"Cleopatra" is a song recorded by Azerbaijani singer

Samira Efendi 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 with the song "Mata Hari". Career Early career Efendiyeva gained popu ...

. It would have represented

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

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. The con ...

if the 2020 contest was not cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. The song was written by Luuk van Beers, Alan Roy Scott and Sarah Lake, and employs the refrain "

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō ''Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō'' () are Japanese words chanted within all forms of Nichiren Buddhism. In English, they mean "Devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra" or "Glory to the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra". The words refer to the Japanese ...

", which is a central mantra of

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of ...

Background

The song was originally written at Las Negras camps in Spain, by Sarah Lake, Alan Roy Scott and Luuk Van Beers, under the guidance and A & R direction of former UK, BBC, Music Consultant, Greig Watts. Once the final demo was complete, Publishers, Greig Watts from Dwb Music and Kevin Lee, from Wii Bii Music, engaged in finding the perfect home for the song. The track was originally submitted to

San Marino RTV Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino, commonly known as San Marino RTV (abbreviated SMRTV), is the public service broadcaster of San Marino. On 13 June 2011, San Marino RTV changed its name to SMtv San Marino. In November 2013, the n ...

and a demo was recorded by

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, but the composers withdrew the song from the Sammarinese selection. Once it was agreed that the song would be Azerbaijan's Eurovision entry, Tony Cornellisen and Luuk Van Beers travelled to Baku, to record Efendi, and produce the final version of the track. The song features three traditional Azerbaijani instruments, an

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, a balaban and a

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. When talking about the song, Efendi said, "Cleopatra is a song about trusting your gut instinct, standing up for yourself and being a “queen” - even when things get tough and especially if someone betrays or hurts you. It is truly a song about freedom." The song earned widespread praise amongst fans for the lyric "Cleopatra was a queen like me/Straight or Gay or in between", despite LGBT rights being a taboo subject in Azerbaijan.

Eurovision Song Contest

The song was due to represent

Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Azerbaijan originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Cleopatra (Samira Efendi song), Cleopatra" written by Luuk van Beers, Alan Roy Scott and Sarah Lake. The song was performed by Samira Efendi, Efendi, w ...

, after

was internally selected by the Azerbaijani broadcaster,

İctimai Television İctimai Television ( , “Public Television”), or İTV, is a public television channel in Azerbaijan. It officially began broadcasting on 29 August 2005 after being created by law in the beginning of 2004, as the first independent public bro ...

(İTV), and was going to be performed in one of the two semi-finals. On 28 January 2020, 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 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Contest was cancelled.

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Cleopatra" was first released onto YouTube on 10 March 2020. The music video was filmed in Azerbaijan at the

Gobustan National Park Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve ( az, Qobustan dövlət tarixi-bədii qoruğu) is located west of the settlement of Gobustan, about southwest of the centre of Baku. It was established in 1966, when the area was declared a national ...

References

{{authority control 2020 singles 2020 songs Depictions of Cleopatra in music Eurovision songs of 2020 Eurovision songs of Azerbaijan Samira Efendi songs