Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Swiss entry was selected through Die grosse Entscheidungs Show, a national final organised by the Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR. Sinplus represented Switzerland with the song "Unbreakable", which failed to qualify from the first semi-final, achieving 11th place with 45 points.
Before Eurovision
Die grosse Entscheidungs Show
On 22 July 2011, SF announced that 14 entries would join the national final from the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, two more than the previous year. Six songs would come from an internet voting of German-language SF, three from radio broadcaster DRS 3, three from French-language broadcaster RTS, and two from Italian-language RSI. In an unusual twist, the participants would sing two-minute abridged versions of their songs at the final, despite the competition rules set out by SF that submitted songs had to be between 2:55-3:00 minutes in length.
SF selection
The overall SF selection selected six finalists. Candidates could submit entries to the broadcaster from 1–30 September 2011. 221 songs were sent to SF. The first Eurovision winner Lys Assia, the Danish Eurovision entry in 2007 DQ, German Idol participant Zazou Mall and US-pop singer Ultra Naté sent their entries to SF, as well as the first South AfricanIdols winner Heinz Winckler and former The X Factor participants Same Difference and Maria Lawson. A 50/50 mix of internet voting and the verdict of an expert jury decided on the finalists. On 10 November, the Swiss HoD announced via Twitter that Lys Assia was one of the 6 qualified acts. The complete line-up was announced officially on the following day.
DRS 3 selection
DRS 3 selected their three entries internally. On 13 October, DRS 3 announced Guillermo Sorya, Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves and Sarah McLoud as their three entries for the Swiss final. However, Sara McLoud's song "Lost" was disqualified because an acoustic version had been released in 2009. She was replaced by the song "Black Symphony" by Atomic Angels.
RSI selection
RSI selected two entries. Artists could submit their songs to RSI. 22 songs were selected by RSI to be put in the online selection. Five of these 22 were chosen by a jury to proceed to the regional television heat. Two of the other 17 songs advanced to the regional heat chosen by internet voting. The live television heat was 8 November 2011 on the TV channel RSI La 2 and via radio on Rete Tre. The two eventual qualifiers were revealed to be Sinplus and Chiara Dubey.
RTS selection
RTS selected three finalists. Entries could be submitted until 30 September 2011. 27 Songs were submitted to RTS. A jury narrowed down the number of entries to ten. Those ten entries were played on the radio and TV channels of RTS between 20–30 October 2011. The three finalists were selected by a 50/50 combination of online and jury voting on 3 November 2011. The three selected acts were revealed to be Katherine St-Laurent, Sosofluo and Ze Flying Zézettes Orchestra.
Final
The national final was held on 10 December 2011 at the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, and hosted by Sven Epiney. The fourteen participants sang two-minute abridged versions of their songs. The entries were commented by an "expert group", consisting of Nik Hartmann, Carlos Leal and Stämpf. The winner was decided by 100% televoting.
At Eurovision
During the Semi-Final Allocation draw which was held on 25 January 2012, it was announced Switzerland were scheduled to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 22 May. On 20 March 2012 the Running Order draw was held, which determined the order of which the participants performed. Switzerland is set to perform 7th in the first semi-final. Switzerland achieved 11th place and so did not go to the final. The public vote gave the song 10th place with 49 points but the jury only 13th place. Switzerland got only 45 points in the 2012 contest.
