Remo Forrer comes from Hemberg in canton St Gallen.
Srf/lukas Maeder
Remo Forrer, a 21-year-old singer from eastern Switzerland, has been chosen to represent the Alpine country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Liverpool.
The song that the young singer will perform on May 9 in the first semi-final will be announced on March 7. The final is scheduled on May 13.
“The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the greatest things you can do,” the singer from Hemberg in canton St Gallen told Swiss public television, SRF. “It has always been a dream and I’m super happy that it’s now coming true.”
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Swiss musicians were invited to submit their songs for participation in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. A 20-person international jury and a panel of 100 spectators decided the Swiss entry.
“Not only can I deliver under pressure, I also like to do it,” said Forrer, who won the third season of “The Voice of Switzerland”External link talent show in 2020.
The Eurovision Song Contest was initiated by the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union in 1956 – Switzerland won the inaugural competition – and has become one of Europe’s most popular annual music events. Launched to foster unity after the Second World War, it has evolved over the years from a bland ballad-fest to a feel-good extravaganza. It has grown from seven countries to include more than 40, including non-European nations such as Israel and Australia.
The 67th contest will take place in Liverpool and will be broadcast to over 160 million TV and online viewers. Britain stepped in as host country to replace Ukraine.
Despite doing well in the early days, Switzerland has generally underperformed since 1988, when unknown Canadian singer Céline Dion was flown in to represent the Alpine nation and ended up flying home with the trophy. But the tide may be turning. Decades of miserable results followed until 2019, when Luca Hänni from Bern came fourth. Two years later Gjon Muharremaj, performing the song Tout l’univers (all the universe) under the name Gjon’s Tears, came third.
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