Switzerland’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest is ‘Tout l‘Univers’ (The Whole Universe) and will be performed by Gjon’s Tears at the second Semi-Final on Thursday 20 May.
Gjon Muharremaj, who hails from Broc in the Canton of Fribourg, was originally picked to represent the Swiss last year with Répondez-moi.
“I am so happy that I will finally be able to take part in Eurovision this year and that I can spread a positive message with my song Tout l'Univers. It was important for us to keep hope in this particularly difficult time: we must not give up and we must stay strong. With love, friendship, strength and courage, we can rebuild our future. I am convinced that in this exceptional situation it is possible to rediscover and reinvent ourselves.”
The musician wrote his latest Eurovision entry with songwriters Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans and Xavier Michel as part of a song-writing camp. He hopes that the combination of solo voice, choirs, piano and strings, mixed with modern beats, gives his entry a distinctive soundscape.
About Gjon's Tears
Gjon Muharremaj’s story began when a childhood rendition of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love With You moved his grandfather to tears. This provided the inspiration for his stage name, Gjon’s Tears:
“I want to use my music to move people in all sorts of ways, whether it’s joy, sadness or melancholy.”
So impressed was his grandad that he decided to sign Gjon up to a TV talent show in his ancestral home of Albania. This proved to be a smart decision as, at the age of 12, Gjon finished third in Albania’s Got Talent. The next year he went on to reach the semi-finals of Switzerland’s Got Talent, and in 2019 he reached the same stage of The Voice(France).
Off stage, Gjon enjoys reading poetry and is a frequent visitor to theatres and museums. He also has a weakness for antiques, thanks to many flea-market visits with his father, but music has always been his number one passion.
Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest
Switzerland hosted and won the very first Contest in 1956 in Lugano; though mystery remains around that inaugural Eurovision’s secret voting procedures. Juries could vote for their own acts, and the Swiss jury were also allowed to vote on behalf of Luxembourg who were unable to travel to the event. This voting system was never repeated.
Slightly less controversial was the second Swiss victory in 1988, when Céline Dion beat the United Kingdom’s Scott Fitzgerald by a single point in the final round of voting. Ne partez pas sans moi was the last winning song to be entirely performed in French - can Gjon change that?
