Samira Efendi

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Samira Efendi
Samirə Əfəndi
ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Azerbaijan.jpg
Background information
Birth nameSamira Azer gizi Efendiyeva
Born (1991-04-17) 17 April 1991 (age 30)
Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer
Years active2009–present

Samira Azer gizi Efendiyeva (Azerbaijani: Samirə Azər qızı Əfəndiyeva;[1] born 17 April 1991), known as Samira Efendi or Efendi, is an Azerbaijani singer. Efendi was the representative of Azerbaijan in Eurovision Song Contest 2020-2021.

Career[]

Early career[]

Efendiyeva gained popularity in her home country after participating in the singing competitions Yeni Ulduz (2009), Böyük Səhnə (2014) and The Voice of Azerbaijan (2015-2016, third place).[1] In 2017, she was the Azerbaijani representative in the international singing competition Silk Way Star, staged in Almaty, Kazakhstan, finishing in third place.[2][3] Efendiyeva represented her country again at the Voice of Nur-Sultan festival held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in 2019.[2]

In 2014, she would try and be Azerbaijan's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest that year. She would enter Böyük Səhnə, where she would be eliminated in the third heat before the grand final.[4] In 2019, she was revealed to be a contender for the Eurovision Song Contest, but Chingiz Mustafayev was eventually picked.

2020–present: Eurovision Song Contest[]

On 28 February 2020, the Azerbaijani broadcaster İTV announced that Efendiyeva had been internally selected to represent Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Cleopatra", held in Rotterdam, Netherlands.[2] However, on March 18, 2020, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 20 March 2020, Efendi announced on her Instagram account that she would represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, and would sing "Mata Hari", which premiered on 15 March 2021. She performed Mata Hari in the first semi final and qualified with an 8th place with 138 points, and at the final received a 20th-place finish with 65 points.

During her time at the Eurovision Song Contest, she would gain publicity after the Norwegian singer that had been selected to go to the contest, Andreas Haukeland, otherwise known as Tix had shown a noticeable crush on Efendi throughout their time at Eurovision through a variety of ways, including giving gifts, flirting on social media, asking Efendi out on dates, and singing love songs (including a couple parodies, Tix's own song Fallen Angel and the Pokémon Indigo League theme song). In response, she would do the same, including releasing a new music video and song dedicated to Tix that was posted by Eurovision's YouTube account.[5] Some have accused Tix of fabricating the crush as a ploy to gain televotes from Azerbaijan, however Tix maintains that the crush is real and not for PR. Some others would create fan art, memes, and spread moments of the two recorded online on social media. A ship name was created, with it being called "Efentix." Tix would eventually qualify, finishing in 10th, 5 points ahead of the next opponent. Azerbaijan would give 10 points to Norway in the semi final. It is unclear whether they are in a relationship, however Efendi has been reported to have been thinking of potentially marrying Haukeland. Samira would say of the relationship "To be honest, at first I was not serious about the attention of the Norwegian representative Tix. I didn’t understand what was happening. I went to Eurovision to win, not to meet someone. I went there with completely different thoughts, but received a gift from fate."[6]

Personal life[]

Samira has been rumored to have been dating Norwegian russ music artist Andreas Haukeland, otherwise known by his artist name, Tix. While speaking to Sputnik Azerbaijan, she talked about potentially marrying Haukeland, and saying that she would move to Norway to be with him, saying (translated to English) "If I get married, I’ll probably move to Norway. Where the husband is, there I am."[6]

In her spare time, Samira runs her own sweets boutique, called Efendi Sweet. The online Instagram store sells a variety of sweets, including cakes and éclairs.[4]

Samira was an outspoken supporter of Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, making several posts on Instagram in support of Azerbaijan, including posting a picture of her posing with the Azerbaijan president, Ilham Aliyev.

Discography[]

Singles[]

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
NLD
[7] 		NOR
[8] 		SWE
[9] 		UK
Down.
[10]
"Yarımın Yarı" 2019 — — — — Non-album singles
"Sən Gələndə" — — — —
"Yol Ayrıcı" — — — —
"Cleopatra" 2020 — — — —
"Mata Hari" 2021 44 21 47 64

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Azərbaycanı Eurovision-2020 müsabiqəsində təmsil edəcək Samirə Əfəndi kimdir?". BBC News Azərbaycanca (in Azerbaijani). 28 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Meet Azerbaijan's Eurovision 2020 artist Samira Efendi". Eurovision.tv. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  3. ^ Dyussembekova, Zhazira (5 October 2017). "Qazaqstan TV starts broadcast of Silk Way Star contest". The Astana Times. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Efendi: 10 facts about Azerbaijan's Eurovision 2021 singer". wiwibloggs. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  5. ^ "Efendi & TIX - A Eurovision Saga - Eurovision 2021". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Efentix: Azerbaijan's Efendi says she will move to Norway to be with TIX". wiwibloggs. 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  7. ^ "Discografie Efendi". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  8. ^ "VG-lista – Topp 20 Single 2021-21". VG-lista. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 21". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Official Singles Downloads Chart: 28 May 2021 – 3 June 2021". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
Preceded by
Chingiz
with "Truth" 		Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
2020 (cancelled)
2021 		Succeeded by
To be determined
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