SWITZERLAND

The Swiss song and act was unveiled on March 4th with the release of the music video. Before the release, there were no clues as to who or what the entry might be. Going to Rotterdam is Gjon Muharremaj - professionally known as Gjon's Tears - with the song "Répondez-moi" (Answer me)

The video is filmed in black and white and seems to fit in with the low key instrumentation and emotional lyrics and tune of the song. For quite a chunk of the song we have shots of Gjon's head and shoulders, although for some of this he is being rained or snowed on! I could imagine quite a honed down show where the focus is tight on him then slowly gets bigger. When he is being more active you can see him walking or sitting in different rooms, walking past people doing different things such as reading, sleeping or arguing. Near the end he enters a white room where lots of people are frozen in tableau all doing rather random poses and dressed very individually.

The first verse is quite long but sets up the pattern and phrasing of the song. There is lots of repetition, near rhyme and voice modulations that keeps it familiar yet interesting at the same time. The chorus carries on this aural feel but this time with some oh-oh-oh ing and ends with some pretty impressive high notes. We then have the second verse which follows the pattern from before with another chorus. This time there is almost a false ending with a short lull before he starts the final rendition of the chorus but this time the backing singers take the lead whilst Gjon does more of the high notes. The song is very lightly orchestrated with only a pulsing beat present in the second half of the song. It is certainly a slow build but once you get past that you find that it builds nicely to a suitable and memorable finish.

Even in an apparent year of ballads, this one sticks out a mile - even more so when put in the context of its place in the semi final. First of all it is in French and I write there are only two other non-english songs in its semi final, which also looks rather female heavy. I think they need to emphasise the individual qualities of this song and hope that Gjon can pull of an epic vocal show. I don't expect to see any dancing or dancers but he will need a batch of backing singers. His voice in particular is very haunting and at times it almost doesn't feel like he is speaking French, that said the chorus has now taught me some wonderful French idioms which I might have to use somehow!
As much as I have time for this song, I know that the world of Eurovision can be quite a fickle one. Maybe the song is a lit too stylised and the story/message might also be lost on viewers without hints. Part of me feels that a similar fate to "Limits" could be on the cards for this song, even more so because the song is not in English. I think I might end up slightly heartbroken if this happens!

Artist - Gjon's Tears
Song - Répondez-moi (Answer me)
Composers - Xavier Michel, Gjon Muharremaj, Alizé Oswald, Jeroen Swinnen
Lyricists - Xavier Michel, Gjon Muharremaj, Alizé Oswald, Jeroen Swinnen