1) The Result
If you’re upset about the lack of juries in the semi-finals this year, you can blame (or thank, if you’re happy about it) Azerbaijan. Allegations of collusion between several juries in the second semi-final resulted in Azerbaijan’s Nadir Rustamli and his song “Fade to Black” qualifying entirely on jury votes, after which it reached 16th place in the final again almost entirely on jury votes (103-3). It’s not a stretch to speculate that this was a key driver for the voting changes announced by the EBU for this year’s contest.
2) The Process
Once again, Azerbaijan have gone for an internal selection, picking twins TuralTuranX.
3) The Artist
TuralTuranX are made up of Tural and Turan Bağmanov, who appear to have been literally plucked from the streets of Baku where they busked. This is their debut single.
4) The Song
Remember the 1990s? Cheerful guitar pop? Messages left on answering machines? Yeah, like that.
5) The Verdict
As someone who was a teenager in the 1990s, you’d think I’d be into this. And sure, it does trigger a bit of nostalgia. However, in what seems to be a theme for the Caucasus countries this year, the lyrics are clunky and all over the place and I have to do my best to tune them out. It doesn’t work well enough.
My ranking: 34th
EUROVISION, SERIOUSLY 