It’s one of the last competing songs of Eurovision 2021 to be released — and one of the most anticipated. Azerbaijan’s Efendi has released her song “Mata Hari”, telling the story of the seductive Dutch exotic dancer who was convicted for spying during World War I.
The song will not disappoint fans of Efendi’s Eurovision 2020 entry “Cleopatra”. In fact, the lyrics even throwback to the fan favourite, saying Mata Hari is “Just like Cleopatra”.
The lyrics paint a picture of the legendary seductress, saying she’s “Mesmerising / Moving my hips you are trying / You can’t resist / Try to fight it”. Azerbaijan will hope that come May, Europe will also be under the spell of “Mata Hari”.
Efendi talked about the meaning of the song for her:
“It is very important to talk about strong women in order to remind our beautiful ladies that despite the fact that we still live in a world full of prejudices, a woman can do anything and female power cannot be compared with anything. And if suddenly you do not have enough inspiration now, let the stories of strong women in history become the source of that very charge of energy with which you can cope with everything and achieve even bigger success. There is a queen in each of us and I want to remind you that it’s time to release her.”
As well as being a contemporary dance track, “Mata Hari” also makes use of traditional instruments. The song features the sounds of the instruments known in Azerbaijan as the wind instrument zurna, drum nagara and the rhythms of the Azerbaijani folk dance yalli.
The song also includes a short chanted phrase in the Azeri language — the first time this has been heard in a Eurovision entry from Azerbaijan.
Efendi – “Mata Hari”
While Efendi’s “Cleopatra” video was ambitiously set in a desert with a large cast, the “Mata Hari” video keeps it simpler — but is just as effective.
The video is filmed in a dark, illuminated by gold and blue lights. Efendi is joined by five dancers and together they work their choreography, serving seductive silhouettes.
Efendi’s journey to Eurovision 2021
Samira Efendi has long been on many fans’ wishlists to represent Azerbaijan at Eurovision. She was reportedly one of the shortlisted acts in 2019, and was finally given the ticket to Eurovision in 2020.
After much hype and speculation, Efendi’s song for Eurovision 2020 was confirmed as “Cleopatra”. The song came with a bold music video, which promised an equally thrilling live performance at Eurovision.
However, little over one week after “Cleopatra” was released, the EBU announced that, sadly, Eurovision 2020 would not go ahead. But Ictimai TV didn’t want to let go of their diva. Just two days after the cancellation, Efendi confirmed that she would be back at Eurovision 2021.
What do you think of “Mata Hari”? What sort of staging should Efendi bring to Rotterdam? Tell us your thoughts below!
Let’s start a fire???
My favourite this year. Thinks this is much better then “Cleopatra” =)
How funny when people comment about their positive opinions about this song (or 2020 entry) , a group of 20 people are gathering and downvote the comment 😀 people are free about what to like and dislike. Oh i am sorry i forgot you can’t stand a country and their representative. whatever good luck Efendi , keep shining and driving these people mad !
I loved her 2020 song but this ones tastes like a frozen pizza cooked in a microwave… so disappointing.
I so agree with this.
This years song is sooo much better
This is a lot of fun, although it does suffer a bit from being Cleopatra’s B-side. (For those of you who don’t know what a B-side is… how young you are.) Efendi is very good live, so there is a chance she can pull this one off. But, given the high number of uptempo numbers this year, Azerbaijan might struggle a little with a mid-tempo homage to someone who died by firing squad.
this is cleopatra pt 2 but messier.
i love cleopatra bc it’s very instant and catchy. mata hari is silly in a bad way and not as instant as Cleopatra. However, I think they will nail the staging!
also, finally some Azerbaijani from Azerbaijan!
It doesn’t offer much as a song, ethnic sounds are the only good part but other than that it’s quite empty.
Here is my TOP 39! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdCmfAbuXso
We don’t care honey.
Some of us do.
I think it is good she sent an upgraded version of Cleopatra, whats wrong with that since Cleopatra could not make it to the big stage.
Here is my final Top 39!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTl4V5Pe7B8
Lots of dance songs this year, that’s unusual…
It’s quite a banger tbf
I love the references to last years song like a little Easter egg for fans
I fully expect Azerbaijan to come top 6 at eurovision this year
Really strong effort from Azerbaijan and going back to the ethnic Middle Eastern sound they did so well with.
I could not say it better…love this ethnic vibe
Out of curiosity I just checked the comments under Samantha Tina’s song and I didn’t see Amy ‘copy + paste’ comments there. Not sure what is the problem here.
I think Mata Hari is a great follow-up.
Just because people like Samanta Tina’s song doesn’t mean we’re obligated to like this one too. Mata Hari is just a different version of Cleopatra and that song wasn’t good either, it was only liked because 2020 had mostly ballads.
To me, Cleopatra sounded a bit juvenil, almost Junior Eurovision-like, and had a couple of ideas too much put into a song of 3 minutes. Mata Hari is much clearer and has a smoother melody. However, some of the parts that were so striking in Cleopatra can still be found here: Spoken word, mumbling, the high-energy final.
I like it A LOT. One of my absolute favorites this year!
bottom 3
“Just like Cleopatra”
OMG, they actuality joke about how unoriginal they’re being. This is great. Send more of the same!
The only people who know this is a rip off of her 2020 entry are the die hard ESC fans.
the lyrical theme, the distorted vocals, that slight hip-hop influence … this is pretty much an exact clone of ‘cleopatra’, only a bit more mainstream-pop-oriented.
unfortunately though, this sounds like the b-side to ‘cleopatra’. i predict something in between 9th and 14th in the final.
Has anyone seen her Instagram page? Full of hate speech!
But she can‘t top iveta by hating. Iveta is completely out of control. Full of hate
I actually kind of agree with you here – I don’t mind the music, but I find the framing of this as “female empowerment” disingenuous. This really strikes me as “what a certain brand of men envision female empowerment to be” (remember the 2000s with all the super-sexy girl groups assembled by and managed by some kind of sleazy dudes?). This song does not reframe Mata Hari as a progressive force; it reinforces the idea of women using sexuality to get what they want. Which, fine. I actually don’t have a problem with that, if that is the message they… Read more »
This song could do wonders for female empowerment. However, it seems that a lot of people don’t get the irony nor the historical context and just see it as it is artificially presented so sadly I am inclined to agree that many people are too stupid to understand what this song’s real message is and perhaps it is more dangerous than it is progressive. How sad!
No kidding! Her story is pretty depressing (and she was a terrible spy). If we are being honest, I also don’t love this song celebrating Mata Hari’s “larping as Asian” self-marketing strategy (though I may be more sensitive to this because I am of Asian descent). Either way, this is a weird historical figure to choose in the year 2021 to promote female empowerment.
I did my best to not let comparisons cloud my judgement about the new songs from the 2020’s class, but how can I do it now if the song rehashes a lot of ideas and even mentions by name the previous entry? “Cleopatra” grew on me with time, maybe “Mata Hari” will also get there. Though her 2020’s song had a bonkers charm that I’m missing here. The chorus was way catchier also. On the other hand, I like the use of Azerbaijani instruments, I’m a fan of ethnic sounds like these.
Wow, well this is definitely a very elevated version of Cleopatra, and I really enjoyed it. Sounds a lot better produced. Video was a little cheep and brings the entry down a little in my opinion, synchronisation was way off in some of the dancing. That’s not to important though, I think this will perform really well at ESC with some good staging. The ending was a big dissapointment, I can see what they were trying to do, but it lost its edge and was a little jesus christ superstar.
They’ve taken a lot of elements from “Cleopatra”. It is kind of original, if we compare it to other uptempo entries this year.
I’m not that much into these kind of songs but I suppose it would be fun to watch “Mata Hari” on stage. Maybe top 10 contender with an impressive staging.
SOUND LIKE THIS.
Actually, she send almost the same song. Don’t appreciate that. Sorry.
Mata Hari was a queen like me, just like me, oh, just like me! … Oops, wrong song! Or is it? 😉
Yeah, this is exactly the kind of cheesefest I wanted to hear from Efendi. The only difference is that this year also has Moldova and Cyprus fighting for the place of the ”new Cleopatra” and I need some time to see whose cheese do I prefer this time around. 😉
Moldova it’s actually a cheesecake, given all the sugar.
It’s almost comical: they pretty much copy-pasted their song from last year, except they made it sound cheap and tacky.
They have tried to recreate cleopatra as much as possible , however they came up short in terms of impact on first listen. The chorus in Cleopatra was catchier and had more singing involved. This is still pretty good and should qualify easily. Not a contender to win though.
Why be easy to qualify? There are better songs in competition that deserve to be in the final. It’s annoying that a lot of crappy songs go to final only because people are so ridiculous to like it that much, along the horrible live permance that comes with them; while the good/better songs doesn’t make it. Where is fair in here?
Okay I am done! I love this song. To all of you moaning about “recycled” songs, NOONE except for the hardcore fans know that! So stop acting like its a bad thing! Also, for people moaning its “swedish” song.. Its a dutch written song about a Dutch stripper/spy!
You are right the song is great, who cares about last years song which could not go to eurovision
I don’t know wether to be impressed by her commitment to the concept or disappointed that this is extremely similar to Cleopatra. I mean, the direct referencing to her previous song is a bit much imo. At the 2 minute mark the song starts to get monotonous and then it goes wildly into another direction. Having said all that, I like it, it’s an earworm and a bit less jarring than Cleopatra (although consecuentially, less original). Her voice shines a lot more here as well, probably because the production is a tad more stripped back.
I like this tho it’s structured a bit too similarly to Cleopatra, but both are great songs. The only thing about Mata Hari is that it feels a bit empty in places especially in the build up to the chorus. But a solid entry, probably will close the semi final
You know…as a licensed nerd, …If Efendi created a niche where she sang exclusively about female historical figures…I would not mind at all
you and me both!
If Replay was Fuego 2.0, then this is Cleopatra 1.1 :v I mean, it’s really similar concept. They even sampled bits of Cleopatra I think. It’s cool, but I preffered 2020 entry.
Ok, wait a minute. After everything that happened with Armenia they choose to come up with the title Mata Hari. Yeah…sure.
Now somebody please downvote this comment and preach me that this is not about politics and I am just jealous about this masterpiece of an entry.
Where is the link between Mata Hari and Armenia lol?
There is not a straight link between these two, I just find it insensitive. That’s just me.
Is there any link ? Let alone straight or gay or inbetween ?
Please sign the petition: https://www.change.org/ban-efendi
Well, I can’t wait to see this live
I love how KESC.. oops.. I mean KRM is still here defending everything Azerbaijan does. We all remember that upvote downvote fiasko she did here on New Years!
Finalist? Easy. Top 10? Who knows, I think this is less memorable than Cleopatra tbh. Doesn’t sound like a winner but it will be a good contender.
This is something the “it’s a bop” -gays will like for only the reason that it’s basic pop. And suprisingly this gay ain’t buying!!
Another gay here, hi :v Just because it’s basic, doesn’t matter it’s bad. It would be bad if basic song won imo, but it still can end up high. It weirds me out why Czech Republic is so low on everyone’s lists, since going with that reasoning it should be pretty high.
I mean generic as it offers nothing that makes it stand out, but let’s be honest Czech Republic is better than this.
Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V
I wish I could Ctrl+X it though. xD
By the way.. The short Army of Lovers sample of Crucified won’t be a problem..? I hope not!
I’ll give it points for being more Azerbaijani than normal, but this is one of the laziest rewrites of the year with all of the basic elements from Cleopatra here as well (though naming her song after a woman accused of being a double agent is very fitting, though not in the way she was intending).
I loved Cleopatra, and I’m loving Mata Hari as well. In fact, this is probably my favourite right now. From what I’ve heard, they had big plans for Cleopatras staging, so I suppose they will reuse that idea, since the vibe and feel of the song is really similar.
Should safely qualify, not sure if it’s a contender for the win, but there’s no clear winner so far so anything can happen
I think it’s a creative and tasteful nod to her song last year! It’s not a carbon copy which is great too! I like it and of course, am really excited to see it on stage! 😀
The last minute is A M A Z I N G ! Cleopatra was better though…or we need some time to digest it!
It’s good! Not great, but good! Maybe you don’t have to actually mention Cleopatra though? You didn’t hear Tamta going “This is basically just Fuego again!” after all.
Fuego wasn’t Tamtas song though. And you could really tell that Efendi got attached to Cleopatra
Basically a copy from last year. She even mentions the name Cleopatra!!! B-O-R-I-N-G
Of course, they will qualify because it’s Azerbaijan and the level of this year has reached rock bottom.
Downvote as much as you want bitches. I don’t give a f.
It’s not groundbreaking but I enjoy it.
I might be delusional here, but I think a success of this song might push Turkey to reconsider coming back to ESC. I miss them so much.
The ending is the most interesting part, it has a nice building effect. But the middle section is so lazy…
Is this the first time that Azerbaijan sent a song with any Azerbaijani at all even 1 line like in this song
Yes
What’s the line in Azerbaijani? Didn’t catch it.
“Yalan de men, yanan da men, yaman da men”
Basically before the chorus
“Mata Hari” is one of my all-time top 20 Eurovision tracks. Not this one, but Norway 1976. It’s a travesty that it only has 77 views on YouTube (the preview video, that is).
This is an improved version of Cleopatra. More so an innovation to a song than an invention. It’s decent at best.