Introduction

• Participant(s): Marius Bear
• Song: Boys Do Cry
  
• Writer(s): Marius Bear, Martin Gallop
• Composer(s): Marius Bear, Martin Gallop
• Broadcaster: SRG RTS SSR 
• Social media:        
  
• Team review: 

Switzerland has shown a good hand in choosing successful songs lately. Luca Hänni made a 4th place in Tel Aviv in 2019 and Gjon’s Tears even a 3rd place in Rotterdam last year. We will witness how fruitful this method is this year. Marius Baer has been chosen to represent Switzerland with “Boys Do Cry”. The song title reminds a bit of The Cure’s hit “Boys Don’t Cry” which of course is a similar intention to draw attention to the fact that boys do cry.

Marius Bear, whose real name is Marius Hügli, born in the canton of Appenzell in 1993, the year when Annie Cotton made a wonderful 3rd place in Millstreet with “Moi, Tout Simplement” . Marius discovered his passion for music quite late, he is a construction mechanist and went on tour as a street musician, where he was discovered by a famous music producer. That’s why Marius went to New York and later to London to study music production at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. By now he has released songs like “Remember Me”  and the cover song “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”  and three albums.

With the announcement of the Swiss broadcaster to send Marius Baer to Turin, a dream comes true for Marius. Performing his own song on such a big stage is an honour. The calm song “Boys Do Cry” has beautiful lyrics:

Hearts they get broken, God only knows why,
And sometimes aeroplanes, fall down from the sky,
And mountains they crumble, and rivers they run dry,
And oh, boys do cry,
And how they cry

Due to the fact that there will be several ballads sung by male singers (Australia, Poland and UK) the competition is high. With a stunning stage show, reduced light and flickering lights a special atmosphere can be created to bring the message through. Especially in these uncertain times with all the big problems in the world, such a calm song can motivate.

History

• Debut: 1956
• Participations: 63
• Victories: 2
• Finals: 63 (52 since 2004)
• Top 10: 30

Switzerland is not only one of the founding members of the Eurovision Song Contest it has hosted the first one in Lugano, 1956 and even won the first contest in history with “Refrain” by Lys Assia. Regrettably, Lys Assia passed away in 2018, she has been a guest of honour in almost every ESC afterwards. In that year the participating seven participating countries had two songs in the race each. The voting system was not established at that time, so there has only be the winner, all the others were second.

Switzerland has missed out two years 1999 and 2001 due to bad placing in previous years, when the rules were a little bit different and country had to pause for a year. So this is going to be the 63rd time to watch Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest this year.

Since the semi-finals have been introduced in 2004, Swiss entries were struggling with the qualification for the Grand Finals. Only six times Switzerland has passed the qualification round since that. Out of 63 participations, Switzerland could only be in the Grand Final for 52 times. And 30 times Switzerland reached the Top10, so there is a statistically chance of 48% reaching the Top10. It seems that the enthusiasm in Switzerland is not as high as in other countries and the recent national finals did not bring the desired success.

The Swiss entries have mostly been sung in French and German language, very seldom in Italian or Romansch, but nowadays as well in English. In Tel Aviv 2019, Switzerland was able to break its losing streak, with Luca Hänni and “She Got Me” a wonderful 4th place in the Grand Final could be achieved. And last year the success could even been topped by Gjon’s Tears with “Tout l’Univers”, a wonderful 3rd place in the Grand Final of Rotterdam. This was remarkable but also well deserved.

Probably the most prominent name in the ESC next to ABBA is Céline Dion, she has been representing Switzerland in 1988 with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”. The Franco-Canadian singer has won for with only one point ahead to the UK. At that time Céline was an absolute newcomer and she started a world career one year after, when she opened the 1989 ESC in Lausanne with “Where Does My Heart Beat Now”. Nowadays she has her own show in Las Vegas, sells millions of albums and is one of the biggest stars in the world. She is often being taken as role model for young singers. Other famous Swiss singers were Esther Ofarim, Paola and DJ Bobo.

Biggest successes

• 2x 1st place
  “Refrain” | Lys Assia (Lugano 1956) 
  “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi” | Céline Dion (Dublin 1988) 
• 4x 2nd place
  “Das Alte Karussell” | Lys Assia (Lugano 1956) 
  “Giorgio” | Lys Assia (Hilversum 1958) 
  “T'en Va Pas” | Esther Ofarim (London 1963) 
  “Pas Pour Moi” | Daniela Simons (Bergen 1986) 
• 4x 3rd place
  “Nous Aurons Demain” | Franca di Rienzo (Cannes 1961) 
  “Amour On T'aime” | Arlette Zola (Harrogate 1982) 
  “Moi, Tout Simplement” | Annie Cotton (Millstreet 1993) 
  “Tout l'Univers “ | Gjon's Tears (Rotterdam 2021) 

Video Nostalgia

• “Swiss Lady” | Pepe Lienhard Band
  Rank 6, London 1977
  
• “Musik Klingt In Die Welt Hinaus” | Egon Egemann
  Rank 11, Zagreb 1990
  
• “The Highest Heights” | Lovebugs
  Rank 14 (Semi Final), Moscow 2009
  
  

First Rehearsal