Nemo Mettler (; born 3 August 1999), known mononymously as Nemo, is a Swiss musician and singer-rapper who plays the violin, piano and drums. They were the first openly

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

act to represent in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, and later won the 2024 contest with the song " The Code". They were the first openly non-binary musician to win the contest, and the third winner representing Switzerland (following the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

competitions).

Career

Mettler began their interest in music at the age of three, learning to play the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

. They studied

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singing from age nine to thirteen. At the age of ten, they joined the Biel children's opera and performed in Mozart's ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'' which was later used as inspiration for "The Code". At thirteen, they performed in the musical ''I've Never Been to New York''. They also began rapping at this age, competing in Swiss contests and performing songs they independently wrote. They found early success in

battle rap Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and Diss (music), disses originating in the African Americans, African-Amer ...

as a teenager and performed on season three of the Swiss television show ', receiving praise from the judges. In 2015, Mettler released their first EP ''Clownfisch'', under the name ''Nemo (CH)'', which peaked at number 95 in the Swiss charts. In 2016, when they were seventeen, Mettler's single "Cypher" went viral. In 2017, they released the EPs ''Momänt-Kids'' and ''Fundbüro'' under the name ''Nemo (CH)''. ''Fundbüro'' contained the single "Du", which reached number 4 in Switzerland. "Ke Bock" and "Himalaya" also charted. In the same year they studied solo singing in jazz and pop at

Zurich University of the Arts Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, ) has approximately 2,500 students, which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland. The university was established in 2007, following the merger between Zurich's School of Art and Design (HGKZ) and ...

, won the SRF 3 Best Talent prize, and later settled in Berlin to pursue their music career. In 2018, Mettler won four Swiss Music Prizes, including best song of the year for ''Du'' and best concert performance of the year. After staying in Los Angeles in 2020, Mettler decided to switch from singing in Swiss German to English. On the second season of '' The Masked Singer Switzerland'' in 2021, they were unmasked as a panda and finished in fifth place. In 2022, they released their EP ''Whatever Feels Right'', this time under the name Nemo. On 29 February 2024, they were announced as the in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

with the song " The Code", and performed in the second semi-final of the contest, on 9 May. They won the Eurovision final on 11 May with 591 points, becoming the first openly

performer to win the contest; they also finished with the fourth highest amount of points in the final in the competition's history.

Personal life

Nemo Mettler was born in

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

in the

canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

. Their father, Markus Mettler, is an entrepreneur and inventor, and mother, Nadja Schnetzler, a journalist. Nemo's sister, Ella, is a photographer. She collaborates with Nemo in the artistic direction of their projects. Nemo's first name means 'no one' in Latin. During a mission for the Swiss

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

in El Salvador in 2018, they said "my parents thought that if I was no-one, I could become anyone." In 2022, Mettler came out as

pansexual Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determ ...

via an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

story, and as of 2024, they have been in a five-year relationship with their girlfriend, who was the first person they came out as

to. In November 2023, Mettler publicly came out as non-binary in an article in the ''

SonntagsZeitung TX Group AG (formerly Tamedia AG) is a media company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Through a portfolio of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, as well as own printing facilities, it is the largest media group in ...

'', after being

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

since around 2021. In the article, Mettler also stated that they prefer to be referred to by their given name, Nemo, instead of pronouns in German, and by

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

pronouns in English. Mettler currently lives in Berlin.

Activism

Following their Eurovision win, Mettler called on the Swiss government to legally recognise a third gender, after this proposal was rejected in 2022. When asked in an interview who they would call first after their win, they responded with

Beat Jans Beat Jans (; born 12 July 1964) is a Swiss environmental scientist and politician who serves as a member of the Federal Council, after being elected in 2023 to succeed Alain Berset, assuming office on 1 January 2024. A member of the Social Demo ...

, Switzerland's justice minister, stating that "we need to have the representation in our politics". A spokesperson for Jans later stated that the minister had responded and was willing to meet Nemo to discuss the rights of non-binary people in Switzerland. In response to the topic,

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

member of the National Council Sibel Arslan wrote on social media that "a non-binary person who officially doesn't exist in Switzerland has won Eurovision 2024", and that the matter was "more relevant than ever", urging the Federal Council to act. Due to the continuing

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Nemo called for Israel to be excluded from the

Eurovision Song Contest 2025 The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Basel, Switzerland, following the country's victory at the with the song "The Code (Nemo song), The Code" by Nemo (singer), Nemo. Organised ...

. In May 2025, Nemo stated that "Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold — peace, unity, and respect for human rights."

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Awards and achievements

Notes

References

External links

* Christof Gertsch
''Nemo's Triumph''
in ''

Tages-Anzeiger ''Tages-Anzeiger'' (), also abbreviated ''Tagi'' or ''TA'', is a Swiss German-language national daily newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. History and profile The paper was first published under the name ''Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und K ...

''/''Das Magazin'', 9 May 2024 (English) (and i
German version ''Nemos Triumph''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nemo Living people 1999 births 21st-century Swiss LGBTQ people 21st-century Swiss singers English-language singers from Switzerland Eurovision Song Contest winners German-language singers of Switzerland Non-binary rappers Non-binary singers Pansexual musicians Non-binary pansexual people People from Biel/Bienne Pop rappers Swiss-German people Swiss people of German descent Swiss LGBTQ singers Swiss LGBTQ musicians Swiss pop musicians Swiss rappers Swiss non-binary musicians Eurovision Song Contest-winning songwriters