Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Skeletons" written by Isa Melikov and Sandra Bjurman. The song was performed by Dihaj, who was internally selected by the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV) to represent the nation at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Dihaj's selection as the Azerbaijani Eurovision entrant was announced on 5 December 2016, while the song "Skeletons" was presented to the public on 11 March 2017.
Azerbaijan was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 8, "Skeletons" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May. The song finished at the 14th position with 120 points.
Prior to the 2017 contest, Azerbaijan had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since its first entry in 2008.[1] Azerbaijan had won the contest on one occasion in 2011 with the song "Running Scared" performed by Ell and Nikki. Since their debut in 2008, Azerbaijan has had a string of successful results, qualifying to the final and placing in the top ten each year until 2014, including a third-place result in 2009 with the song "Always" performed by AySel and Arash and a second-place result in 2013 with the song "Hold Me" performed by Farid Mammadov. However, in 2014, Azerbaijan achieved their lowest placing in the contest to this point, placing 22nd in the final with the song "Start a Fire" performed by Dilara Kazimova. In 2016, Azerbaijan placed seventeenth with the song "Miracle" performed by Samra. İTV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 September 2016.[2]
Before Eurovision[]
Internal selection[]
On 5 December 2016, İTV announced that Diana Hajiyeva would represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[3] Their announcement of Hajiyeva as the selected artist called for interested songwriters to submit their songs to the broadcaster by 10 February 2017. Songwriters could be of any nationality.[4] In regards to the song, Hajiyeva stated in an interview that she was planning to keep her experimental style at Eurovision.[5] On 11 March 2017, İTV announced that Hajiyeva would be performing the song "Skeletons", which was also presented on the same day via the release of the official music video. "Skeletons" was written by Isa Melikov and Sandra Bjurman.
Dihaj during the opening ceremony of Eurovision 2017
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[7] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Azerbaijan was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[8]
Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Azerbaijan was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Finland and before the entry from Portugal.[9]
Semi-final[]
Dihaj took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.[10] This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
At the end of the show, Azerbaijan was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Azerbaijan placed eighth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 150 points: 63 points from the televoting and 87 points from the juries.[11]
Final[]
Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the reverse order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Azerbaijan was drawn to compete in the first half, in the position 12.[12]
Azerbaijan
Sweden
Georgia
Australia
Albania
Belgium
Montenegro
Finland
Portugal
Greece
Poland
Moldova
Iceland
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Armenia
Slovenia
Latvia
Israel
Belarus
Austria
Netherlands
Hungary
Italy
Denmark
Croatia
Spain
Norway
United Kingdom
Romania
Germany
Ukraine
Bulgaria
France
