Azerbaijan Eurovision Analysis

All Sides of Love 

        The Eurovision Song Contest is a chance for many countries to show to the rest of Europe what they are all about through song and the accompanying performance. Often, countries make certain gestures to their own country’s cultures. For example, many countries will use imagery throughout the performance, whether it is in their act, or on the large screens behind them. Countries also might use items that represent a certain type of their culture or history. Azerbaijan is no different. Azerbaijan uses various aspects of their diverse culture to craft unique performances that show what it means to truly be Azerbaijani. In this blog post, I will be analyzing Azerbaijan’s performance from 2019. 

        In 2019, the song that was chosen to represent Azerbaijan was “Truth” performed by Chingiz where the main performance was a one man show with many vibrant colors and CGI (computer generated imagery). For instance, the first time that Chingiz gets to the chorus, a large fiery heart appears behind him as he sings passionately about a love that was only one sided. This fiery heart behind him also holds a greater symbolism as Azerbaijan is also known as the land of fire (Bedford, 2018). As this chorus ends, the heart shatters behind him most likely signifying the heartache that he felt in this abusive relationship. The use of lighting in this part of the performance is very important as right after he finishes passionately telling his lover that “it’s just so hard to bear” and then demands that she “shut up about it” (Chingiz, 2019, Azerbaijan), the lighting becomes very dull as he continues telling his story. In the verse following, a blue woman appears behind him on the LED screens. As she appears, he takes a knee, and from the audience’s perspective, it seems he is having a struggle coming to terms with this false love. This can also be seen in the lyrics “But then out of the blue she crashes the room” and “Gotta remember she is a killer” (Chingiz, 2019, Azerbaijan). As the next two chorus’ play, Chingiz comes to terms with his ex-lovers’ choice of cheating on him and at one point, a brief CGI shot shows him ascending to the sky which represents him moving on from the situation and being the bigger person. After this, the stage is extremely bright and well-lit suggesting that he has come to terms with his lover’s escapade and is ready to move on. 

        “Truth” tells a story even simply through the vocals that Chingiz chooses to use throughout the song. He starts the song as though he is having a conversation with someone having his voice at a reasonable volume. He refers to a mirror in the first verse “I'm in the mirror/ So freakin' bitter” which serves as an image to the audience that he is reflecting on himself as a man. As the music progresses and the audience hears more about what happened through the lines of “She wants to break you” and “Drink 'til I forget/She's on to the next” which clearly point to her cheating on him and breaking his heart. After the second chorus, he uses more imagery saying that “Out of the mirror/It's getting clearer” showing that he is coming to an understanding that she broke him and that he cannot hold on any longer. With the story being told through these lyrics, his choice of vocals also shows that he is becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation. An example of this is in every chorus when he raises his voice to the point of almost screaming signifying the argument that is taken place. Chingiz’s choice to tell a story not only through the lyrics, but also his actions in this performance show his range as a performer.     

        On the topic of range, the team that brought this performance together happens to be very diverse. Chingiz Mustafayev was born in Moscow Russia and at a young age moved to Azerbaijan. With a good portion of his childhood being in Azerbaijan, his music has its roots there. For instance, his two main genres of music that he focuses on are pop and folk. The pop is obvious from this performance, but they folk is also present. Chingiz plays a flamenco guitar which is one of the ways that he melds pop with Azerbaijani culture. Another is a type of singing called Mugham which is a traditional music form characterized by a large degree of improvisation (Azerbaijan). He does a nice job of melding both of these into this song and in his performance. The guitar can be heard at the end of the chorus briefly with a small riff from his flamenco guitar. The Azerbaijani Mugham can be found much more easily as it comes right before the CGI as his voice range to many different levels. These references to Chingiz’s background and the Azerbaijani culture make this a more Eastern oriented song. There are some aspects of the performance that are considered to be more western, but with all of the calls to Azerbaijan’s diverse culture, it is best represented as an Azerbaijani song. 

        Given that this does not fall under the category of a “novelty act”, it appears that there are not that many controversial messages hidden in this song. Ellie Chalkley (2017) analyzes this idea of a novelty act in stating, “Novelty acts go all the way back to the music hall and vaudeville traditions, and would showcase unusual physical talents, exotic themes and create a blend of music and comedy to appeal to a wide range of tastes”. There are many things within this song that meet the criteria for gimmickry, but the overall performance is not a novelty song. Given that this is a love song, (which Eurovision has had its fair share of in previous years) there is nothing out of the ordinary. This is not to take away from the message and the story that is told, but in the greater scheme of Eurovision, this performance would be filed under another love song. As for other aspects of this performance, another thing that could be argued that was in this song was the concept of heteronormality, which in other words is the idea that heterosexuality at Eurovision is the normal and anything other than that is straying from the norm (Carniel, 2015). While the intention might not have been to focus on this idea, this song perpetuates it because it does exactly what heteronormality describes. 

        Azerbaijan has an interesting national identity that is made up of many different aspects. The Azerbaijani culture is made up from many different backgrounds which all come together to form their culture. For example, they are extremely close to the Turkic heritage, but they also have many close ties with Russia due to the fact that they were once part of the Soviet Union (Toklugoglu, 2005). Azerbaijan has 3 national colors which are red, green, and blue all seen in their flag. With all that being said, there are many things throughout this performance that reference the Azerbaijani culture. 

        This performance has many references back to many aspects of Azerbaijani culture. I already mentioned the flame that represents the land of fire, but there is also more to the colors that come on screen. The woman on the screen behind him is blue which is one of Azerbaijan’s national colors which could stand for the Turkic heritage of the people (Imram, 2018). Another possible meaning of the color blue in the context could simply represent sadness as the meaning of the song is about him catching his lover cheating. Chingiz never appears to be happy throughout the entirety of the song, but rather his facial expressions and movements signify that he is extremely upset or in the midst of an argument.

References 

Azerbaijani mugham. [n.d.]. https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silk-road-themes/intangible-cultural-heritage/azerbaijani-mugham 

Bedford, S. (2018, January 28). Why is azerbaijan called 'the land OF FIRE'? Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://theculturetrip.com/europe/azerbaijan/articles/azerbaijan-called-land-fire/ 

Carniel, J. (2015). Skirting the issue: Finding queer and geopolitical belonging at the Eurovision Song Contest. Contemporary Southeastern Europe, 2(1), 136-154. 

Chalkley, E. (2017, May 10). Gimmicks, glitter AND Glam: Eurovisions' novelty Song Contest. https://escinsight.com/2017/05/02/eurovision-song-contest-novelty-songs/ 

Chingiz, M. (2019) “Truth” (Azerbaijan) Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Tel Aviv [DVD]. Baarn, NL: Universal Music Group. 

Imran, S. (2018). Nation branding endeavours of Azerbaijan: Reshaping national image. Strategic Studies, 38(1), 100-115. https://doi.org:10.2307/48539125 

Tokluoglu, C. (2005). Definitions of national identity, nationalism and ethnicity in post-soviet Azerbaijan in the 1990s. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28(4), 722-758. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870500092951