Azerbaijan at Eurovision
Azerbaijan's Eurovision debut came in 2008 and it has since competed in every edition of the Contest, failing to qualify for the Grand Final on just one occasion (when Aisel's 'X My Heart' placed 11th in her semi-final in 2018).
After just four years' participation in the Contest, Ell and Nikki won for Azerbaijan in Düsseldorf with their duet 'Running Scared', meaning that the capital Baku would host the 57th Contest in 2012.
Last year, Efendi's 'Mata Hari' fared less well, qualifying from her semi-final in 8th place but ending the Grand Final in 20th place.
2022 entry: Nadir Rustamli - 'Fade to Black'
Semi-final: Nadir will compete in 4th spot in semi-final 2 running order
My Eurovision Scoreboard ranking: 25th
Odds to win ranking: 21st
(Rankings as of 12 April 2022)
About the artist
Nadir Rustamli is a 22-year-old singer from Salyan in southern Azerbaijan.
Despite his young age, Nadir has had fairly extensive experience - and considerable success - in live music contests. He came second at the Youthvision International Song Contest in 2019, before achieving national recognition after winning the second season of 'The Voice of Azerbaijan' last year.
Over the course of his journey on The Voice, Nadir performed a number of past Eurovision entries, including Duncan Laurence's winner 'Arcade' and 'We Could Be The Same' by Turkish rock band maNga.
About the song
The song 'Fade to Black' is written and composed by a four-man team that includes Anderz Wrethov, one of the co-writers behind Sweden's 2019 Eurovision entry 'Too Late For Love'.
It is performed in English and has a dark, melancholic feel, as Nadir recounts the end of a relationship and the grief that ensues.
The song was the last to be released for Turin, with fans having to wait until 21 March (22 March here in Australia!) to hear the Azeri entry.
How Nadir was chosen for Eurovision
Nadir was revealed as Azerbaijan's internally-selected entrant for Eurovision 2022 by national broadcaster İTV following a song submission and evaluation process launched at the very end of 2021.
Some 300 songs were submitted for consideration, from which a shortlist of six was presented to the pre-selected artist, Nadir, who was announced as the country's representative in mid-February.
There has not been a public national final to select the Azerbaijani song and/or artist since 2014.
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Azerbaijan will compete in semi-final 2 on May 12 (European time) in Turin.