“Hearts, they get broken†– Marius Bear sings of the necessity of expressing our emotions in the “Boys Do Cry†lyrics
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Loading... - Mason Bell
- 21 Apr 2022
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Switzerland has experienced a complete reversal of fortunes in the Eurovision Song Contest recently. After failing to reach the grand final for four years in a row, the country has bounced back with two top-four finishes in the last two contests. For Eurovision 2022, the central European country will be looking to continue its recent success, with Marius Bear singing the song “Boys Do Cry”.
Switzerland in Eurovision 2022: Marius Bear “Boys Do Cry”
Marius Hugli (professionally known as Marius Bear) is a 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Appenzell. He was internally selected to represent Switzerland at Eurovision 2022 by broadcaster SRG SSR.
He first became aware of his talent for singing during his required military service with the Swiss army. “One of my mates was impressed by the timbre of my voice,” Marius explains. “We jammed together for the first time that very evening. I noticed immediately how liberating it is to be able to express my feelings through singing and music. That was the first step along my new pathway.”
In 2016, Bear re-thought his life plan of becoming a construction machinery mechanic, abandoning it in order to tour Germany and Switzerland as a street musician. At one festival he became acquainted with a famous producer who invited him to New York, and Marius quickly became well-known in the Swiss artistic and creative arts scene there. In 2017, Marius moved everything again and headed for the UK, where he studied music production at the prestigious BIMM Institute in London. This gave him even more time with well-known songwriters, where he was able to grow his song-crafting skills.
By 2019, this commitment to figuring out his musical identity ultimately led to the release of his first album Not Loud Enough, which soared straight into the Top 20 of Swiss Hitparade, the Swiss album charts.
What do the “Boys Do Cry” lyrics mean?
As the song starts, Marius is by himself with just some soft piano and string accents. He sings about a little boy who is sad and left to internalise his feelings because the rest of the world doesn’t see what is going on. Through the first chorus, the boy’s emotions are compared to both human and natural catastrophes, such as planes falling from the sky, mountains crumbling, and rivers running dry. This shines a light on just how impactful these feelings can be, particularly when many never feel comfortable talking about them.
With the strings gaining more strength and sweeping through the second verse, Marius tells us to not fear the “wolf” inside us (our emotions). He encourages us to feel free to express ourselves, and not to feel like we have to be “tough” enough to handle things on our own. As the song comes to a close through the final orchestral flourishes, and the production goes soft and simple once again, Marius emotionally reminds us of the universality of these messages.
According to Bear, the song is about the fact all people feel pain, including men. The song speaks the important message that people should not ignore their feelings. Instead, people should encourage others to get past the fear of opening up and letting themselves feel vulnerable. Bear, in an interview with Swiss broadcaster SRF, said:
“I learnt very early on that I don’t need to be ashamed of my feelings. As a man, I’m not afraid to cry and to lay bare my weaknesses to my audience. I don’t want to wear emotional armour, I want to be who I am. And I want to encourage my audience to do the same.”
