This year Azerbaijan has chosen Nadir Rustamli as its representative on Eurovision 2022 that will take place in Turin next May with with the song “Fade To Black”. But who is Nadir? In this article you will have the opportunity to know more about Azerbaijan’s singer for Eurovision 2022.
About Nadir Rustamli
Nadir Rüstəmli was born on 9 July 1999 in Salyan, Azerbaijan. Rustamli attended high school between 2005 and 2016. During his youth, he received piano training at the Gulu Asgarov Music School in his hometown. While studying Tourism and Management at the University of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani joined the band Sunrise where he was its leader. Already in 2021, Rustamli graduated from the Azerbaijan University of Tourism and Management with a degree in business administration.
This Azerbaijani singer, since 2017, has participated in several competitions, including the Youthvision international student song contest in 2019, where he finished second among 21 contestants. Youthvision is the international song contest held among promising young artists. The aim of the competition is to identify the creative potential of young people and it was that year that Nadir began to highlight his potential.
The 22-year-old Azerbaijani rose to fame after winning the second edition of Səs Azərbaycan (Azeri version of The Voice). The second edition of The Voice of Azerbaijan took place in 2021. In the first round, he sang a version of “Writing’s on the Wall”, moving on to the second round in the team of Eldar Qasımov, who was the representative of Azerbaijan in 2011.
Nadir Rustamli made it through each of the rounds until he reached the final, where he performed a version of “Running Scared”, the song with which Eldar Qasımov conquered Europe in 2011 at the Eurovision Song Contest. Nadir won the show with a televote percentage of 42.6%.
Lyrics
Stay
The story barely started
Can’t you stay?
Do you really want no part of this?
Oh, so sweet reverie
You back off slowly through the door
You always go and blame the weather, the weather
It hurts so fast
When love goes bad
Until at last
We fade to black
And I’m numb, numb
Numb, numb
Wait
I need some time to fix this
Can’t you wait?
We can’t afford to miss this
You back off slowly through the door
You always go and blame the weather, the weather
It hurts so fast
When love goes bad
Until at last
We fade to black
And I’m numb, numb
Numb, numb
We’re living in a memory
The present is the price I pay
Fade to black
We fade to black
We’re living in a memory
The present is the price I pay
(Fade to black)
(We fade to black)
(We’re living in a memory)
(The present is the price I pay)
It hurts so fast
When love goes bad
Until at last
We fade to black
Azerbaijan in Eurovision
Azerbaijan made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008. The country is known as the Land of Fire and is the home of the world’s first oil well, dug in the mid-1800s. Azerbaijan won the competition in 2011 with ‘Running Scared’ performed by Ell and Nikki.
Azerbaijan is a relative latecomer to the Eurovision family, having made its debut in 2008 with Day After Day performed by Elnur and Samir. The duo finished eighth and sparked a series of successes for the country including Ell and Nikki’s win in 2011 with Running Scared. To commemorate the moment, Azerbaijan issued a special postage stamp dedicated to Ell & Nikki’s victory.
The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku and success in the competition continued when Sabina Babayeva finished fourth on home ground with When The Music Dies. Read more about Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Sabina Babayeva’s entry and also won the Marcel Bezençon Press Award in 2012. Farid Mammadov flew the Azeri flag in 2013 with the song Hold Me which won the Marcel Bezençon Artistic Award again that year.