Mélanie René is a Swiss singer and songwriter of Mauritian descent. She developed a love of music at a very young age and entered music festivals across the country. In 2010, she went to the United Kingdom to study music at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. She represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna with the song Time to Shine, which failed to qualify for the final. Mélanie returned to serve on the jury for the 2016 Swiss final for Swiss-French broadcaster RTS where she helped select Rykka as her successor.