SRG SSR announced plans for the 2010 Contest which, as with every year since 2005, the broadcaster would hold an internal selection to select the Swiss entry. The group announced that they are looking for "a strong song of an international standard", with a public invitation to submit entries to the broadcaster, alongside the broadcaster inviting artists from the music industry to compete. Certain criteria for competing artists are being set by SRG SSR, alongside the rules set by the European Broadcasting Union for the Contest. Artists competing for Switzerland must have: , the Swiss entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.
Television and stage experience
Made at least one video
Released at least one CD which placed among the top 50 in an official chart.
There was also no limitations on the nationality of the performers, lyricists or composers. Submissions were allowed to be submitted to the broadcasting group until 22 October 2009. Over 60 entries were received by the broadcasting group, and a jury panel consisting of members representing the three Swiss broadcasters SF, TSR and RSI selected the winner from those submitted to the group, and announced their decision in December 2009. On 18 December 2009, SRG SSR announced that they had selected Michael von der Heide to represent Switzerland with the French language song "Il pleut de l'or". Von der Heide had previously participated in the 1999 German national final, coming in fifth place with "Bye Bye Bar". The song was premiered on 9 January 2010 at the SwissAwards show, broadcast on all channels in SRG SSR.
Promotion
Von der Heide promoted his song for Eurovision before competing in the second semi-final. A new version of "Il pleut de l'or" was performed during the Latvian national final on 27 February. Von der Heide also released a music video with the studio version of the new version of the song in March 2010. Von der Heide released German and English versions of "Il pleut de l'or"; "Es regnet Gold" and "It's Raining Gold" respectively. Von der Heide performed at the "Eurovision in Concert" preview concert in the Amsterdam municipality of Zaanstad in the Netherlands on 24 April, along with 17 other competitors. He performed "Il pleut de l'or" as well as his German national final entry in 1999, "Bye Bye Bar".
At Eurovision
As Switzerland had not competed in the final of the contest since 2006, and was not one of the "Big Four", it was obliged to compete in one of the two semi-finals of the contest. Switzerland was drawn to perform in the second semi-final, held on 27 May, at the semi-final allocation draw on 7 February, performing in the first half of the show. At the running order draw on 23 March, Switzerland was chosen as a "wildcard", allowing the Swiss delegation to select the country's draw in the semi-final. The delegation chose to perform 5th on the night, following Denmark and preceding Sweden
Semi-final
Michael von der Heide was joined on stage by three female backing singers: Amanda Nikolić, Freda Goodlett and Sybille Fässler; and co-author Pele Loriano singing and playing the balalaika. At the end of the voting Switzerland failed to qualify to the final for the 4th consecutive time, finishing last out of the 17 entries, receiving only two points from Georgia. This was Switzerland's 6th last place finish in their history in the contest, after finishing last in 1964, 1967, 1974, 1998 and the 2004 semi-final.
Split results
In the Semi-final 2 Switzerland came 17th with 2 points: the public awarded Switzerland 17th place with 1 point and the jury awarded 16th place with 14 points.
After failing to qualify, von der Heide joked that he would go again for Switzerland with a duet with Swedish singer and former Eurovision winner Carola. Several Eurovision songs charted in the Swiss Music Charts. The winning song, Lena's "Satellite" for Germany, reached number one, having previously peaked at number 2 in April 2010. "Satellite" is the first Eurovision winning song to reach the top of the Swiss charts since 1982, with Nicole's "Ein bißchen Frieden", also for Germany. Entries from Denmark, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Romania, Armenia, Turkey, Sweden, Iceland, Ukraine and the Swiss entry itself also charted. "Il pleut de l'or", which charted at #65, was Michael von der Heide's first ever song to chart on the Swiss singles chart after 12 years in the music business.
