On the evening of May 11, the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, in Malmö, Sweden, concluded on a high note as Switzerland’s representative, Nemo, with their song “The Code,” won the prestigious song contest, with 591 points, just 44 points ahead of televote favorite, Croatia’s “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” by artist Baby Lasagna. Third place was Ukraine’s alyona alyona & Jerry Heil’s “Teresa & Maria.”
Nemo, full name Nemo Mettler, became famous overnight. Born in 1999 in Biel, a small bilingual town in Switzerland, Nemo has been playing the violin, piano and drums since they were a small child. Eurovision.tv, the official contest website, adds, “In 2016, Nemo became famous overnight through an appearance at SRF Virus (#Cypher), which went viral on social media. Afterward, they released two EPs – through which seven songs made it directly onto the official Swiss Singles Chart.” In 2020, they started releasing songs in English, which deal with themes such as mental health and finding one’s place in the world. This year’s winning song, entitled, “The Code,” deals with gender identity, which Mettler identifies most closely with, as they are the first non-binary participant from Switzerland.
This year, we saw the return of Luxembourg, coming back to the contest after 31 years of non-participation. Their song, “Fighter” by Israeli-born Luxembourgish singer TALI, placed 13th, with 103 points. Additionally, in 2025, we will see the return of Montenegro, a country that has been out of the contest since the 2022 contest, in Turin, Italy.
Next year’s contest will be held in Basel, Switzerland, which was announced on Aug. 1, on a YouTube live premiere event. This will be the first time the contest will be held in the German-speaking region of the country, with the inaugural edition (Lugano 1956) in the Italian-speaking region, and in 1989 (Lausanne) in the French-speaking region, after international superstar Celine Dion’s win in 1988. A live press conference was held, again on YouTube, to answer any questions, and to familiarize the world with the third largest city in Switzerland. Both the announcement video, and the host city press conference are still up on the official contest YouTube page at time of writing.
Our first confirmed artist for next year’s contest comes from Cyprus. Representing the country in Basel will be Theo Evan. Evan, whose real name is Evangelos Theodorou, is a Cypriot singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He has notably been an extra in the HBO series, “Euphoria.” After attending the Berklee College of Music to study Music and Performance, he released his first music release, entitled, “The Wall,” in 2021. He is inspired by everything from Stromae to Michael Jackson.
Streaming services that will show the contest will be announced closer to the contest, but it is anticipated that Peacock, NBC’s streaming service will make it available, as it has in the past few contests.
Tune into the Eurovision Song Contest next year, on May 13, 15 and 17, all at 2 pm Central Time and visit eurovision.tv for more information.
