Meet Aisel from Azerbaijan

This year 43 countries will be present at this years Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Lisbon in May. With around two weeks to go until all of Europe descends on Portugal's capital, Eurovoxx will introduce you to each country that will be participating.

Who is Aisel?

AISEL, born Aysel Mammadova in Baku on July 3 1989, is a singer-songwriter and musician. She is originally a Jazz singer, however for Eurovision, she has turned to a very pop and dance influenced track.

Aisel was raised into a musical family. Between 1995-2006, she studied at a the Bulbul Music School in Baku and in 2010, she graduated from the State Conservatory in Baku.

Aisel has performed in many music festivals around the world, including the Baku International Jazz Festival as well as other musical events throughout Europe. Aside from singing, Aisel is also an accomplished composer and pianist.

Check out Aisel's Eurovision song below:

How was Aisel chosen?

Aisel was chosen internally by Azeri broadcaster İTV back in November 2017, with her song and lyric video being released in March 2018.

British Producer Tim Bran, who worked with Blanche and "City Lights" in 2017 worked with Aisel on her song "X My Heart". Aisel has also worked with "The Dream Team" Philip Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos on her Eurovision entry.

Azerbaijan in Eurovision:

Azerbaijan made their debut at the 2008 contest in Belgrade and sailed through the sem-final to reach 8th place in the final. Since then, they have had a lot of success in the contest. Just one year later, Aysel and Arash bought Azerbaijan into the top 3 with another top 5 placing following in 2010. 2011 saw Azerbaijan win the contest for the first time with "Running Scared" by Ell and Nikki. Baku hosted the contest in 2012 where we saw Sabina achieve another top 5 placing (4th) for Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan came close to winning for a second time in 2013 with Farid Mammadov finishing in second place behind Emmelie de Forest. 2014 saw their worst result to date - 22nd place in the final with only 33 points, which was followed by 12th place in 2015, 17th place in 2016 and 14th place in 2017. Could Aisel be the one to bring Azerbaijan back into the top 10?

Check out our reaction video to Aisel and her song:

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