Efendi

Samira Azer gizi Efendiyeva (Azerbaijani: Samirə Azər qızı Əfəndiyeva; 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". Efendi gained popularity in her home country after participating in the singing competitions Yeni Ulduz (2009), Böyük Səhnə (2014) and The Voice of Azerbaijan (2015-2016, third place). In 2017, she was the Azerbaijani representative in the international singing competition Silk Way Star, staged in Almaty, Kazakhstan, finishing in third place. Efendi represented her country again at the Voice of Nur-Sultan festival held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in 2019.
On 28 February 2020, the Azerbaijani broadcaster İTV announced that Efendi had been internally selected to represent Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Cleopatra", held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, the contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She instead represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Mata Hari". Efendi qualified to the final, where she ended up in 20th place out of 26 countries, receiving 65 points.