The road to Malmö is truly underway, with Azerbaijan becoming the latest country to announce their shortlist of potential participants at Eurovision 2024. Taking to Instagram, the Azeri broadcaster Ictimai teased us with a reel, showcasing the new cohort of Eurovision hopefuls and the panel of Eurovision royalty who selected them.
ÂÂÂÂÂView this post on InstagramÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
16 artists were initially selected to audition live in front of a jury of local music professionals and Ictimai TV officials. However one artist had to pull out on medical grounds. Among the remaining 15, there are some familiar faces, like Amrah who attempted to get the ticket to Eurovision at last yearâs selection.
Guess who is in her redemption era? AISEL, who was infamously the first Azeri Eurovision entry not to qualify for the final back in 2018, is hoping to give Eurovision another shot. Sheâs bringing a revamped style to the live auditions.
Some of the participants are already household names in Azerbaijan, like Qorqud, Emy Lia, Fahree and Mila Miles. But the majority are up-and-coming, younger artists, hoping to use the Eurovision stage as a springboard to stardom.
For the second year running, Azerbaijan is going local and looking to showcase homegrown talent at Eurovision. The years of importing from Sweden are over, and itâs going strong. This year, the majority of the chosen 15 either wrote or co-wrote their songs, with 88 out of the total 214 songs received by the broadcaster being written by local songwriters.
Ictimai has chosen to keep stumm about how these songs actually sound. Theyâre yet to reveal any of the potential songs, keeping us on all tender hooks so that the artists have a chance to fully prep and prime, before their entries are unleashed onto the Eurovision audience.
Who was behind the judgesâ desk at the live auditions? Only the hallmark of Azerbaijan at Eurovision. Nigar Jamal, who won the contest in 2011 with âRunning Scaredâ alongside Eldar Gasimov, sat on the panel next to Aysel Teymurzadeh, who finished in third place in 2009 alongside Arash with âAlwaysâ.
The rest of the jury was made up of experienced and respected composers, production experts, as well as Ictimai management.
And it wouldnât be Eurovision without Eldar, who is leading Azerbaijanâs selections as the delegationâs Music Producer.
Check out the full list of candidates competing to represent Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2024:
Pictured: AISEL, Fahree, Emy Lia, Mari, Tofig Hajiyev & Camal Gurbanov, Amrah, Edgar Ravin, Sabina Guluzadeh, Lexa, Rilaya, Rahib Mirzoyev & Tofig Yadigarov, Alesker, Ilkin Dovlatov & Etibar Asadli & Mila Miles, Sabina Beyli, Qorqud
Do you have an early favourite? Who are you hoping will take the ticket to Malmö for Azerbaijan? Let us know in the comments!
Am I the only one who LOVED “X My Heart” back then? I wanna hear what AySel got to offer this time
None of them look indie for me and that’s good.
It’s tenterhooks not tender hooks.
Eurofans need to remember what the spirit of eurovision means and why the contest was created from the beginning.
Politics are not welcome! And also most of the people here are not very good geopolitical experts.
How about you remind the festival organizers and broadcasters to NOT involve politics and such? It’s THEM who bring politics and c…orrp….tion into the thing in the first place, not the fans.
Politics are inevitable. There is nothing in this world that is apolitical.
Excelent News From Azerbaijan . The Gowerment Is Dictator But The People Deserwe To Represent On The ESC . No More Sweden . More Countrys Must Stand True To This
Majorty Of People Are Sick And Tyred Of This Swedish Comunist Style Rule Of The ESC . Not Ewery Song Must Be Wroten By Swedish ⊠They All Sound Like Cheap Plastik And Even If This Song Made By Local People Is Just Terible , Anything Is Better Than Swedish Crap That Poor Broke Swedish Writers Bag Up And Ship Off To Desprite Nations
Whatâs so communist about this?
It sounds rather capitalist to me when a countryâs music industry is trying to expand to international marketsâŠ
We Undrstand Your Comunist , Max . Stop Simpathying And Lying
Swedish Say Everyone Should Follow This Swedish Ways . No One Wants
Why Do You Type Like This? Also Your Argument Makes Absolutely Zero Sense
Azerbaijan deserves to be booed
This is kind of confusing. Article is tagged with “national selection”. Will there be a show?
is this not how the nation is selecting their artist?
Aisel deserves a comeback. With a non generic song. Sheâs so good at jazz
Where can I watch the auditions?
So many reasons to LOL
Azerbaijan, a state where the human rights are denied. But, hey, they have music too, they are fun too. Let’s unite!
We don’t need Azerbaijan, thanks; it’s an international aggressor, led by a corrupt dictator with no respect for human rights, and a history of cheating at ESC by the way. đ
Iâm lowkey convined that sebina is going to be chosen as she the only one apparently did not attent the âauditionsâ LOL
She lives in USA, that’s why couldn’t attend the auditions and instead joined online.