Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022
| Eurovision Song Contest 2022 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Azerbaijan | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Selection date(s) | Artist: 16 February 2022 Song: 21 March 2022 | |||
| Selected entrant | Nadir Rustamli | |||
| Selected song | "Fade to Black" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Azerbaijan is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, having internally selected Nadir Rustamli to represent the country with the song "Fade to Black".
Background[]
Prior to the 2022 contest, Azerbaijan has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times since its first entry in 2008.[1] Azerbaijan has 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 2018, Azerbaijan placed eleventh in the semi-final with the song "X My Heart" performed by Aisel, making it the first occasion that Azerbaijan did not participate in a Eurovision final since their debut in 2008. In 2019, Chingiz with "Truth" brought Azerbaijan back into the top 10, finishing in 8th place with 302 points. For the 2021 contest, Samira Efendi was internally selected to represent Azerbaijan with the song "Mata Hari". Efendi went on to qualify for the grand final, finishing in 20th place with 65 points.
Before Eurovision[]
Internal selection[]
On 30 December 2021, the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV) opened a song submission period for interested composers to submit their songs into the Azerbaijani selection until 31 January 2022. All entrants were to provide a brief description of themselves as part of their submission. Six songs were shortlisted from around 300 submissions, which will be offered to the chosen artist for selection.[2][3]
Nadir Rustamli was announced as the selected artist on 16 February 2022, during İTV's breakfast show Sabahın xeyir, Azərbaycan ("Good morning Azerbaijan").[2] Rustamli's entry, titled "Fade to Black", was officially released on 21 March.[4][5]
At Eurovision[]
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. On 25 January 2022, an 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 has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2022, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[6]
References[]
- ^ "Azerbaijan - Eurovision Song Contest". EBU. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019.
- ^ a b Jabbarov, Elvin (16 February 2022). ""Nadi̇r rüstəmli̇ avrovi̇zi̇ya təmsi̇lçİmi̇z oldu!"". 12XAL (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (30 December 2021). "Azerbaijan: İTV opens song submissions for Eurovision 2022". Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (21 March 2022). WIKI