Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The song that represented the country was selected internally and was performed by the singer Aisel, who was also internally selected by the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV) to represent the nation at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Background. Prior to the 2018 contest, Azerbaijan had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest ten times since its first entry in . Azerbaijan had won the contest on one occasion in 2011 with the song "Running Scared" performed by Ell and Nikki. Since their debut in 2008 , Azerbaijan has had a string of successful results, qualifying to the final and placing in the top ten each year until 2014, including a third-place result in 2009 with the song "Always" performed by AySel and Arash and a second-place result in 2013 with the song "Hold Me" performed by Farid Mammadov. However, in 2014, Azerbaijan achieved their lowest placing in the contest to this point, placing 22nd in the final with the song "Start a Fire" performed by Dilara Kazimova. In 2017, Azerbaijan placed fourteenth with the song "Skeletons" performed by Dihaj. Before Eurovision. Internal selection. On  8 November 2017, İTV announced that Aisel would represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. On 3 March 2018, İTV announced that Aisel would perform the song "X My Heart". "X My Heart" was selected from three shortlisted songs from local and international songwriters based on the decision of İTV and an opinion survey that featured 300 participants from 31 European countries. "X My Heart" was written by Dimitris Kontopoulos and Sandra Bjurman. The song was presented on 4 March 2018 via the streaming service Spotify, while the official music video was released on 7 March 2018. In regards  to the song, Aisel stated: "I feel a strong connection with the lyrics of the song, since believing in myself made me overcome several difficulties I had in my life. This is a message I want to send to everyone: believing in yourself can make you stronger than cannonballs." At Eurovision. 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 29 January 2018, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the  competing songs for the 2018 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 in position 1, preceding the entry from Iceland. Semi-final. Azerbaijan participated in the first semi-final, opening the show and preceding Iceland. At the end of the show, they were not one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the final, making it the first occasion that Azerbaijan did not participate in a Eurovision final  since their debut in 2008. It was later revealed that Azerbaijan placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 94 points: 47 points from the televoting and 47 points from the juries. Voting. 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 were released shortly after the grand final. Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Azerbaijani jury: