BERLIN (AP) — Swiss Eurovision followers had been preparing Sunday to present a hero’s welcome to singer Nemo, who received the 68th Eurovision Music Contest with “The Code,” an operatic pop-rap ode to the singer’s journey towards embracing a nongender identification.

The singer, who’s Swiss however at the moment lives in Berlin, was to land in Zurich on Sunday evening, nationwide broadcaster SRF stated.

Switzerland’s contestant beat Croatian rocker Child Lasagna to the title by profitable probably the most factors from a mix of nationwide juries and viewers around the globe.

Nemo, 24, is the primary nonbinary winner of the competition that has lengthy been embraced as a protected haven by the LGBTQ group. Nemo can be the primary Swiss winner since 1988, when Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion competed underneath the Swiss flag.

At a post-victory information convention, Nemo expressed satisfaction in accepting the trophy for “individuals which can be daring to be themselves and folks that have to be heard and have to be understood. We want extra compassion, we want extra empathy.”

Nemo’s hometown of Biel congratulated the newly-crowned star on-line and stated the residents had been able to have a good time them.

“Congratulations! The town of Biel is extraordinarily proud and says: Bravo and Merci Nemo for the improbable music and efficiency and likewise for carrying the colours of Biel out into the world!,” the city stated on its web site. “Your metropolis will have a good time and welcome you.”

Biel, with a inhabitants of round 60,000, is situated round 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Basel on Lake Biel. The city is bilingual, German and French, and is taken into account the watchmaking capital of Switzerland.

“Nemo creates and strikes freely between classical, various and common tradition,” the city’s tradition official, Glenda Gonzalez Bassi, stated. “An exquisite instance of the dynamic and inclusive tradition that we’re pleased with in Biel.”

Nemo — full identify Nemo Mettler — bested finalists from 24 different international locations, who all carried out in entrance of a reside viewers of 1000’s and an estimated 180 million viewers around the globe. Every contestant had three minutes to meld catchy tunes and eye-popping spectacle into performances able to profitable the hearts of viewers. Musical types ranged throughout rock, disco, techno and rap — generally a mashup of a couple of.

Throughout Switzerland, individuals had been already beginning to assume forward to subsequent yr, when the nation will host the following Eurovision contest. Historically the county of the winner hosts the music competitors the next yr.

The cities of Geneva, Basel and St. Gallen have already positioned themselves to compete as hosts for the following contest, SRF reported.

“It’s a nice creative and touristic alternative to indicate the world what Switzerland is all about, and it’s now as much as us to take up this problem collectively,” Gilles Marchand, Director Basic of the SRG media firm, an affiliation of many various Swiss media organizations.

As for Berlin — their adopted, second hometown — Nemo instructed German information company dpa earlier than the Eurovision contest that “I really like Berlin a lot as a result of it’s such a inventive metropolis that’s continuously altering. It’s a enjoyable metropolis.”

Within the Croatian capital of Zagreb, 1000’s gathered on the primary sq. to welcome second-placed Child Lasagna on his return dwelling. Chanting “We love you,” the group cheered because the singer carried out his “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” rollicking rock quantity that tackles the difficulty of younger Croatians leaving the nation in the hunt for a greater life.

Croats had hoped for a victory and Child Lasagna burst into tears when he got here on stage, saying he didn’t anticipate such an enormous reception. “We did our greatest, I hope you’re comfortable,” he stated.

Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was additionally within the crowd, saying, “We’re proud to have had such a consequence, which is the perfect since Croatia grew to become impartial” from the previous Yugoslavia in 1991.

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Related Press author Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia contributed to this report.