| Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | ||||
| Country |  Azerbaijan | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | Artist: 8 November 2017 Song: 4 March 2018 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "X My Heart" | |||
| Artist | Aisel | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (11th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Azerbaijan was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "X My Heart" written byDimitris Kontopoulos and Sandra Bjurman. The song was performed byAisel, who was internally selected by the Azerbaijani broadcasterİctimai Television (İTV) to represent the nation at the 2018 contest inLisbon, Portugal. Aisel's selection as the Azerbaijani Eurovision entrant was announced on 8 November 2017, while the song "X My Heart" was presented to the public on 4 March 2018.
Azerbaijan was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 8 May 2018. Performing as the opening entry for the show in position 1, "X My Heart" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Azerbaijan failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since its first entry in2008. It was later revealed that Azerbaijan placed eleventh out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 94 points.
Prior to the 2018 contest, Azerbaijan had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest ten times since its first entry in2008.[1] Azerbaijan had won the contest on one occasion in2011 with the song "Running Scared" performed byEll 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 in2009 with the song "Always" performed byAySel andArash and a second-place result in2013 with the song "Hold Me" performed byFarid Mammadov. However, in2014, Azerbaijan achieved their lowest placing in the contest to this point, placing 22nd in the final with the song "Start a Fire" performed byDilara Kazimova. In2017, Azerbaijan placed fourteenth with the song "Skeletons" performed byDihaj.
The Azerbaijani national broadcaster,İctimai Television (İTV), broadcasts the event within Azerbaijan and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. İTV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 11 August 2017.[2] Azerbaijan had used various methods to select the Azerbaijani entry in the past, including internal selections of both the artist and song, as well as national finals to select their artist followed by an internal selection to determine the song. Between 2011 and 2013, Azerbaijan organized a national final titledMilli Seçim Turu to select the performer, song or both for Eurovision. In 2014, the broadcaster utilised an existing talent show format titledBöyük Səhnə where the winning performer would subsequently be given an internally selected song. Since 2015, the broadcaster internally selected both the artist and song that represented Azerbaijan, a procedure which continued for the selection of their 2018 entry.[3]
Both the artist and song that represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was selected internally by İTV. On 8 November 2017, the broadcaster announced that a national jury panel had selectedAisel as the Azerbaijani Eurovision contestant.[4][5] On 3 March 2018, İTV announced that Aisel would be performing the song "X My Heart". The selection of the song was based on the decision of İTV and participants of an opinion survey that featured 300 music and television industry experts as well as Eurovision fans from 31 European countries; "X My Heart" received the most positive votes among three shortlisted entries with 87%.[6] "X My Heart" was written byDimitris Kontopoulos and Sandra Bjurman, and was presented on 4 March 2018 via the streaming service providerSpotify. The official music video was later released on 7 March 2018.[7] In regards to the song, Aisel stated: "I feel a strong connection with the lyrics of the song, since believing in myself made me overcome several difficulties I had in my life. This is a message I want to send to everyone: believing in yourself can make you stronger than cannonballs."[7]
Aisel made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "X My Heart" as the Azerbaijani Eurovision entry. On 7 April, Aisel performed during theEurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the VEGAS Kuntsevo shopping mall inMoscow, Russia.[8] Between 8 and 11 April, Aisel took part in promotional activities inTel Aviv, Israel and performed during theIsrael Calling event held at theRabin Square.[9] On 18 April, Aisel performed "X My Heart" during thebTV talk show programmeSlavi's Show in Bulgaria.[10]
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. TheEuropean 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 29 January 2018, 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 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[11]
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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 open the show and perform in position 1, before the entry fromIceland.[12]
The two semi-finals and final were broadcast in Azerbaijan onİTV with commentary byAzer Suleymanli. The Azerbaijani spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Azerbaijani jury during the final, wasTural Asadov.
Aisel took part in technical rehearsals on 29 April and 3 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 7 and 8 May. This included the jury show on 7 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[13]
The Azerbaijani performance featured Aisel performing with four backing vocalists/dancers, all dressed in white. The performance featured Aisel moving around triangular slabs that light up in white LEDs as well as the use of smoke effects andaugmented reality that displayed a glittery effect.[14][15] The performance was directed byFokas Evangelinos. The four backing vocalists/dancers that joined Aisel on stage were Hugo Baptista, Rui Andrade, Salomé Caldeira and Sandra d'Andrade. An additional off-stage backing vocalist, Stefania Rizou, was also part of the performance.[16]
At the end of the show, Azerbaijan was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Azerbaijan failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since its first entry in2008. It was later revealed that Azerbaijan placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 94 points: 47 points from both the televoting and the juries.[17]
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Azerbaijan and awarded by Azerbaijan in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
| Score | Televote | Jury |
|---|---|---|
| 12 points |  Greece | |
| 10 points |  Czech Republic | |
| 8 points | ||
| 7 points |  Macedonia | |
| 6 points | ||
| 5 points |  Albania | |
| 4 points |  Austria | |
| 3 points | Greece |  Estonia |
| 2 points | ||
| 1 point |  Iceland |
|
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The following members comprised the Azerbaijani jury:[20]
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F. Aghayev | M. Tagiyev | I. Efendiyeva-Khalilova | T. Gahraman | N. Jafarova | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 | Azerbaijan | |||||||||
| 02 | Iceland | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 15 | ||
| 03 | Albania | 2 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 11 | |
| 04 |  Belgium | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 9 | 2 | |
| 05 | Czech Republic | 12 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 3 | 8 | |
| 06 |  Lithuania | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 1 | |
| 07 |  Israel | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 08 |  Belarus | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| 09 | Estonia | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| 10 |  Bulgaria | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| 11 | Macedonia | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 17 | |
| 12 |  Croatia | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 16 | |
| 13 | Austria | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 6 | 5 | |
| 14 | Greece | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 | |
| 15 |  Finland | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 14 | ||
| 16 |  Armenia | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | ||
| 17 |  Switzerland | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 12 | |
| 18 |  Ireland | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 6 | |
| 19 |  Cyprus | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F. Aghayev | M. Tagiyev | I. Efendiyeva-Khalilova | T. Gahraman | N. Jafarova | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Ukraine | 9 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| 02 |  Spain | 18 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 24 | ||
| 03 |  Slovenia | 7 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 24 | 11 | 25 | ||
| 04 | Lithuania | 24 | 13 | 20 | 11 | 20 | 20 | 16 | ||
| 05 | Austria | 14 | 12 | 11 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 15 | ||
| 06 | Estonia | 19 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 11 | |
| 07 |  Norway | 17 | 6 | 25 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 4 | 7 | |
| 08 |  Portugal | 16 | 26 | 26 | 17 | 26 | 23 | 26 | ||
| 09 |  United Kingdom | 20 | 19 | 19 | 23 | 16 | 22 | 18 | ||
| 10 |  Serbia | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 21 | |
| 11 |  Germany | 10 | 16 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
| 12 | Albania | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 19 | |
| 13 |  France | 21 | 20 | 21 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 12 | ||
| 14 | Czech Republic | 13 | 8 | 23 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 5 | 6 | |
| 15 |  Denmark | 25 | 17 | 18 | 25 | 22 | 24 | 13 | ||
| 16 |  Australia | 26 | 9 | 22 | 21 | 13 | 19 | 23 | ||
| 17 | Finland | 12 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 15 | 22 | ||
| 18 | Bulgaria | 6 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| 19 |  Moldova | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| 20 |  Sweden | 8 | 21 | 17 | 19 | 15 | 17 | 9 | 2 | |
| 21 |  Hungary | 2 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 17 | |
| 22 | Israel | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 23 |  Netherlands | 23 | 25 | 16 | 26 | 21 | 25 | 14 | ||
| 24 | Ireland | 22 | 22 | 24 | 22 | 25 | 26 | 20 | ||
| 25 | Cyprus | 3 | 24 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 26 |  Italy | 15 | 23 | 9 | 24 | 14 | 18 | 6 | 5 | |