Azerbaijan

Always AySel & Arash

"Finally I've found you and now I'll never let you go..."

It's funny how just the sound of an entry can dictate its fortunes in Eurovision, considering how unpredictable the contest remains at times. There are songs you hear and instinctively know will do well, such as the Norwegian entry Fairytale, and for that matter the Norwegian entry in 2008, Hold On Be Strong. Another country to have produced back-to-back entries with the same sense of going places about them is Azerbaijan. On debut in Begrade they entered something with the sort of bombast and theatre I knew would see them end top ten, and although their entry for Moscow, Always, is more restrained, it too bears the hallmarks of something bound to do well.

Or at least qualify. As the Turkish understudy in the 2nd semi-final, Azerbaijan is one of those countries with a foot in the door before it's even been opened, and their making it to the final on that alone is always high on the list of probabilities. Throw in a well-produced, catchy song with wider appeal than their first entry and qualification is virtually assured. (For an explanation of the 'virtually', see below.) Quite a number of people seemed underwhelmed with Always upon its unveiling, claiming it lacked oomph and sounded like the kind of thing that would come second-last in a Melodifestivalen semi, and though it does lack a key change where there should logically be one (at the 2:12 mark), it still sounds solid and Western™ enough to appeal to more than just Eastern Europe and the Turkic diaspora.

The caveat with Always, and the only thing I can see derailing the song's chances, is the pair singing it. Having drafted in Iranian-born half-Swede half-Azeri something-nothing Arash as producer, İTV then made the mistake of forcing him upon AySel, and a couple of half-baked promo performances later the only label being applied to them was 'gormless'. This would be a problem if we weren't dealing with a country like Azerbaijan: I can see Always being 2009's Qele Qele, going on to score well despite not receiving the performance it needs to make it truly worthy of such a result. Let's face it, Aysel and Arash would have to take gormlessness to new, Moldova- and Macedonia-rivalling heights* to shoot themselves in all four feet. When songs like this from countries like these sound like they do - one they'll probably latch onto and never let go of - some measure of success is a foregone conclusion.

*Loca, Ninanajna et al. q.v.