Non-binary and controversial. Find out who Nemo is, favorite to win the Eurovision Song Contest – Television

“The Code” is, according to the main Eurovision Song Contest betting sites, the favorite to win the 68th edition of the contest. The song representing Switzerland, a country that has won Eurovision twice, in 1965 and 1988, is performed by Nemo Mettler, whose stage name is simply Nemo.

At 24 years old, Nemo, born in the bilingual canton of Bern (where French and German are spoken), came out as a non-binary person in November 2023, in an interview with the newspaper “Tages Anzeiger”. “I don’t feel like a man or a woman,” said the artist. Living in Berlin, Germany, since 2021, Nemo says that life as a non-binary person in this country is easier. “In Switzerland, everyone constantly tells me what I am”, he highlights.

Four months before SRF, Swiss public television, chose the artist to represent the country at Eurovision, Nemo took to social media to explain his identification as a non-binary person. This moment also coincided with the release of the song “This Body”, which also talks about this process of discovering identity.

“This song is about not feeling at home in our own bodies and dealing with internalized shame about gender identity. I do not identify as either a man or a woman. I’m just Nemo. I like to think of gender as a galaxy, imagining myself as a little star, floating somewhere. That’s where I feel like I am. As I reached adulthood, I began to feel that something about me was different. The way people saw me didn’t align with my authentic self. Thanks to the voices and stories of other queer people, I began to put the pieces of my own puzzle together, realizing that there was a place for me beyond the binary,” he explained at the time.

Last March, SRF, Swiss public television, announced Nemo and “The Code” as the country’s representatives at Eurovision 2024, which takes place from May 7th to 11th in Malmö, Sweden. In the year that marks 50 years since Abba’s Eurovision victory, with “Waterloo”, this year’s favorite song also talks about more personal battles. “The Code”, which mixes several musical genres, from opera to trap, including drum and bass, addresses overcoming the battle for identity and the process of “breaking codes”.

“‘The Code’ is about the journey I began when I realized I was neither male nor female. Finding myself was a long and difficult process for me. But nothing feels better than the freedom I gained from realizing I am a person non-binary”, said the artist in an official SRF statement. If he wins this edition of Eurovision 2024, Nemo will succeed Céline Dion who, in 1988, won the contest representing Switzerland, with the song “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”.

Organization criticized for Israel’s participation

Eurovision is not Eurovision without controversy and this year’s edition is no exception. In 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine, the European Broadcasting Union announced Russia’s suspension from the Eurovision Song Contest. This led to the departure of radio and television operators from the EBU the following year, a decision that caused this entity to suspend all broadcasting rights and Russian participation in Eurovision. Two years after the start of the war on Ukrainian soil, it is unlikely that Russia will return to the event in the near future.

But the same is not true of Israel, a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1973. Despite international calls to boycott the country’s participation, currently leading an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has already killed 35,000 people, the EBU took a stance favorable to Israeli participation. There was, however, a need to rewrite the Israeli candidate’s lyrics several times, as the initial versions contained clear political messages, which is prohibited by the festival regulations.

“Hurricane”, played by Eden Golan, is unlikely to have the best reception at the Malmö Arena. This is because, despite the EBU’s efforts to keep Eurovision an apolitical competition, nine artists participating in this year’s edition – including Nemo and the Portuguese Iolanda, signed a manifesto about the situation in Gaza. Although they do not directly oppose Israel’s participation in Eurovision, the artists call for “peace, an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the safe return of all hostages.” “We are against all forms of hate, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia”, it reads. Since the October 7, 2023 attack, Hamas has held more than a hundred Israeli hostages.

The tense environment on the eve of another edition of Eurovision led the EBU to issue a statement on April 9th ​​condemning “hate campaigns on social media against some participants”. “While we support freedom of expression and the right to express opinions in a democratic society, we firmly oppose any form of online abuse, hate speech or harassment of artists or people connected to the competition. This is unacceptable and unfair as that artists have no role in this decision”, reads the letter signed by Jean Philip De Tender, executive general director of the UER.

Iolanda, who came in 14th place in the first semi-final, on May 7th, travels this Saturday, April 27th, to Sweden. The artist will try to win a place in the final, which takes place on May 11th.