Efendi: 10 facts about Azerbaijan’s Eurovision 2021 singer

Efendi will represent Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2021 with her song “Mata Hari”.

Efendi was originally due to sing “Cleopatra” at Eurovision 2020. However, the contest was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, just like several other countries, Azerbaijan opted to stick with its singer for Eurovision 2021.

Now, we’ve compiled 10 facts you need to know about Efendi. Let’s do this!

Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2021: Facts about Efendi

1. She found fame through reality singing competitions

Samira Efendi set her heart on becoming a performer from a young age and has participated in a number of Azeri singing competitions to help hone her craft. The star has appeared on Yeni Ulduz (2009), Böyük Səhnə (2014) and The Voice of Azerbaijan (2015-16).

Samira has had increasing success on the shows. On Böyük Səhnə, which was used as Azerbaijan’s national final to select their artist for Eurovision 2014, Efendi made it to the third heat, where she was eliminated just before the grand final. She went one better on The Voice of Azerbaijan. After turning all four chairs with her audition of Beyoncé’s “Listen”, Efendi made it all the way to the grand final of the show, but just missed out on victory.

2. She’s already represented Azerbaijan on the international stage

Following her success in national singing competitions, Efendi started representing her country in international events. So far this includes appearing on Silk Way Star (2017), Star of Asia (2019) and Voice of Nur-Sultan (2019), all of which included artists from across a number of CIS/Turkic countries and were held in Kazakhstan.

3. She has a third-place streak

Over the course of her various appearances on televised singing competitions, Efendi has built up a streak of finishing in third place. After reaching the grand final of The Voice of Azerbaijan under the supervision of Azeri singer Tünzala, Samira eventually took home the bronze medal. She later earned another podium finish on Silk Way Star, again finishing in third place.

If you want to take the series of threes further, Efendi was eliminated in heat three of Böyük Səhnə. We’ll have to wait and see if the Azerbaijani star’s third-place streak continues at Eurovision 2021, or if she can go home with a different coloured medal. Perhaps three is just Efendi’s lucky number.

4. She’s attempted to represent Azerbaijan on five previous occasions

Efendi has been determined to represent Azerbaijan at Eurovision for a number of years now. In addition to competing in the 2014 national selection Böyük Səhnə, the star has regularly been involved in the country’s internal selection processes since 2015. Two years ago, Samira was confirmed as one of the final four acts being considered to wave the Azerbaijani flag at Eurovision 2019. The 2020 selection was the fifth time Efendi had put her name forward. That makes 2021 her sixth attempt. Hopefully, the sixth time is the charm.

In an interview on late-night talk show Fatehin divanı (Fateh’s couch) after the release of her Eurovision 2020 entry “Cleopatra”, the star said she initially didn’t believe the delegation when they told her the good news. But, she says she never gave up on her dream to eventually perform on the Eurovision stage and has been putting in the hard work over the last five years to make it a reality.

5. She’s experienced at singing in multiple languages

In addition to her native Azeri, Efendi has become well versed in singing songs in a number of other languages. Naturally, this includes English, which is the primary language of her Eurovision 2020 song “Cleopatra”. In addition, her travels to fellow CIS countries to perform have seen her wrapping her tongue around the local dialects. For instance, on Silk Way Star Efendi performed a variety of songs, including ones in Kazakh and Uzbek.

Not just limiting herself to Turkic languages, Efendi has also dabbled in Spanish. The Azerbaijani star released the single “Tocame” (“Touch Me”) in 2017 alongside Romanian singer Seeya, which they sing entirely in Spanish.

6. She’s an animal lover

Efendi loves animals, writing that “since childhood, I have had a great love for animals, so pets have always lived in our house”. She also wants to open a shelter someday. For now, she’s the proud owner of a Maltese dog, Mini, and two (very ill-mannered) parrots Chip and Dale.

 

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A post shared by EFENDI (@efendi_music)

7. She’s a European tourism guru

Efendi may have never been to Rotterdam before, but she certainly knows a thing or two about a plethora of other European destinations. In 2019, the star was a guest presenter on Azerbaijani travel show Oralar. If you ever need advice on what to do when you’re planning a trip to Belgrade, Sarajevo, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Geneva or Paris, then Samira is the person to ask.

During her time on the show, the Azeri singer sampled a number of local delicacies. This includes snails, which Samira was given a plate of whilst exploring Paris. Skip to 36:30 in the video below to see her reaction to eating escargots for the first time – let’s just say, we don’t think she’s eaten them again since.

8. She owns a cake house

Outside of her music career, Efendi has a bit of a sweet tooth. The star has set up Efendi Sweet Boutique, which is an online cake house in Baku. The site’s Instagram page shows that they make a variety of sweet treats, from cakes to eclairs.

Next time you’re in the land of fire and in need of a sugar rush, then you know where to look.

 

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A post shared by ⚜ Efendi.Sweet ⚜ (@efendi.sweet)

9. She’s performed on a Formula 1 race track

Throughout the past few years of her music career, Efendi has had the opportunity to perform in a number of interesting locations, both nationally and internationally. One of the more unusual ones was on a Formula 1 race track.

Samira performed Azerbaijan’s national anthem at the closing ceremony of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2018. The star performed on a podium in the middle of the racecourse as a number of the drivers looked on. We’re thankful to report that none of the cars were actually racing around the track while Efendi was singing – the only thing she had to battle with was the wind.

10. She’s a pole dancing fan

Efendi revealed in an interview with our William that she has been doing pole dancing for about three years. She approaches the activity like a sport, building her strength and stability. You can see her in action at about nine minutes into the interview. She also shared some bonus trivia with us. During the filming of the music video for “Mata Hari”, the corset she wore was so tight that she scratched her entire back (2:45 in the interview). Thankfully, they were only temporary and have now cleared up. Something that’s a bit more permanent is her tattoo. It’s a star and stands for luck. Her team tells us that she can’t show a photo as it is in a very intimate place. In fact, Efendi really believes in signs and claims that things she sees in her dreams often come true.

Will Efendi break her third-place streak with “Mata Hari”? Are you excited to see her in Rotterdam? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more Eurovision 2021 artist facts here