Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 as host in Baku and selected their entry in a series of competitive heats and a national final Milli seçim turu, which was organised by Azerbaijani broadcaster İTV.
Azerbaijan was represented by Sabina Babayeva in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, on 26 May 2012, with the song "When the Music Dies", as the 13th act. She came fourth overall with 150 points.
National final
A total of 119 songs were submitted to İTV.[1] The selection process was the same as in 2011, with the exception that the number of the contestants was reduced to 72 singers. They were then split in eight heats with nine singers in each. The voting was 50% jury voting and 50% televoting. Weekly heats consisted of five shows aired from Monday to Friday, with a foreign song performed on Monday, an Azerbaijani song on Tuesday, a past-year Eurovision song on Wednesday, a song with a special focus on performance on Thursday and a song of the singer's own choice on Friday.[2] The selected contestants included three-year candidate Azad Shabanov, as well as candidates from the previous year's selection tour: Altun Zeynalov, Empathy, Emin Hasan, Rustam Allazov, Janana Zeynalova, Orkhan Nasibov, Sabina Babayeva, Ramin Guliyev, Kanan Gadimov, Adil Bakhishli, Ulvi Rashidov, Rinat Alimov, Habil Ahmadov, and Khana Hasanova. Applicants from abroad included Yan Kashepava from the United States[3] and Vlada Akhundova from Russia.
Televised heats
Heat 1
Heat 1–28 November – 2 December 2011
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Ramin Guliyev |
4 |
| 2 |
Janana Zeynalova |
7 |
| 3 |
Orkhan Mirzayev |
8 |
| 4 |
Samra Rahimli |
3 |
| 5 |
Kanan Gadimov |
5 |
| 6 |
Anastasiya Bedritskaya |
9 |
| 7 |
Amil Gojayev |
6 |
| 8 |
Orkhan Karimli |
1 |
| 9 |
Elnara Hasanova |
2 |
Heat 2
Heat 2–5–9 December 2011
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Rufat Aliyev |
8 |
| 2 |
Mehriban Sadykhova |
9 |
| 3 |
Farid Hasanov |
3 |
| 4 |
Ilham Hamidov |
4 |
| 5 |
Huseyn Abdullayev |
2 |
| 6 |
Maryam Karimova |
1 |
| 7 |
Sehri Rahimova |
6 |
| 8 |
Live Or Leave |
7 |
| 9 |
Elvin Babazadeh |
5 |
Heat 3
Heat 3–12–16 December 2011
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Khayyam Mustafazadeh |
1 |
| 2 |
Farid Ramazanov |
7 |
| 3 |
Rustam Allazov |
5 |
| 4 |
Rovshan Azizov |
4 |
| 5 |
Aysel Guluzadeh |
6 |
| 6 |
Yelena Karimova |
9 |
| 7 |
Anar Safarov |
3 |
| 8 |
Altun Zeynalov |
2 |
| 9 |
Aytaj Valiyeva |
8 |
Heat 4
Heat 4–19–23 December 2011
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Orkhan Nasibov |
7 |
| 2 |
Emin Hasan |
6 |
| 3 |
Empathy |
4 |
| 4 |
Rinat Aslanov |
8 |
| 5 |
Nigar "Nika" Babayeva |
3 |
| 6 |
Nadezhda Mikayilova |
2 |
| 7 |
Fagan Safarov |
1 |
| 8 |
Kamran Azizov |
5 |
Heat 5
Heat 5–26–30 December 2011
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Elnara Kazimova |
6 |
| 2 |
Azad Shabanov |
2 |
| 3 |
Samir Mammadov |
7 |
| 4 |
Elton Ibrahimov |
1 |
| 5 |
Gunay Ahmadova |
4 |
| 6 |
Yan Kashepava |
8 |
| 7 |
Suleyman Aghakishiyev |
9 |
| 8 |
Fidan Huseynova |
5 |
| 9 |
Aydin Eyvazzadeh |
3 |
Heat 6
Heat 6–2–6 January 2012
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Habil Ahmadov |
4 |
| 2 |
Orkhan Afandi |
5 |
| 3 |
Ramila Muradova |
3 |
| 4 |
Elgiz Mammadov |
6 |
| 5 |
Adil Bakhishli |
1 |
| 6 |
Bakhtiyar Gasimov |
2 |
| 7 |
Jahangir Gasimzadeh |
7 |
| 8 |
Vlada Akhundova |
8 |
Heat 7
Heat 7–9–13 January 2012
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Erkin Osmanli |
8 |
| 2 |
Ad Gloriam |
4 |
| 3 |
Ayla Idrisova |
2 |
| 4 |
Kamran Abdullayev |
5 |
| 5 |
Sabina Babayeva |
1 |
| 6 |
Khana Hasanova |
3 |
| 7 |
Khayal Taghiyev |
9 |
| 8 |
Natig Baghirov |
6 |
| 9 |
Azer Salimli |
7 |
Heat 8
Heat 8–23–28 January 2012
| Draw |
Artist |
Place |
| 1 |
Tofig Hajiyev |
5 |
| 2 |
Rinat Alimov |
9 |
|
| 3 |
Arzu Ismayilova |
1 |
| 4 |
Ali Mammadli |
7 |
| 5 |
Ulkar Guliyeva |
4 |
| 6 |
Abbas Karimli |
6 |
| 7 |
Zaur Amiraslanov |
3 |
| 8 |
Ulvi Rashidov |
2 |
| 9 |
Caspian Dreamers |
8 |
Semifinal
Semifinal - 30 January - 3 February 2012
| Draw | Artist |
| 1 |
Orkhan Karimli |
| 2 |
Maryam Karimova |
| 3 |
Khayyam Mustafazadeh |
| 4 |
Fagan Safarov |
| 5 |
Elton Ibrahimov |
| 6 |
Adil Bakhishli |
| 7 |
Sabina Babayeva |
| 8 |
Arzu Ismayilova |
Final
Final - 12 February 2012
| Draw |
Artist |
| 1 |
Orkhan Karimli |
| 2 |
Sabina Babayeva |
| 3 |
Elton Ibrahimov |
| 4 |
Fagan Safarov |
| 5 |
Arzu Ismayilova |
The song
The song "When the Music Dies" was selected internally by jury. Written by Swedish composers Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn, and Johan Kronlund, the song is a symbiosis of Western and traditional Azeri tunes.[4] It is sung entirely in English.
At Eurovision
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Semi-final allocation draw on 25 January 2012. Azerbaijan voted in the first semi-final.
Azerbaijan, as the last year's winner, hosted the contest, and therefore automatically qualified for the final, on 26 May.
The draw that determined the semi-finals and running orders was held on 25 January 2012. As a result of this draw, Azerbaijan (along with Italy and Spain) voted in the first semi-final, held on 22 May.
Sabina Babayeva performed at the Grand Final and came fourth place overall with a total of 150 points.
Points awarded to Azerbaijan
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Points awarded to Azerbaijan (Final)
| 12 points |
10 points |
8 points |
7 points |
6 points |
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| 5 points |
4 points |
3 points |
2 points |
1 point |
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Points awarded by Azerbaijan[5]
See also
References
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Azerbaijan
