Welcome to The Xtra Files, our new series which will give you an insight into what the team at ESCXTRA think of your favourite entries into this year’s contest! Today, we review Azerbaijan.
Now that all the songs have been released, we are able to review each and every one of them. Our honest and brutal reviews will keep you entertained until the rehearsals start on 5 May! We will also each give a score out of 10 for every entry, and create an ESCXTRA leaderboard of the entries!
The series continues today, with reviews of the Azerbaijani entry, ‘Truth’ by Hlynur, Oliver, Riccardo, Rigmo, Sara and Vincent. Let’s get started!
The Reviews
Hlynur
Somehow this is in my top 10, I do like the beat and I am sure I will enjpy dancing to this. And I hope that the performance will in Tel Aivi will keep the funkinest and the glitter of the video. The down side of the song it does not really shut up at the end but continues repeating itself.
Oliver
Azerbaijan have something to prove this year after the nations first NQ in Lisbon. This is a very cool, modern song with a really cool music video to boot. However, notice the repetition of the word ‘cool’? I do enjoy this song, a lot. But I have hesitations preventing me from LOVING ‘Truth’. I hope we will see some form of authentic Azeri musicians/visuals to match the flourishes of ethnic instrumentality. I do wonder how the chorus will be replicated… here’s hoping it won’t be a hot mess!
Riccardo
Ever since I became a Eurofan I seemed to love Azerbaijan’s entries on a regular 3-year pattern. 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018. Any song in between those were all horror to my hears and usally dead last in my rankings. So expecting that trend to last I thought I had to patiently wait until 2021 to like another song from the Land of Fire, except I didn’t! I am not a big fan of the canned drum at the beginning as it is distracting but by the time the chorus start I forget about it and love love love the song! I am also glad Azerbaijan FINALLY showed us some of their rich culture with some ethnic sounds. More of that please!
Rigmo
This new Aquaman 2 trailer is NOT what I expected, but The Netherlands usually sends great songs and this is no exce…wait…No, this is the OTHER naked dude in water! Clearly Chingiz did NOT get the memo the rest of these Lady-Gagafied Mad Max rejects in the video did regarding the dress code.
Once Aisel failed to live up to her name and sell anyone her laundry detergent idea of a song, the only place to turn was good old Symphonix and Tray Campbell. You can practically hear the cremated remains of Bones right from the get-go, but god damn if it isn’t all contageous enough to make me want to declare the song a quarantine zone. The non-stop falsetto is a bit questionable, though I would probably sound the same if someone took all of my clothes and shoved me into a cold pool. But I will just shut up about it now…
Sara
Oh boy, I can’t wait to see how the Azeris stage this. The song is cool, but in a very polish, studio version way, and I’m not sure if they’ll manage to keep the atmosphere for the live performance (but if anyone can, it’s Azerbaijan). The “shut up about it” (damn they really want to forget 2018 ever happened, don’t they?) part is really catchy, Chingiz is quite a good looking guy, but I still feel like there’s something missing. It should mark their return to the final quite easily though, so there’s that.
Vincent
Azerbaijan like their dark and gloomy songs on uneven years, at least they have since 2015. This is not quite as good as Skeleton was musically, but I prefer the lyrics of “Truth”: they make more sense, and are I think not only well-written but well-adapted to the melody, especially in the verses, my favorite part.
Scores
| Angelos | 8 | Natalie | 8 | Sara | 7 |
| Costa | 8.5 | Nathan P | 9.5 | Simon | 5 |
| Dan | 8 | Nathan W | 8 | Tim | 5 |
| Dominik | 10 | Nick | 9.5 | Tom O | 8.5 |
| Emanuel | 8 | Oliver | 8.5 | Tom R | 7 |
| Hlynur | 7.5 | Riccardo | 8.5 | Vincent | 8.5 |
| Lisa | 4.5 | Rigmo | 10 | Wiv | 4 |
| Luke | 9.5 | Rodrigo | 8.5 | ||
| Matt | 7.5 | Ryan | 9 | ||
| Miki | 7 | Sami | 9 |
Therefore, the average score for Azerbaijan is 7.85
Leaderboard
There is a new entrant in our top ten today as Azerbaijan ends up at 6th place in our leaderboard with a score of 7.85.
- The Netherlands – 8.65
- Switzerland – 8.65
- Italy – 8.43
- Cyprus – 8.26
- Malta – 8.10
- Azerbaijan – 7.85
- Spain – 7.54
- Armenia – 7.35
- Sweden – 7.17
- North Macedonia – 7.00
- Norway – 6.96
- Albania – 6.94
- Belgium – 6.85
- Estonia – 6.74
- Slovenia – 6.63
- Hungary – 6.44
- Iceland – 6.39
- Ireland – 6.17
- Czech Republic – 6.17
- Belarus – 6.02
- Portugal – 5.91
- France – 5.74
- Romania – 5.74
- Serbia – 5.63
- Finland – 5.50
- Poland – 5.43
- United Kingdom – 5.41
- Austria – 5.39
- Russia – 5.32
- Denmark – 5.13
- San Marino – 5.11
- Latvia – 5.06
- Lithuania – 4.78
- Germany – 4.69
- Australia – 4.65
- Moldova – 4.50
- Montenegro – 3.48
- Israel – 3.30
- Georgia – 3.00
- Croatia – 2.96
Tomorrow will be the VERY last round of Xtra Files as we review Greece.
Do you agree with our reviews of Azerbaijan? What are your thoughts on Truth?
Let us know on social media @ESCXTRA!
