Samira Efendi has confirmed on Instagram that she will be representing Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
Samira Efendi is the latest artist to confirm that their national broadcaster has chosen them to compete at Eurovision 2021. Samira had been internally selected by iTV to represent Azerbaijan at the now cancelled 2020 contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The list of artists who have been confirmed as competing in 2021 so far are:
- Azerbaijan – Samira Efendi
- Georgia – Tornike Kipiani
- Greece – Stefania
- Netherlands – Jeangu Macrooy
- Spain – Blas Cantó
- Ukraine – Go_A
Who is Samira Efendi?
Samira Efendi (performing as Efendi) was selected represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest. The singer was internally selected by the Ictimai, the Azeri national broadcaster, out of five artists:
- Samira Efendi
- Laman Dadasheva
- Elvin Novruzov
- Jabrail Rasulov
- Riad Abdulov
This is the Efendi’s fifth attempt at representing her country at the Eurovision Song Contest. She has previous experience competing on behalf of Azerbaijan, having participated in Silk Way Star which was broadcast across Central Asia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. Efendi also placed 3rd in The Voice of Azerbaijan, and most recently represented her country at the Voice of Nur-Sultan International Festival in Kazakhstan.
Source: Samira Efendi
Azerbaijan debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, they were represented by Elnur & Samir with the song “Day After Day”, they finished 8th in the final. In 2011 Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest represented by Ell & Nikki and their song “Running Scared”. The song scored a total of 221 points, receiving only three sets of 12 points from Malta, Russia and Turkey. In 2018 Azerbaijan failed to qualify for the final for the first time, having previously had a 100% qualification record.