Eurovision 2015: Azerbaijan

It's really difficult for me to sit and write about the Azerbaijani entry because of my own personal bias against the country.  The naked ambition the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television has shown since their debut in 2008 is offputting.  

Expect a fire motif from Azerbaijan

Because of their tactical choices (and being from a former Soviet state with a common musical tradition as a number of other Eurovision participating countries) Azerbaijan has been the most successful country at Eurovision, having never failed to make the final since their debut.

Azerbaijan isn't going to fail this year either:

Elnur Hüseynov   "Hour of the Wolf"

In a year of ballads (and there are a lot of them), this is one of the strongest entries.  Like most years, the Azerbaijani song has been written by a truckload of Swedes (who are know for penning many successful Eurovision songs.)    The song is dramatic and generic, which means it's going to do well.

It also doesn't hurt that Hüseynov has done Eurovision before, back in 2008

Elnur and Samir   "Day After Day"   2008

Insane and kind of fun, right?

As for my opinion on the "Hour of the Wolf", I'm lukewarm.   Although the song is well written and the performance is solid, there's nothing extraordinary about the song that makes me love it.   There are no risks taken in "Hour of the Wolf" and it shows.

That said, if Azerbaijan gets the staging right (and trust they will) and Hüseynov doesn't oversing the song (which is more than likely), expect another top 10 result for Azerbaijan.

Hooray?