Best of the Bunch: Armenia

This week, we’re looking at Armenia through the years 2006 to 2015 to decide which song is the Best of the Bunch! Armenia debuted in 2006, and have statistically been quite successful since then. Out of the 9 appearances since 2006, Armenia has appeared in 8 finals. 8 out of 9 ain’t bad! Now, let’s look back to the debut performance and travel through the years to decide which Armenian song is your favourite!

The first Armenian act to take on the Eurovision was André, who performed the song Without Your Love. It was an explosive pop entry, with a very dramatic choreography. The chorus is quite catchy, we’ll give André that, at least. Europe seemed to love it, as it reached 8^th in the final with 129 points.

In 2007, Armenia sent the singer Hayko, with the ballad Anytime You Need. Unlike the debut entry, this time around we had a small taster of the Armenian language in the final chorus. We have to give points for consistency, as Hayko also ended up in 8^th place, with 138 points in the final.

2008 offered us another change of pace with Sirusho – Armenia’s superstar. This entry is one of the most memorable Armenian entries amongst Eurovision fans, and it’s easy to see why. The song Qele Qele is absolutely slayed by the confident Sirusho, who delivers the song with energy and indeed, confidence. It’s hard to go past this song, and Europe certainly appreciated it too. Armenia placed 4^th in the final, with an impressive 199 points. This still remains the highest position that Armenia has been placed in Eurovision.

The following year, we see the ethnic side of Armenia come out to play once again, with the sister duo of Inga and Anush singing the song Jan Jan. The outfits were incredible, and the stage show matched the intrigue of the song. Another confident entry from Armenia, who are definitely getting the hang of Eurovision by this point. The song ended up in 10^th place in the final with 92 points.

In 2010, Eva Rivas was chosen to represent the country, with the song Apricot Stone. Points should definitely be awarded to the length of Eva’s hair, if not anything else. The song was a hit however, reaching another respectable top 10 finish. The final position was 7^th, with 141 points.

Girl power was becoming a trend for the Armenian entries, with yet another strong female vocalist chosen to represent the country. Emmy performed the song Boom Boom, a homage to the sport of boxing (vaguely). Although using the same formula as previous years, Europe just wasn’t buying this one. 2011 remains the only participating year for Armenia where they failed to appear in a final, as this got stuck in 12^th place in the semi-final.

In 2012, Armenia chose not to participate *cries in Armenian*

Armenia made a return in 2013 with a different approach – gone are the days of girl power! Instead, Armenia selected the Dorians, a rock band, to take to the stage with the song Lonely Planet. Although not a hit with all the fans, the song still managed to scrape through to the final, where they ultimately ended up in 18^th place with 41 points.

The following year, Aram Mp3 was selected by Armenia, and he performed the balled called Not Alone. A pre-contest favourite, the expectations were set high. There was a hiccup before the contest, with some undesirable comments made about a fellow participant, and that paired with a slightly off key performance could have been a disaster. However Armenia managed to pull yet another top 10 finish, even managing to match the success of Sirusho. The song ended up in 4^th place with 174 points.

In 2015, Armenia turned to all corners of the Earth to collect a group of 6 Armenian heritage performers, which created the group Genealogy. The song the group performed is called Face the Shadow, and featured a familiar face – Inga (from the 2009 duo Inga and Anush). Armenia had once again qualified for the final, and eventually reached 16^th place with 34 points.

And that brings us to an end of the 10 year recap of Armenian performances. Now it’s your turn to vote in the poll down below! Which song is the Best of the Bunch?