The singer who represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018, Aisel Mammadova has spoken very candidly about her experiences representing the caucus nation. This includes the internal processes that were involved between her and the broadcaster Ictimai TV.
She then goes on to reveal that she was not surprised she did not qualify for the final. This non qualification is infamous due to the fact that this was the first, and currently only non qualification to the final for Azerbaijan.
Genres didn’t align
In the interview with Azerbaijani media outlet news24.az Aisel gave a sit down interview with Teymur Mammadov and spoke as previously mentioned, very candidly about her time before and after Lisbon 2018.
“X My Heart” was written and produced by Dimitris Kontonopulous, Sandra Bjurman and Tim Bran. You can relive the song below.
Dimitris as some of you may know has been behind other Eurovision songs like “Shady Lady”, “You Are The Only One” and more recently “SuperG!rl” and “Prison”. He has had history with Azerbaijan and a good one at that with a second place finish with Farid Mammadov with the song “Hold Me” in 2013. The Dance-Pop nature of “X My Heart” however clashed with Aisel’s Jazz background. She highlights this by saying.
The song was in a very inclined-stream pop format. I have no connection with this type of song. In general, I do not listen to such songs. I find it more difficult to understand. I had a hard time because I didn’t have a format. Even now I do not feel in harmony with that song.
Access denied
The Azerbaijani singer goes on to talk about the fact that she wanted to send her own song to the contest. However the broadcaster was unwilling to listen to her and wanted to submit their own song. This is what she had to say.
I would like to compose my own song. Unfortunately, it was not received. It is a competition in the pop genre and has its own genre. Therefore, it was recommended that they write a song and present it to us. The team consisted of very good people. We still have a relationship.
Additionally she enforced that even though she actually was part of the song selection, the decision was taken out of her hands.
I participated, but the advice was like that. I did not make the final decision.
Following on from the previous quotes, Aisel states that she did not have a song in the final selection.
We were just in touch with the team and I sent them my songs. The decision may have been made because they were not ready or because they had not heard the arrangement.
No disappointment
As a result of not having that much of a creative hand n the entry Aisel has stated that she didn’t feel disappointed that she didn’t qualify for the final. Stating this in the process.
To be honest, no. We were with stylist Anar Agakishiyev and he still says that you never cried. He was more stressed than I was. I emphasize again that my feelings are very strong. I wasn’t too surprised because I felt it before. On the contrary, I’m glad it’s over. Because we were very tired. Even my favorites in the competition were others.
Full interview in Azerbaijani below.
What do you think? Did you like the song in 2018? What style of song should Aisel have sung in Lisbon? Please comment below. Also please follow us @escxtra on all social media platforms. Additionally please subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Spotify for curated playlists.
