Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Both the artist and song that represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was selected internally by İTV. On 24 January 2019, the broadcaster called for interested songwriters to submit their entries by 7 February 2019. Songwriters could be of any nationality.^[4][5] On 7 February 2019, Head of Delegation Husniya Maharramova revealed that four potential performers had been shortlisted from over 40 artists that attended a casting round in late 2018: Chingiz Mustafayev, Leman Dadashova, Samira Efendi and Tofig Hajiyev.^[6]

On 8 March 2019, İTV announced that Chingiz Mustafayev would represent Azerbaijan, performing the song "Truth". The selection of Chingiz as the Azerbaijani Eurovision contestant was based on the decision of İTV and a national jury panel, while "Truth" was selected from over 350 submissions from local and international songwriters in a similar method.^[7][8] "Truth" was written by Chingiz himself together with members of the songwriting team Symphonix International: Borislav Milanov, Trey Campbell, Joacim Persson, Pablo Dinero and Hostess, and was presented on the same day via the release of the official music video.^[9] Trey Campbell previously represented Bulgaria in the 2018 contest, where he performed the song "Bones" as a member of the group Equinox and placed fourteenth.^[10] In regards to the song, songwriter Borislav Milanov stated: "Initially, I was a little nervous about how Chingiz would perform the song, since he comes from a different musical background. But meeting him totally changed my mind. He's so passionate about music and his own culture. We even added some unique elements of traditional Azerbaijani music, which worked brilliantly to make the song an authentic fusion of Azerbaijan and the West."^[11]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Azerbaijan was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[12]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Azerbaijan was set to perform last in position 18, following the entry from North Macedonia.^[13]

The two semi-finals and final were broadcast in Azerbaijan on İTV with commentary by Murad Arif.^[14] The Azerbaijani spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Azerbaijani jury during the final, was Faig Aghayev.^[15]

Chingiz took part in technical rehearsals on 7 and 11 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 15 and 16 May. This included the jury show on 15 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.^[16]

The Azerbaijani performance featured Chingiz dressed in black performing alone on stage. The performance began with Chingiz in front of a LED prop while two robot arms pointed a laser heart towards him. The LED screens displayed a large image of a woman in blue and a yellow beating heart and the performance also displayed a CGI version of Chingiz being shot up into the air before landing back on the ground.^[17][18] In regards to the performance, which was directed by Mads Enggaard, Chingiz stated: "The idea is that my heart is broken and I need to replace it with a bionic one. Some robot helps me literally get rid of it and forget about my ex. I realize that only accepting the truth and leaving my toxic love behind can heal me."^[19] Four off-stage backing vocalists were also part of the performance: Cedrik Hammar, Patrik Jean, Peter Simpson, Sara Li and Shira Gavrielov.^[20]

At the end of the show, Azerbaijan was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Azerbaijan placed fifth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 224 points: 121 points from the televoting and 103 points from the juries.^[21]

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Azerbaijan was drawn to compete in the second half.^[22] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Azerbaijan was subsequently placed to perform in position 20, following the entry from Belarus and before the entry from France.^[23]

Chingiz once again took part in dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Chingiz performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 18 May. Azerbaijan placed eighth in the final, scoring 302 points: 100 points from the televoting and 202 points from the juries.^[24]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.^[25]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Azerbaijan and awarded by Azerbaijan in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Azerbaijani jury:^[25]

• Rashad Hashimov [az] (jury chairperson) – composer
• Emir Useynov (Emus Nero) – choreographer
• Tunzale Agayeva [az] – author, composer, singer
• Ulviyya Konul [az] – film director
• Yalchin Jabbarov – producer

Detailed voting results from Azerbaijan (Semi-final 2)^[26]

R/O	Country	Jury							Televote
		Emus Nero	T. Agayeva	U. Konul	Y. Jabbarov	R. Hashimov	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	17	17	17	17	17	17		17
02	Ireland	15	13	13	10	15	16		14
03	Moldova	3	15	6	15	10	8	3	11
04	Switzerland	9	6	8	8	9	9	2	2	10
05	Latvia	12	11	3	12	3	6	5	15
06	Romania	5	3	15	4	4	3	8	12
07	Denmark	14	12	12	9	14	14		13
08	Sweden	6	9	5	16	16	12		8	3
09	Austria	10	4	9	13	11	11		16
10	Croatia	11	5	11	14	12	13		10	1
11	Malta	7	2	14	6	5	5	6	5	6
12	Lithuania	16	14	16	2	7	10	1	9	2
13	Russia	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
14	Albania	4	8	4	5	8	4	7	7	4
15	Norway	13	16	10	11	13	15		6	5
16	Netherlands	8	10	7	7	6	7	4	3	8
17	North Macedonia	2	7	2	3	2	2	10	4	7
18	Azerbaijan

Detailed voting results from Azerbaijan (Final)^[27]

R/O	Country	Jury							Televote
		Emus Nero	T. Agayeva	U. Konul	Y. Jabbarov	R. Hashimov	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	6	2	9	4	6	2	10	7	4
02	Albania	4	9	5	6	9	4	7	16
03	Czech Republic	19	21	22	2	17	14		18
04	Germany	25	23	21	18	16	22		23
05	Russia	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
06	Denmark	14	18	16	17	20	19		19
07	San Marino	7	17	10	13	7	13		2	10
08	North Macedonia	5	11	4	5	5	3	8	8	3
09	Sweden	13	10	6	19	18	15		20
10	Slovenia	2	22	2	25	15	7	4	13
11	Cyprus	10	12	7	10	3	8	3	17
12	Netherlands	11	14	13	11	10	16		4	7
13	Greece	12	3	14	3	8	5	6	25
14	Israel	23	15	25	16	21	21		15
15	Norway	16	16	15	14	19	18		10	1
16	United Kingdom	22	25	20	21	24	25		24
17	Iceland	3	5	24	24	14	11		12
18	Estonia	17	24	18	20	23	23		21
19	Belarus	15	13	8	7	4	10	1	6	5
20	Azerbaijan
21	France	24	19	17	22	25	24		14
22	Italy	8	7	11	9	2	6	5	5	6
23	Serbia	18	20	23	15	13	20		22
24	Switzerland	9	6	12	12	11	12		3	8
25	Australia	20	4	3	23	12	9	2	11
26	Spain	21	8	19	8	22	17		9	2