?TV announces finalists of national selection for Eurovision

The Azerbaijani Public Broadcasting Company (?TV) has announced finalists of the national selection for Eurovision 2023, Azernews reports.

The five finalists include Leyla Izzatova, Humay Aslanova, and Amrax Musayev duo, Mamagama band, Turan and Tural Bagmanov duo as well as Azar Nasibov.

Speaking about the national selection, the press secretary of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, Ilaha Dadashova, stressed that special attention was paid to ensuring that the authors of the songs are Azerbaijanis.

Earlier, Eurovision 2011 winner Eldar Gasimov, who has joined the Azerbaijani delegation, as a music producer, said that to ensure healthy competition, all songs of the finalists were recorded in one studio and under the same conditions.

This was done in order to ensure that differences in song recording did not affect the final decision. Live performances were recorded as well.

Furthermore, a focus group will evaluate the finalists' performances in two formats: audio and video.

Some 37 countries will join the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, UK, in May 2023.

In the first semi-final, Azerbaijan was drawn to compete in the second part of the show.

Meanwhile, the year 2023 marks Azerbaijan's 15th involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in 2008.

Azerbaijan marked its debut in 2008 with the duo of Elnur and Samir, who managed to become the eighth in the final with their song "Day after day".

The brilliant duet of Aysel and Arash, which represented Azerbaijan next year, took third place at the song contest, while Safura Alizada, who represented the country at the Eurovision 2010 in Oslo, became fifth.

On its fourth attempt with Ell and Nikki's "Running Scared" song, the Land of Fire won the event, bringing the contest to Baku's Crystal Hall in 2012. Ell and Nikki were the first mixed-gender duo to win the contest since 1963 and the first winners from Azerbaijan.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan reached the Top 5 in five consecutive contests - 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012, and 2nd in 2013.

In 2018, Aysel Mammadova performed brilliantly at the Eurovision 2018 semi-final, but she couldn't make it to the final. The singer represented Azerbaijan with the song "X My Heart".

Azerbaijan's Chingiz Mustafayev impressed all Eurovision fans with his stunning performance in 2019. The singer finished in eighth place in the song contest.

In 2020, the song contest was canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, fans of the music contest had a great chance to enjoy a spectacular show "Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light", featuring 41 songs from this year's entries.

During the show, Samira Efendi pleased Eurovision fans with the song "Cleopatra" about trusting your gut instinct, standing up for yourself, and being a "Queen" - even when things get tough and especially if someone betrays or hurts you.

In 2021, Samira Efendi performed in the second half of the Eurovision 2021 final with the song "Mata Hari" and took 20th place. She thrilled Eurovision fans with a stunning performance that featured a giant orb in the background. Speaking about the meaning of the song, Efendi noted that it is about female power.

In 2022, Nadir Rustamli represented Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2022. The singer left Eurovision fans speechless with the song "Fade To Black" co-written by Andreas Stone, Anders Rethov, Sebastian Schub, and Thomas Stengard. He came 16th, scoring 106 points.