The Swiss Nemo emerged victorious from the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden on Saturday night.
The show, considered the most politically charged in history, saw Nemo become the contest’s first non-binary winner, after scoring 365 points with the jury and 226 from the public for a total of 591 with his song The Code.
Nemo announced that they are non-binary in November and revealed that The Code is a nod to their identity, while they also detailed their pride in representing anyone who is non-binary, genderfluid and transgender.
Their Eurovision appearance comes after eight years in the spotlight and an appearance on Switzerland’s Masked Singer in 2021, while they have been making music since 2015 and enjoyed chart success in 2017 with the song Du.
So who is the winner of the show?
Swiss artist Nemo emerged victorious from the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, on Saturday night, but who is the non-binary singer?
Her Eurovision appearance comes after eight years in the spotlight and an appearance on the Swiss show Masked Singer in 2021.
Nemo said the song is about them realizing their own non-binary identity and they hope to stand up for “the entire LGBTQIA+ community” by entering the contest.
Nemo Mettler is a Swiss rapper and multi-instrumentalist who uses the mononym Nemo. He is proficient in violin, piano and drums.
They were born in Biel/Bienne, a bilingual city in the canton of Bern. The city has two official languages: French and German.
He has been active on the charts since 2015, and his 2017 single Du reached number four on the Swiss charts.
In November 2023, in an article for SonntagsZeitung Nemo announced that he identifies as non-binary and expresses his preference to be referred to by his name or by neutral they/them pronouns.
They later revealed that the entrance song The Code reflects their identity as non-binary. In a press release about his Eurovision song, Nemo stated: ‘The Code’ is about the journey I began when I realized that I am neither a man nor a woman…
‘Finding myself has been a long and often difficult process for me. But nothing makes me feel better than the freedom I’ve gained from realizing I’m non-binary.”
The star also participated in The Masked Singer of Switzerland, after which she was unmasked as a panda. They appeared in the second season in 2021-2022 and eventually finished in fifth place after being unmasked.
‘Finding myself has been a long and often difficult process for me. But nothing feels better than the freedom I’ve gained from realizing I’m non-binary.”
Their Eurovision entry The Code has been praised, with a mix of rap, opera, pop and drum and bass creating a winning combination.
The winning song, The Code, was written by Nemo and co-written by Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann and Linda Dale.
The song has been compared to the James Bond anthem and the riffs of the Habanera aria from Georges Bizet’s 1985 opera Carmen.
Speaking about the song, he said in a pre-show interview: “People have been saying that The Code reminds them of James Bond, or Freddie Mercury came back and decided to do K-Pop, which I love…
‘There are so many influences on the song. I went to the youth opera when I was nine years old in my hometown, and I think that had a lot of influence on my work as a musician, listening to those classic melodies…
‘It’s definitely a performance piece; It’s made for the stage, to keep you on your toes. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s also a lot of fun to sing live because I can do a lot of things in a short space of time. It’s just fun to show different sides…
“I love acting because it reminds me of singing when I was in the opera.”
They explained that the song is an extension of “who they are.”
Speaking about the song, he said in a pre-show interview: “People have been saying that The Code reminds them of James Bond, or Freddie Mercury came back and decided to do K-Pop, which I love.”
They said, ‘It seems like the song and I are the same, we are one.’ It’s amazing to be able to play something that you really feel like you are, it makes this experience so much more genuine for me.”
After the show, Nemo spoke of his pride in representing non-binary, gender-fluid and transgender people with the history-making victory.
They said: ‘I feel incredibly proud, not just for myself but for our entire community, for anyone who is non-binary, gender fluid, transgender, just people who dare to be themselves and people who need to be heard. and be understood…
They dedicated their song to their non-binary status
“We need more compassion, we need more empathy, we need to listen to each other, we need to try to understand each other instead of talking over each other, we need to talk to each other and I think that’s really important and I think I hope tonight can be a way to remember it.
On how they came to be the Swiss entry to Eurovision, Nemo admitted that they never saw that appearance in their career plan.
They said: ‘It’s funny, because I never really expected to end up in Eurovision, but I was invited to this songwriting camp years ago, and I never had the chance to go because there was always something else going on…
“But then, for the first time, in 2023, I was able to go. I thought they were going to invite me as a songwriter, but they paired me with Teya (from Austria’s 2023 Teya & Selena) and I thought…wait. Who do we write for?
On how they came to be the Swiss entry to Eurovision, Nemo admitted that they never saw that appearance in their career plan.