The country has one of the more complicated selection processes, with the media organizations representing the French, German, and Italian regions of Switzerland selecting songs to go to the national final--four from the German region, three from the French region, and two from the Italian region.
I have to say that I was highly disappointed by watching the show, unlike the Belorussian national final, the quality of songs seemed to be sub par.
A case in point:
Ally "Catch Me"
This was really one of the two best songs sent into the Swiss Italian radio and television broadcaster in Switzerland? Seriously?
Unfortunately for Ally, the Swiss voting public agreed with me, and "Catch Me" got less than one percent of the public vote and she came in dead last.
On the other end of the voting table--
The Winner
Heilsarmee "You and Me"
I can understand why this band of ragtag musicians pulled together from Salvation Army bands in Switzerland did well.
My opinion on this can be summed up by three divas of British television in the 1990s:
Lily Savage, Cilla Black, and Barbara Windsor "You Gotta Have a Gimmick"
And trust me, the Salvation Army in Switzerland got themselves a gimmick. Pretty much put together a diverse group of musicians--the people in the group range from 20 to 94--and put together with a passable Christian rock song it pushed them over the other eight songs.
Yet after the watching the Heilsarmee clip over and over again, I find there's something missing, and that's chemistry. Watching the two singers together, it feels like they're singing in their own separate worlds. It might be argued that they're members of the Salvation Army, and any appearance of chemistry might be verboten, but when you're in a duet and singing a song with lyrics like:
No there's nothing that can hurt us/
Whatever there may come/
Let it hear from near and far/
This is how it's meant to be/
Whatever there may come/
Let it hear from near and far/
This is how it's meant to be/
We're together you and me
there had better be some chemistry, even if the song is about your relationship with God.
But the group has six months to bond, so there's a chance that the chemistry will have time to form.
Should Have Won
In my opinion, the Swiss should have voted for this song.
Chiara Dubey "Bella sera"
Young women singing by themselves have a good track record in the contest, and Ms. Dubey's almost pitch perfect performance wowed me.
Biggest problem, the song was in Italian. The sheer fact that the song was not in either in English or the majority language of the country--German cost the song votes. She came in fifth.
My Favorite
After watching the songs, I have to say my personal favorite song is one that did rather poorly:
Nill Klemm "On My Way"
It's a basic lite rock number a la Bryan Adams, but the aerobicizing dancers who look like they fell off the Rock of Love Bus is kind of hilariously endearing. It had no chance, really, coming in eighth, but for the fact it makes me smile, it deserves a shout out.
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