Samira Azer gizi Efendiyeva (; born 17 April 1991), known as Samira Efendi or Efendi, is an Azerbaijani singer. She represented Azerbaijan in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

with the song "

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (, ; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari ( , ; , ), was a Dutch Stripper, exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for German Empire, Germany during World War ...

Career

Early career

Efendiyeva gained popularity in her home country after participating in the singing competitions ''Yeni Ulduz'' (2009), '' Böyük Səhnə'' (2014) and ''

The Voice of Azerbaijan ''The Voice of Azerbaijan'' () is an Azerbaijani television singing competition created by John de Mol. The first season was broadcast on AzTV. The show premiered in late 2015 continuing to 2016. The rules of the show were based on ''The Voice of ...

'' (2015-2016, third place). In 2017, she was the Azerbaijani representative in the international singing competition ''Silk Way Star'', staged in

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, finishing in third place. Efendiyeva represented her country again at the ''Voice of Nur-Sultan'' festival held in

Nur-Sultan Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

in 2019. In 2014, she participated in Azerbaijan's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest but was eliminated at the third heat of the competition.

2020–present: Eurovision Song Contest

On 28 February 2020, the Azerbaijani broadcaster İTV announced that Efendiyeva had been internally selected to represent Azerbaijan in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

with the song "

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

", held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, Netherlands. However, the contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She instead represented Azerbaijan in the

with the song "

". Efendi qualified to the final, where she ended up in 20th place out of 26 countries, receiving 65 points. During her time at the Eurovision Song Contest, she would gain publicity after the Norwegian singer that had been selected to go to the contest, Andreas Haukeland, otherwise known as Tix had shown a noticeable crush on Efendi throughout their time at Eurovision through a variety of ways, including giving gifts, flirting on social media, asking Efendi out on dates, and singing love songs (including a couple parodies, Tix's own song

Fallen Angel Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...

and the Pokémon Indigo League theme song). In response, she would do the same, including releasing a new music video and song dedicated to Tix that was posted by Eurovision's YouTube account. Some have accused Tix of fabricating the crush as a ploy to gain televotes from Azerbaijan, however Tix maintains that the crush is real and not for PR. Some others would create fan art, memes, and spread moments of the two recorded online on social media. A ship name was created, with it being called "Efentix." Tix would eventually qualify, finishing in tenth, five points ahead of the next opponent. Azerbaijan would give 10 points to Norway in the semi-final. It is unclear whether they are in a relationship, however Efendi has been reported to have been thinking of potentially marrying Haukeland. Samira would say of the relationship "To be honest, at first I was not serious about the attention of the Norwegian representative Tix. I didn’t understand what was happening. I went to Eurovision to win, not to meet someone. I went there with completely different thoughts, but received a gift from fate." On May 15 2025, Efendi returned to

Eurovision 2025 The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Basel, Switzerland, following the country's victory at the with the song "The Code (Nemo song), The Code" by Nemo (singer), Nemo. Organised ...

to perform "Cleopatra" as a guest act in the second semi-final, alongside other 2020 contestants

Gjon's Tears Gjon Muharremaj (; born 29 June 1998), known professionally as Gjon's Tears or Kev Bush due to his performance style being similar to "Kate Bush", is a Swiss singer and songwriter. He was scheduled to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Son ...

the Roop The Roop (stylised in all caps) are a Lithuanian pop rock band from Vilnius. Formed in 2014, the group consists of lead vocalist Vaidotas Valiukevičius, percussionist Robertas Baranauskas and guitarist Mantas Banišauskas. The group has releas ...

, and

Destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

who were unable to perform their original songs due to the pandemic.

Personal life

Efendi has been rumored to have been dating Norwegian

russ music Russ music () is a subgenre of electronic dance music and a music scene which originated from Norway during the mid-2000s. Drawing inspiration from EDM, hip hop and techno. Russ music is characterized by its fast tempo, synthesizers, notable ba ...

artist Andreas Haukeland, otherwise known by his artist name, Tix. While speaking to Sputnik Azerbaijan, she talked about potentially marrying Haukeland, and saying that she would move to Norway to be with him, saying (translated to English) "If I get married, I’ll probably move to Norway. Where the husband is, there I am." Efendi has practiced

pole dancing Pole dance combines dance and acrobatics centered around a vertical pole. This performance art form takes place not only in strip club, gentleman's clubs as a form of erotic dance, but also as a mainstream form of fitness, practiced in gyms and ...

for a number of years. In her spare time, she runs her own sweets boutique, called Efendi Sweet. The online Instagram store sells a variety of sweets, including cakes and éclairs.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Efendi, Samira 1991 births 21st-century Azerbaijani women singers Azerbaijani jazz singers Azerbaijani women pop singers Living people Musicians from Baku The Voice (franchise) contestants Confectioners English-language singers from Azerbaijan Eurovision Song Contest entrants