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.
Milli Seçim Turu 2012 was the national final organised by İTV that selected the Azerbaijani contestant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The competition consisted of ten shows that commenced on 28 November 2011 and concluded with a winning artist on 12 February 2012. The ten shows were hosted by Husniye Maharramova, Leyla Aliyeva and Kamran Quliyev.[1] All shows were broadcast on İTV and streamed online via the broadcaster's website itv.az. The final was also streamed online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[2]
Format
The competition consisted of ten televised shows including eight heats and a semi-final, each held across five days between 17 December 2012 and 3 February 2012. During the heats and semi-final, each artist performed five cover versions of various songs: a foreign song on Monday, an Azerbaijani song on Tuesday, a former Eurovision song on Wednesday, a song with special focus on performance on Thursday, and a song of their choice on Friday. The 50/50 combination of public voting via SMS and the votes of a jury panel determined the winner of each heat that advanced to the semi-final, while the combination of public and jury voting determined the five qualifiers that advanced to the final on 12 February 2012. In the final, the winner was selected by the jury from the remaining artists.[3]
Competing artists
On 15 October 2011, İTV called for interested artists to apply for the competition by 25 October 2011. Eligible artists were those that were citizens of Azerbaijan or part of the Azerbaijani diaspora.[4] 119 applications were received and 72 artists were selected by the broadcaster for the competition.[5] Among the competing artists were Yan Kashepava and Caspian Dreamers from the United States and Vlada Akhundova from Russia.[6]
Shows
Heats
8 heats took place between November 2011 and January 2012, held at the İTV studios in Baku. In each heat one act was selected to advance to the semi-final based on the combination of a public and jury vote.
The semi-final took place between 30 January and 3 February 2012 at the İTV studios in Baku. The eight artists that advanced from the preceding eight heats competed and Arzu Ismayilova, Elton Ibrahimov, Fagan Safarov, Orkhan Karimli and Sabina Babayeva were selected to advance to the final based on the combination of a public and jury vote.
The final took place on 12 February 2012 at the Heydar Aliyev Palace in Baku. The five artists that advanced from the preceding semi-final performed three cover versions of various songs and Sabina Babayeva was selected by the jury as the winner. The jury consisted of Menzer Nuraliyeva (representative of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan), Faiq Suceddinov (singer), Zumrud Dadashzadeh (professor at the Baku Music Academy), Zulfiyya Khanbabayeva (singer), Tunzala Aghayeva (singer and composer), Ismail Omarov (General Director of İTV) and Rauf Babayev (singer).[4] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Eurovision Song Contest 2011 winners Ell and Nikki, 2012 Maltese Eurovision entrantKurt Calleja and 2012 Turkish Eurovision entrantCan Bonomo performed as guests.[2]
On 17 March 2012, İTV announced that Sabina Babayeva would be performing the song "When the Music Dies", written by Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn and Johan Kronlund. The song was presented on the same day via the release of the official music video. In regards to the song, Babayeva stated: "'When The Music Dies' is a very special song. I feel it. Every time I sing, it feels like it's happening to me again. I think everybody has had this kind of moment in their life. Actually, I do believe music really should not die, because it helps us to stay alive no matter what happens."[7]
At Eurovision
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.[8] The public awarded Azerbaijan 5th place with 151 points and the jury awarded 8th place with 118 points.[9]
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Slovakia
Serbia
Ireland
