Through our Best of the Bunch series, we gave a recap on the Eurovision entries from 2006 to 2015 and gave you the opportunity to choose your Best of the Bunch. As you may remember, the current Best of the Bunch winners were put into our ‘Ultimate Eurovision’ but it’s time to see which of the latest three entries have remained as your favourites! In our Best of the Bunch: The Trials series, we are going to recap the entries from a certain nation starting with 2016 and continuing through to the latest Eurovision season of 2018. Your job is to simply enjoy the music, and vote for your Best of the Bunch winner!
Today we are putting the focus on Switzerland, one of the original nations to compete at Eurovision back in its debut year of 1956. Not only were they a participant, but the nation won the first every Eurovision with the song Refrain. The nations has fairly consistently participated in the contest, only missing four contests in the history of Eurovision. Switzerland have won the contest twice, but in recent years luck hasn’t exactly been on their side. Today we will be discussing the latest three entries, starting with 2016 and concluding with the most recent entry. After we recap the entries, it will be up to you to decide on the Best of the Bunch!
Switzerland 2016
We are starting our Best of the Bunch journey today on a bit of a low note with Switzerland on the back of a last place finish, which we had seen from them three times prior in the contests after the turn of the 21st Century. Sticking with their usual format of a national final, the nation selected Rykka with the song The Last of Our Kind which was yet another middle of the road entry that was unfortunately bound to follow the same fate of many of the songs before it by not qualifying to the final. It didn’t help that Eurovision 2016 was quite a strong year, and the nation really needed to step things up. Indeed the song failed to qualify to the final, and once again Switzerland finished last in the semi-final with 28 points.
Switzerland 2017
The positive thing about coming last at Eurovision is that you can only go up from there (or as Switzerland proved, you could just come last two years in a row, but I digress), and luckily we all love a good underdog story. Switzerland stuck with the same national final format, and it was decided that Timebelle would represent the nation with the song Apollo. The song had good bones, and with the revamp, the nation was finally in with a chance of qualifying. Come Eurovision, some interesting staging and costuming choices compromised their chances of qualification and that is indeed how it went down for Switzerland. At least not last, the nation finished in 12th place with 97 points.
Switzerland 2018
That brings us to the most recent entry from Switzerland, and as you will remember, it was the duo ZiBBZ with the song Stones. It was the first rock oriented song we had heard at Eurovision from Switzerland for many years, but it was also the most contemporary song we have heard from the nation in recent years. The staging mistakes from the previous year were not repeated, with a simple but strong performance from the duo, but surprisingly and unfortunately, once again it just wasn’t enough to bring Switzerland back to the final. The song finished in 13th place with 86 points.
So now you’ve seen all three performances, it’s time to vote for your Best of the Bunch!
If you want more Best of the Bunch from Switzerland, check out our original series:
If you want to check out who made our Ultimate Eurovision, check it out here: