Swiss singer Zoë Më unveils song ‘Voyage’ for 2025 Eurovision contest

For the first time since 2021, the Swiss entry to the Eurovision song contest will sing in one of the country's national languages, French. Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Singer-songwriter Zoë Më, who hails from Fribourg, will represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, the city where she was born. She unveiled her ballad Voyage on Monday.

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Zoë Më, winner of the Best Talent competition of Swiss public radio SRF3, was revealed last week as Switzerland’s entry for the ESC in May. Now the song with which she will compete in Basel has been revealed: with Voyage, the singer and songwriter invites listeners “on a journey to more humanity”, she told SRF.

“Les fleurs sont plus belles quand tu les arroses”, she sings in the pre-chorus of the ballad: “Flowers are more beautiful when you water them”, instead of cutting them. “For me, people are like flowers,” the 24-year-old explained, “which means that, if we treat each other with respect, we can become the most beautiful version of ourselves.”

A message from the ESC stage

Translated from Greek and Japanese respectively, her artist name means “life” (Zoë) and “the eye” (Më). Accordingly, she has resolved to take a close look at all aspects of life, both the beautiful and the not-so-great ones.

“The song Voyage and the invitation to take a journey towards more compassion is my response to bullying and negativity, for example, on social media,” says the musician. “It was important to me to have a message when I’m given such a big stage as the ESC.”

A song in French

Zoë Më likes to alternate between German and French lyrics in her songs. She often does this in the same song or even in the same sentence, bridging the gap between linguistic melodies, cultural nuances, and also between the different parts of Switzerland. She owes this to the fact that she was born in Basel, lived in Germany for several years and grew up in Fribourg.

For Voyage, however, the musician opted not to be bilingual: “It just felt right to write only in French.” For the first time since Gjon’s Tears’ song Tout l’univers, also in French (it came third at the ESC in 2021), a Swiss ESC entry will be performed in one of the four national languages.

Viewers in Europe (and Australia) will get a chance to give their opinion of the song on Saturday, May 17, in the final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, to be broadcast live from the St. Jakobshalle in Basel. Prior to that, on Tuesday, May 13, Zoë Më will sing in the first semi-final, albeit out of competition, since Switzerland, as the host nation, is already qualified for the final.

Adapted from German with DeepL/gw

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