After being announced as Azerbaijan’s entrant for Eurovision 2022 last month, Nadir Rustamli seems ready to reveal his entry as 12 Xal reports that the Azerbaijani entry for this year’s contest has been selected. The entry, along with a music video, is set to drop next week.
The 22-year-old The Voice of Azerbaijan winner Nadir Rustamli was internally selected to represent Azerbaijan in Turin. Last year, he competed in – and won – The Voice of Azerbaijan, where he was coached by Eurovision 2011 winner Eldar Gasimov. During the show, Nadir covered maNga’s Eurovision 2010 entry “We Could Be the Same” and Duncan Laurence‘s winning entry “Arcade”, among others.
Cleopatra, Mata Hari… what’s next?
With the entry set to be released next week, 12 Xal has posted a tweet on Twitter, saying “What’s about to come out?”. The tweet could be a possible teaser to Azerbaijan’s entry, which follows on from Efendi’s two entries of “Cleopatra” and “Mata Hari”.
In his biography on Eurovision.tv, Nadir says he had Eurovision on his mind when he selected Eldar Gasimov as his coach on The Voice, as taking part at the contest had always been a dream of his. His interest in music began at a young age, taking piano lessons, studying at music school and being a member of a band in university.
Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest
Making their Eurovision debut in 2008, Azerbaijan have always had a run of success in the contest, only missing the final once – in 2018. Their first and only win to date came in 2011 with Ell & Nikki’s “Running Scared” which scooped up the Eurovision trophy with 221 points.
Taking the contest to Baku in 2012, Sabina Babayeva secured Azerbaijan’s fourth top-five placing in a row with “When the Music Dies”, placing fourth. Farid Mammadov continued the run of top-five placings in 2013, when he finished runner-up with “Hold Me”, behind eventual winners Denmark.
In 2021, Efendi represented Azerbaijan at the contest, after initially being internally selected to represent her country in 2020. At the contest in Rotterdam, she qualified from the first semi-final in 8th place with her entry “Mata Hari”. She ultimately placed 20th in the grand final with a total of 65 points.
Are you looking forward to Azerbaijan’s entry for Eurovision 2022? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify and YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to Eurovision 2022!
