He’s an acclaimed songwriter and producer and has been behind many Azeri Eurovision hits. Now Isa Melikov has reportedly been appointed Azerbaijan‘s new Head of Delegation and will guide their future Eurovision efforts.
The news was reported by the Azeri Eurovision news Instagram account 12xal, however it has not yet been publicly confirmed by Isa Melikov or broadcaster Ictimai Television.
Melikov has an impressive CV with plenty of previous involvement with Azerbaijan’s Eurovision history. As a music producer, he was behind Aysel & Arash’s 2009 entry “Always”, Ell & Nikki’s winning 2011 song “Running Scared” and Chingiz’s edgy 2019 entry “Truth”. He was also involved with Dihaj’s 2017 entry “Skeletons”.
He also served on the Azerbaijan jury at Denmark’s national final in 2012, and will serve as a jury member on Kazakhstan’s national final for Junior Eurovision 2020.
Melikov would also have been involved with Azerbaijan’s entry at Eurovision 2020. Melikov was the delegation’s “Head of Team” and would have been working alongside Efendi.
Outside of Eurovision, Melikov runs the Baku Music Factory production house. He has worked with many artists from Azerbaijan and CIS countries.
What will Efendi sing in Rotterdam?
Melikov’s next big task is likely to be finding the right song for Efendi to perform at Eurovision 2021. The popular Azeri singer was internally selected for Eurovision 2020 where she was due to perform the dance-pop number “Cleopatra”.
After Eurovision 2020 was cancelled, ITV soon confirmed that Efendi would get the return ticket to Rotterdam. While no details of her song selection process have been revealed yet, it is likely that the broadcaster will again internally select her song.
Azerbaijan at Eurovision
Azerbaijan made its Eurovision debut in 2008 and had its eyes on the prize. After three top-ten finishes, Azerbaijan finally won in 2011 with Ell & Nikki singing “Running Scared”.
They managed a second-place finish in 2013 with Farid Mammadov’s “Hold Me”. But since then, Azerbaijan’s Eurovision golden era has ended, with several placings on the right-hand side of the scoreboard.
Most recently, Chingiz earned an impressive eighth place in 2019 for his alternative R&B song “Truth”. But coming into Eurovision 2020, Efendi’s “Cleopatra” was shaping up to be a fan favourite with rumours of extravagant staging.
What do you think? What sort of song should Efendi bring to Rotterdam? Can Azerbaijan manage a second victory? Tell us your thoughts below!
He’s the man behind Always, Running Scared, Skeletons and Truth? Lmao. Let’s do a fact check: Running Scared: Composers and Lyricists: Stefan Orn, Sandra Bjurman Additional Composers: Lain James Farquarson Always: A laundry list of composers and songwriters and his name is not there. Truth: A laundry list of composers and songwriters and his name is not there. Skeletons: Melikov is credit as a composer, but as it was revealed later, he did not compose the song. It was in fact composed by Bjurman and in 2016 Skeletons was offered to Iveta Mukuchyan. Robyn – when you credit someone for… Read more »
Ron jan, next time please try to read the article fully before attacking Azerbaijan, it puts you in an awkward position. He was not the composer of the songs that you listed (except for Skeletons), he was the producer and it’s clearly mentioned in the article. As for the Skeletons not being composed by him and being offered to Iveta Mukuchyan, he did in fact compose the song. Bjurman contributed to it, but it was composed by Isa Melikov. Both of their names are listed in the credits section. Even if it was fully composed by Bjurman: 1) She’s been… Read more »
The problem is most Azeri songwriters think the local songs won’t even be considered, so they don’t even bother submitting their songs. And as Husniyya, the previous HoD said, they usually don’t have many submissions from local songwriters. I think ITV needs to promote it better rather than just announcing they are accepting songs.
We’ll miss the quirky lady with short hair. She’s been appearing on our screens since 2009.
I hope that Melikov will give Azerbaijani songwriters more of a chance than the previous HoD. Looking at his profile, it seems that he is in touch with local musicians. I am tired of Azerbaijan sending songs that have no connection to the country whatsoever (bar 2008, 2017 and 2019).
The previous HoD stated that she also considered submissions from Azerbaijani songwriters, but said that these songs weren’t competitive enough. Maybe Melikov can make it interesting for talented songwriters from Azerbaijan to create songs for Eurovision! And if you ask me, songwriting camps are not the way to go.
All I ask is that they curb the blatant vote-trading that goes on every year. I’m not normally one for conspiracy theories about countries trading points, but they have a remarkably specific pool of countries they always seem to mutually vote for.
They were aware of Azerbaijan’s behaviour in 2013, which is why they brought in new rules in 2014. Apart from that, they’ve done nothing.
Great irony is that Azerbaijan pulled off an iconic anti-neighbor vote the same year (0 for Russia)
I responded, but it’s awaiting moderation. More transparency came in is the short answer.
I’m just hoping that we’ll get some Azerbaijani. Preferably a whole song, but I’d be happy with just a verse, or a sentence, heck, even just a word. I still cannot believe that Bulgaria has sent more entries with Azerbaijani in it than Azerbaijan itself.