“Run With U” by the band Mamagama was internally selected by Azerbaijan. Mamagama will be performing 10th in the first semifinal. 

The song is an easy listen and has a decently catchy chorus. We both think the inclusion of traditional-sounding instruments is a highlight of this entry. Overall, neither of us think it is a bad song. It also kind of fits in the “nice – but not Eurovision” bucket that many of our bottom ranked songs do this year (which interestingly contains a disproportionate number of bands).

What is peculiar about Azerbaijan’s song this year, is that U and C have very different opinions on the music video and as a result the whole entry.  

U likes the music video for “Run With U.” The imagery sticks in your brain. It has a cohesive narrative, and it’s cute and quirky. There are surprise cameos from TuralTuranX (Azerbaijan 2023) and Fahree and Ilkin Dovlatov (Azerbaijan 2024). It is fun and nifty to have previous Eurovision contestants, and seems to create an AECU- Azerbaijan Eurovision Cinematic Universe, if you will.  The song and music video weirdly give K-pop vibes, though that may just be because of the subliminal connection created by the annoying mispronunciation of “Run with U” matching with the lyrics of the hit K-pop group SEVENTEEN’s song, “Rock With You.” Eliciting K-pop comparisons sets a very high bar for overall production and performance quality that “Run With U” just does not quite reach.

On the other hand, C dislikes the music video – full stop. For C, the music video concept feels completely disconnected from the song – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it also feels like there’s a narrative happening that doesn’t quite make sense – which also isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And the set is minimal and fun – which are definitely not bad things. But put them together and it just doesn’t work. It reads like one person had a cool idea for a short film, and another person needed an idea for this music video. But maybe the real reason C doesn’t like it is because she is disconcerted by the ripped in half robotic body of the main singer – especially when his eyes go brrr.  Overall, the song is actually pretty good. Unfortunately, the music video doesn’t work, and that tanks it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯