Another enthusiastic Azeri effort... good choice

After much expectation, we finally got to hear the full version of the Azeri entry for 2009. When I first heard that it wouldn’t be Aysel alone singing Always, but that she would be accompanied by Arash, I had my doubts. Truth is, the combination works perfectly.

The song is rather good, catchy and there seems to be a good vocal mix by both singers. I like the mixture of ethnic elements with traditional europop (and more specifically, with ESC pop). I certainly don’t see this as a winner, but I doubt it’ll have any problems qualifying to the final, although I’m not sure it’ll manage to get a top ten position once there. It’s not that this one is not good enough, it’s just that there are others which are so much better (and let’s not forget we still have eight songs left to be either chosen or presented); still, I regard this one as another good and enthusiastic effort from Azerbaijan, where the broadcaster seems to be taking ESC really seriously which, as a fan, is always something to be grateful for.