X My Heart / AISEL / Azerbaijan | Review

AISEL: the representative for Azerbaijan

Whatever is said about Azerbaijan, it's difficult to dispute that the country knows how to go about conceiving a fiercely compelling Eurovision product. Whatever their selection process, they tend to come up with a similar outcome: a sharp, contemporary composition paired with impressive stagecraft. Their 2018 entry, X My Heart performed by local beauty AISEL, is no exception - once again relying on Eurovision writers who know how to create songs that are inclined to score well.

Penned by the dream team of Dimitris Kontopoulos, Tim Bran and Sandra Bjurman, X My Heart is quite the recovery of form for Azerbaijan and could turn out to be very competitive in Lisbon. It is a superior pop anthem which is not a million miles from the sound of SuRie's United Kingdom effort - only featuring more intense production values.

This is the type of entry which usually stacks up to be a big fan favourite, but much of Eurovision fandom has been strangely quiet about its chances. The reason may be that there is a characterless dimension to the song, giving it a 'we've-heard-it-all-before' quality. Consequently, this may also hamper its chances with the wider Eurovision audience on the night.

Nevertheless, I feel there's little doubt that this entry will qualify to the Grand Final and that the Azeri team will create an extravagant stage performance around it. Whether it will be memorable enough to push Azerbaijan back into the Top 10 is debatable, but X My Heart has the quality to be knocking on that door.

Azerbaijan 

Artist: AISEL

Song: X My Heart 

Semi-Final 1 | First Half

Eurovision 2014: Start A Fire: Azerbaijan

Dilara Kazimova: Courtesy YouTube

In early March, Azerbaijan chose its entry for Eurovision following a long process of auditions and heats to determine the national winner.

In the end, the song Start A Fire sung by the rather beautiful Dilara Kazimova emerged as the victor.

It's not the first time that Dilara has tried her hand at the Eurovision Song Contest. She participated in both the 2008 and 2010 national heats, but as a member of two different bands.

Placing second on both of those occasions, she has now gone one better and sings this somewhat sleepy, if not melancholy, ballad.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Azerbaijan is relying on the tried and trusted Swedish songwriter to bring the competition back to Baku: Stefan Örn. He was involved with country's entries between 2010 and 2012, co-writing their 2011 winner Running Scared.

Unfortunately, in a year when ballads prevail, this one is not particularly conspicuous. It does not carry a discernible hook, but the inclusion of the Azerbaijani musical instrument, the balaban, does give it a haunting quality. Whether this is enough to grab voters' attention remains to be seen.

With just six songs failing to make the cut in the first semi-final, I have a suspicion that Azerbaijan won't be in that group. In fact, the nation's Eurovision history shows that it has secured a Top 10 placing every year since it first entered the competition in 2008 and I can't see that changing. This is just not the winner.