Hunter of Stars

"Hunter of Stars"
Single by Sebalter
from the album Day of Glory
Released	December 2, 2013
Genre	Folk rock, indie folk
Length	2:59
Songwriter(s)	Sebastiano Paù-Lessi
Sebalter singles chronology
"Hunter of Stars" (2013) "Saturday" (2014)
Music video
"Hunter of Stars" on YouTube
Eurovision Song Contest 2014 entry
Country	Switzerland
Artist(s)	Sebalter
Language	English
Composer(s)	Sebastiano Paù-Lessi
Lyricist(s)	Sebastiano Paù-Lessi
Finals performance
Semi-final result	4th
Semi-final points	92
Final result	13th
Final points	64
Entry chronology
◄ "You and Me" (2013)
"Time to Shine" (2015) ►
Song presentation
file help
Official performance video
"Hunter of Stars" (Final) on YouTube

"Hunter of Stars" is a song by Swiss singer Sebalter. It represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Denmark.^[1] The song was released in Switzerland as a digital download on December 2, 2013, as the lead single from his debut studio album Day of Glory (2015).

Background

The song is inspired from a trip Sebastiano had made through Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver.^[2][3] The song is theorized as a song that speaks about a man who acts tough and strong, but on the inside, is wracked with self-confidence issues.^[4]

Music video

The music video was directed by Nick Rusconi and was released on 17 March 2014. It was filmed at Hotel Royal Splendide in Lugano, Switzerland.

The video starts with two visitors entering a hotel where the hotel manager (Christian Frapolli), credited as "The Director" in the video) wants Sebalter to serve them. However, Sebalter just mucks around, which annoys the hotel manager. The next scene shows Sebalter and his band playing music in the kitchen while working. As the hotel manager walks in, Sebalter accidentally tosses the spaghetti all over him. Afterwards, the band moves the main lobby, again playing music but this time the hotel visitors are having fun with them. The video ends with the hotel manager eventually joining in as he whistles the final tunes, followed by the credits where "No Spaghetti were harmed during the production of this videoclip".

Eurovision Song Contest

Main article: Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2014

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2014 was the fourth edition of the Swiss national final format that selected Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The national final was a collaboration between four broadcasters in Switzerland: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), the Swiss-French broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI) and the Swiss-Romansh broadcaster Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR).^[5][6]

"Hunter of Stars" was chosen by RSI. RSI opened a submission period between 21 July 2013 and 30 September 2013 for interested artists and composers to submit their entries.^[7] Seven candidates were to be selected to proceed to the RSI selection that would have been broadcast via radio on RSI Rete Tre from Lugano, however the broadcaster opted to suspend the selection and extend the submission deadline to 28 October 2013.^[8][9][10] Instead on 13 November 2013, a jury panel evaluated the 23 entry submissions received and selected the three candidates that proceeded to the "Expert Check".^[11][12] "Hunter of Stars" was able to pass the "Expert Check", becoming the only song to move onto the final for RSI.

The final took place on 1 February 2014. The show consisted of two parts: in the first part the six candidate songs in contention to represent Switzerland were performed and in the second part each artist performed a cover version of a song of their choice. For the cover, Sebalter would sing "Wake Me Up" by Avicii. The combination of televoting (50%) and the votes of an expert jury (50%) selected "Hunter of Stars" performed by Sebalter as the winner.^[13]

At Eurovision

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Switzerland was drawn to compete in the second half of the second semi-final on 8 May 2014.^[14] In the second semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Switzerland would perform 12th, following Macedonia and preceding Greece.^[15]

"Hunter of Stars" was able to qualify from the second semi-final, finishing in fourth with 92 points.^[16]

The song would then go on to compete in the second half of the final,^[17] eventually being selected to compete in the 20th position.^[18] In the final, "Hunter of Stars" would finish 13th, with 64 points.^[19]

Track listing

Digital download

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hunter of Stars"	2:59

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[20]	48
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders)[21]	82
Germany (GfK)[22]	77
Ireland (IRMA)[23]	49
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[24]	98
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[25]	6
UK Singles (OCC)[26]	85

Release history

Region	Date	Format
Switzerland	December 2, 2013	Digital download

See also

• Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

References

1. Brey, Marco (1 February 2014). "It's Sebalter for Switzerland!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
2. "Switzerland: SebAlter wins Entscheidungsshow with Hunter of Stars". wiwibloggs. 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
3. "Sebalter interview: I recorded the melody on my iPhone by whistling". wiwibloggs. 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
4. "Discuss: What Is Sebalter Chirping About in Hunter Of Stars?". wiwibloggs. 2014-03-18. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
5. Jiandani, Sanjay (17 July 2013). "Switzerland: Swiss national final on February 1st". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
6. Sarbach, Sven (8 July 2013). "Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Swiss Regulations" (PDF). Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. Retrieved 14 October 2013.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
7. Jiandani, Sanjay (21 July 2013). "Switzerland: RSI calls for songs for Swiss Italian regional final". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
8. Scarpone, Christian (18 July 2013). "Anche la Svizzera all'ESC 2014, svelati i meccanismi di selezione". Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 14 October 2013.
9. Jiandani, Sanjay (16 October 2013). "Switzerland: Swiss Italian regional final on November 12". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
10. Jiandani, Sanjay (18 October 2013). "Switzerland: RSI changes format for regional selection". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
11. Jiandani, Sanjay (13 November 2013). "Switzerland: RSI selects 3 acts via internal regional final". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
12. Jiandani, Sanjay (30 October 2013). "Switzerland:RSI internal selection date changed". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
13. Brey, Marco (1 February 2014). "It's Sebalter for Switzerland!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
14. Escudero, Victor M. (20 January 2014). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
15. Siim, Jarmo (24 March 2014). "Running order for Eurovision Semi-Finals decided". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
16. "Second Semi-Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
17. Brey, Marco (8 May 2014). "Second Semi-Final: The Winners' Press Conference". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
18. Storvik-Green, Simon (9 May 2014). "Running order for the Grand Final revealed!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
19. "Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
20. "Sebalter – Hunter of Stars" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
21. "Sebalter – Hunter of Stars" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
22. "Sebalter – Hunter of Stars" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
23. "Chart Track: Week 20, 2014". Irish Singles Chart.
24. "Sebalter – Hunter of Stars" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
25. "Sebalter – Hunter of Stars". Swiss Singles Chart.
26. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.