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She might have a hometown advantage, but Zoë Më has a huge obstacle to overcome to win the Eurovision Song Contest this year in Switzerland.
Last year, Nemo won the long-running competition with their song The Code, which was awarded an impressive 591 points in the Grand Final, combining the jury and public vote.
Following their victory, the annual singing competition is taking place in 2025 in the city of Basel, which is also the place where Zoë – the representative for the host country – was born.
Ahead of Saturday night’s final, Zoë spoke to Metro about why she isn’t ruling out a double, consecutive win for her country… even if it would mean overcoming a Eurovision ‘curse’.
A few months ago, the 24-year-old was announced as the Swiss act for this year’s contest, with her song Voyage, which is ‘intended to be an invitation to look at life with more humanity, openness and compassion’.
She performed the song earlier this week during the first semi-final, a few days before the Grand Final, where she was already guaranteed a spot due to being the host country’s act.
After tuning in, fans said that their ‘jaws had dropped’ and that her performance ‘took their breath away’, with many declaring that Switzerland ‘may do a double’ by winning twice in a row. Bookmakers currently have Zoë expected to finish in the Top 10.
Zoë reflected on the ‘honour’ of representing her country the year it’s hosting, explaining that being in her hometown ‘feels like a warm hug’.
‘Switzerland hasn’t been known for being a huge Eurovision country where people love it, but now seeing Basel like this, I feel the Swiss are very excited and they are embracing it,’ she said.
With friends and family set to be in the stadium on Saturday to support her, the musician admitted that she felt a sense of pressure, but that it was mostly coming from herself.
‘It’s not the fact it is my home city or that I’m representing Switzerland. It’s more that I want to make myself proud. [For] every performance, I always want to do my best,’ she shared.
‘It’s the internal pressure. From the get-go I said I want to look back in 10 years’ time and be proud of what I did.’
Which countries have won Eurovision twice in a row?
Just a handful of countries have won the Eurovision Song Contest two years in a row.
These are:
-Spain (in 1968 and 1969)
-Luxembourg (1972 and 1973)
-Israel (1978 and 1979)
-Ireland also won three times in a row – in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
With the last time a double win happening over 30 years ago, rumours of a ‘host country curse’ have emerged, suggesting that acts from host countries struggle to pick up points.
Bringing up this curse, Zoë explained: ‘People have told me that usually the host country gets less points because people don’t want to go back to the same place, so they aren’t super neutral regarding the artists. I don’t know if that’s true or not and I’m doing my best, so let’s see what happens.’
But she added: ‘For me I don’t put music in numbers. If I manage to do something I am proud of then I am happy, but we will also see if people like it as much as I do. That’s the part I can’t control. But I do think it’s possible to win twice in a row.’
With Swedish act KAJ another favourite to win SVT, the Swedish national broadcaster, recently revealed it would have a lower budget for Eurovision 2026 if they were to host.
In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, a programme commissioner for SVT said a Swedish-hosted Eurovision in 2026 would be smaller in order to save money, as reported by EuroVoix.
‘It may be a smaller stage and lighting rig, but no matter what we do, there will be large costs,’ they said.
It’s been reported SVT has not made a profit from hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, 2016 and 2024, with SVT losing 100 million SEK (£7. 7 million) when hosting last year.
Switzerland isn’t the only country that has a huge obstacle to face going into the Grand Final, given the prospect of facing a Eurovision ‘curse’.
Portugal might also be regarded as an underdog, given the band NAPA admit that they ‘defied the odds’ to be there.
Formed in 2013, the line-up consists of Guilherme Gomes, Francisco Sousa, Diogo Góis, Lourenço Gomes, and João Rodrigues.
Leading into the first semi-final, their song Deslocado only had a 15% chance of making it through. Yet they defied the odds and got in.
‘The odds weren’t good for us, and it put a lot of pressure on us. Each time we saw news about it, it bummed us out,’ Guilherme told Metro and other media.
‘We tried not to pay attention to those odds and let them influence our performance…but to beat those odds was a big relief.
‘We want to make music that comes from the heart, and we are proud we can go to the final with a song like this.’
‘We are here to showcase our song and have fun. Lots of people connected to it. The opportunity to play music and be in the final and then maybe start playing concerts outside of Portugal, that is the real trophy for us,’ Lourenço added.
The second Eurovision semi-final airs tonight from 8pm on BBC One. The final airs on Saturday at 8pm on BBC One.
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