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Marius Bear: Who is Switzerland’s Eurovision entrant for 2022?

Switzerland will be represented at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest by 28-year-old Appenzeller Marius Bear. Will he follow in the footsteps of Switzerland's most famous winner, Celine Dion?

Published: 10 March 2022 16:57 CET

Switzerland has a long history of success at Eurovision. Photo: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP

Switzerland has a long history of success at Eurovision. Photo: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP

Bear, a former construction mechanic, began his career in 2016 as a street musician. Since then, he has gone on to a successful career in both Germany and Switzerland.

Bear was selected by a 20-strong international jury to be Switzerland’s representative.

Bear’s entry is the song Boys Do Cry, which he says was motivated by wanting “not to be ashamed of my feelings”.

“I don’t want to put on emotional armour, I want to be who I am. I would like to encourage my audience to do the same.”

Switzerland: Two-time winners of Eurovision

Multi-lingual Switzerland historically held an advantage in the competition, as the rules of the contest formerly required the song to be sung in a national language.

While Switzerland has entered songs in each of the country’s four official languages as well as in English, the country’s two victorious songs were both sung in French.

Boys Do Cry is sung in English.

Switzerland’s 2021 Eurovision entrant Gjon’s Tears celebrates. Photo: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

Switzerland has a strong history in Eurovision, having won the very first edition of the competition in 1956 as well as in 1988.

The winning song in 1988, Ne partez pas sans moi, was written in Switzerland but sung by Canadian singer Celine Dion.

It remains the last French language song to win the contest.

The Swiss city of Lausanne hosted the competition in 1989.

Since then Switzerland has only missed the annual competition on four occasions: 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003.

The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the Italian city of Turin in May.

Russia has been banned from the competition due to the invasion of Ukraine.

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Everything you need to know about Eurovision in Switzerland

Although it doesn’t have the reputation for being a flashy, kitschy place you might associate with the modern Eurovision Song Contest, Switzerland has a special place in Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) history.

In 1956, it hosted the very first ESC in Lugano – and won it, when Swiss singer Lys Assia took home the trophy with her French-language “Refrain.”

Since then, the Alpine nation has competed almost every year – missing out on the contest only four times.

READ ALSO: Lys Assia, Eurovision’s first-ever winner, dies aged 94

In 1988, Switzerland famously won again with another French-language song – Ne partez pas sans moi or “Don’t go without me” – sung by none other than a young Celine Dion at the beginning of her career (the French-Canadian singer was invited to represent the country by Swiss officials).

The country hasn’t turned in an ESC win since then. What’s more, Switzerland’s performance in the last 20 years has also been largely disappointing – with the Swiss act failing to qualify for Saturday’s Grand Final more than half the time. They’ve instead been eliminated during semi-finals.

That might account a bit for Swiss Eurovision viewership figures that are quite a bit lower than places like the UK, Germany, and Spain – where at least a full 10 percent of the population in all three places watched last year. By contrast, about 330,000 people in Switzerland watched Eurovision in 2022.

That said, those Swiss fans have had a bit more to cheer for in recent years – with Swiss acts once again making a clear impression on both contest judges and the general public in televoting.

In 2019, singer Luca Hänni finished fourth with his English-language dance bop “She Got Me.” After the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Swiss act Gjon’s Tears finished third with his French-language “Tout l’univers.” 2022’s entry Marius Bear didn’t crack the top ten, but made the Grand Final with his English-language “Boys Do Cry.”

READ ALSO: Marius Bear: Who is Switzerland’s Eurovision entrant for 2022?

Switzerland at Eurovision – a rich linguistic history

As you might expect from a country with four official languages, listening to Switzerland’s Eurovision entries over the years is a real treat for language lovers.

Swiss competitors have sung in English 17 times – with most of those being recent Swiss entries.

Swiss singers have sung in French at Eurovision 24 times, with French-language songs accounting for both of the country’s two Eurovision wins.

Switzerland has also sung in German and Italian at Eurovision eleven times apiece. The vocal group Furbaz has the distinction of performing Switzerland’s only ever Eurovision entry in Romansh, with 1989’s Viver senza tei.

READ ALSO: Why are people in Germany-speaking countries so obsessed with Schlager music?

How might Switzerland do this year?

Remo Forrer from Hemburg in the St. Gallen canton is representing Switzerland at Eurovision this year. At 21, he’s already won The Voice of Switzerland reality singing show.

He describes his English-language song for the contest, “Watergun,” as a power ballad that laments the powerlessness of his generation in the world’s current wars.

Bookmakers give Forrer an outside chance at cracking the top 10, now that he’s qualified to compete in the Grand Final on Saturday May 13th. So while it may not necessarily be a winning song, it signals how Switzerland is once again becoming more competitive on the Eurovision stage.

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