for the German-speaking show to understand her. This shouldn’t hinder her, as she’s gained quite a fan-base within the audience already. We now are onto our penultimate act for tonight – Alejandro Reyes with “Compass”. We see him work out in the gym and draw quite a good compass on paper before his performance.
[20:54] #5 | Alejandro Reyes – Compass
Alejandro plays the guitar while wearing a red top and black chino jeans. He’s accompanied by four backing dancers who perform on African drums during the choruses. Vocals are interesting and he does very good to deliver. Definitely one of the more modern, fresh entries of tonight’s show. Switzerland could do well by taking a risk with him. Definitely, an entry with a complete image and track than we’ve heard yet.
[20:57] Another strong reaction from the audience. This may be the one to beat tonight. Another translator necessary however but he still comes across well during the hosts’ questions. It’s time for tonight’s final entry attempting to represent Switzerland in Lisbon, “Redlights” by Vanessa Iraci.
[21:02] #6 | Vanessa Iraci – Redlights
Vanessa has the benefit of a boxed, LED prop similar to what crowned Christabelle in Malta yesterday albeit not to the same production value. Vanessa sounds great life and has a captivating quality on-stage. Another track that is more produced than half of what we’ve heard. Could the additional backing visuals aid her in standing out from the crowd? Entry would require a revamp to help it stand out some more.
[21:05] Standing ovations again and with that we’ve heard all of tonight’s artists. Chiara and Naemen are strong vocalists but are let down by their track however, Alejandro and Vanessa can deliver adequate vocals and put on a show worth watching for three minutes. It all depends to the Swiss public and jury now. Our host nows has opened televoting along with a recap of tonight’s songs.
[21:10] We enter our first of tonight’s commercial breaks. Come back soon for the intervals acts!
[21:16] We’re back with our main host on stage. Four minutes is on the clock before the televoting closes. It’s getting close to decide. Recap shown again.
[21:21] Voting has closed! We’re shown a VT of Timebelle winning last year, heading to Switzerland, attending promo and short interview of individual band members.
[21:24] We’re joined by Timebelle who speak to our green room host about their journey. VT of Salvador Sobral winning last year for Portugal. Time for a Swiss female singer to perform Salvador’s song alongside a pianist and a quartet of backing vocalists dressed in matching, Swiss attire.
[21:32] Another VT now shown of all of tonight’s artists talking briefly in postcard-style one after the other. Our two male hosts are now on the main stage together. Is it time to decide the winner? I believe it is.
[21:40] Jury votes:
Germany:
- 12 points to “Compass”
France
- 12 points to “Compass”
Armenia
- 12 points to “Redlights”
Albania
- 12 points to “Stones”
Hungary
- 12 points to “Stones”
Iceland
- 12 points to “Stones”
Israel
- 12 points to “Stones”
[21:45] Televotes next up!
- 6th with 19 points to Kiss Me.
- 5th with 25 points to Redlights.
- 4th with 39 points to A Thousand Times.
- 3rd with 44 points to Secret & Lies.
- 2nd with 48 points to Compass.
- 1st with 77 points is Stones.
[21:52] Overall votes:
[21:57] Zibbz re-perform their entry having won the show.
[22:00] Broadcast has ended. Thank you very much for watching and take care!
Zibbz – Stones will represent Switzerland in Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon.