Tonight was the national selection final for Switzerland, entitled ESC 2016 – Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow. Six acts competed in the competition organized by the German broadcaster SRF (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen). In the end, the Swiss public and the jury picked Canadian singer Rykka as the representative of Switzerland at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm.

The sixth edition of Die Entscheidungsshow was held tonight in order to pick a 2016 winner. The four Swiss official broadcasters, SRF (German), RTS (French), RSI (Italian) and RTR (Romansh) collaborated in the selection process. After they had all performed, the artists also performed covers of popular songs.

The Songs

Vincent Gross – Half A Smile

Vincent started of the show with his song Half a Smile. A catchy pop song that will have teenage girls rooting for him as you can see in his music video. On stage, Vincent looks adorable, and no doubt his use of emojis as video screens will appeal to his target audience.

As his cover song, Vincent sang Astronaut by Sido feat. Andreas Bourrani.

Bella C – Another World

Bella C brings a vibe of Skyfall in her song Another World. Without a doubt, influenced by Conchita’s Phoenix, Bella started her performance while playing piano and delivering beautiful vocals.

As her cover, Bella C sang Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down by Alicia Keys.

Kaceo – Disque D’Or

The only non-English song in the Swiss contest this year, Disque D’Or, is a folky pop rock song with an interesting message, but definitely not something I could see go far in Eurovision. Starting off with the staging, the band clearly is taking the idea of camp to a whole new level with the lead singer wearing an outfit as if he was riding a unicorn!

As their cover, Kaceo performed Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles

Theo – Because Of You

Theo, who’s from the Italian part of Switzerland comes on stage next with his lovely ballad Because of You, an indie folksy song that sounds quite good, but it probably wouldn’t do too well at Eurovision as it’s a little bit boring.

As his cover, Theo performed Photograph by Ed Sheeran

Rykka – The Last Of Our Kind

The Last of Our Kind is another power ballad performed by the charming Rykka who’s actually a Canadian from Vancouver. Will she be able to repeat Céline Dion’s triumph from 1988? She looks beautiful all dressed in white and delivers strong vocals. It reminds me a lot of last year’s Russian entry.

For her cover, Rykka sang Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

Stanley Miller – Feel The Love

Last but not least is Stanley Miller, an American this time who performs Feel the Love. Stanley has a bit of an advantage for being the last song performed but also the fact that it is somehow the only danceable song this year. Stanley is accompanied by a choir for his performance. Unfortunately this just doesn’t seem to work so well on stage.

As his cover, Stanley sang Hello by Adele

The Show

ESC 2016 – Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow took place tonight at the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. The show was hosted by Sven Epiney. The show consisted of two parts. In the first, the contestants performed their entries listed above. In the second part, they performed covers of popular hit songs.

The opening of the show as well as the interval act of Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow was the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst who performed her winning entry Rise Like A Phoenix and her single Firestorm. Also in attendance as part of the audience was the first ever winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, Lys Assia.

The winner of ESC 2016 – Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow was picked with 50% votes from a Jury and 50% votes from the Swiss public through televoting.

The Results

The winner of  ESC 2016 – Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow is Rykka with the song The Last Of Our Kind.

Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest

This is Switzerland’s 57th time entering the Eurovision Song Contest, having taken part in the first ever show in 1956 and winning with the song Refrain by Lys Assia.

Its second and most recent win, in 1988, was with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi by Canadian superstar Céline Dion. Since the introduction of the semi-finals however, Switzerland has struggled to reach the top ten, its best result being in 2005 with Cool Vibes by Vanilla Ninja, which placed eighth.

Below you can relive the EuroVisionary highlights of Switzerland from 2010-2015 with some clips you may not have seen before!