Aylin Beherzalova is an Azerbaijani singer and performer of estrada, pop and jazz. A finalist of Baku Jazz Festival 2021, she spent two years as the official soloist at The Jazz Club of the Fairmont Baku hotel. She currently works as an independent performer. Her first official single is titled “Vaxt Elə Görüşək” (Let’s Make Time to Meet).
Early life
Aylin Beherzalova was born in Baku in 1997 and was raised by a family open to foreign culture and diverse worldviews. Her interest in music showed itself in early childhood: the future singer watched the Eurovision Song Contest and sang along with performers from the international stage, which drew her to both music and the English language. It was during the years when she followed famous international stars in concerts, films and music videos that she decided to dedicate her life to music.
There were no professional musicians in the family. Nevertheless, the singer’s mother had also loved music deeply since childhood. Seeing their daughter sing from an early age, her parents believed she would one day perform on major stages. Beherzalova speaks about this with particular affection: “My mother says that her childhood dream will come true through me.”
Music is my joy of living. It wasn’t sparked by some passing enthusiasm — it has always been inside me.
Education
Beherzalova’s professional music education began in childhood. Alongside secondary school, she studied at two music schools at the same time, graduating with honours from Children’s Music School No. 21 named after L. and M. Rostropovich in vocals, and from Children’s Music School No. 22 named after Niyazi in piano.
She received her higher education at the Estrada Faculty of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. After a four-year bachelor’s degree, she specialised in estrada, popular music and jazz performance during a two-year master’s programme.
Career
In 2021, the year she completed her master’s degree, the artist took part in Baku Jazz Festival, held from 10 to 18 September. She reached the final of the competition and was awarded a vocal diploma. Her professional stage career began with this success.
After the festival, Beherzalova became the official soloist at the Fairmont Baku hotel, where she worked for two years. She now performs as an independent artist at prestigious venues in Baku and the regions. The venues where she has performed include Baku Marriott Hotel Boulevard and Sapphire City Hotel; the restaurants Zafferano, Monte Napoleone and Shakespeare Baku; as well as regional resorts such as Shamakhi Palace Hotel, Yengice Thermal Resort Hotel, Basqal Resort Hotel, Shabran Resort Hotel and Marxal Resort Hotel, among others.
Artistic style
The singer’s repertoire spans pop, jazz, lounge, estrada and soft rock. She is also interested in performing in hip-hop and rap styles. In her view, music has no genre boundaries: what matters to her is the feeling and quality a song conveys. Although she does not perform it herself, classical music holds a special place among the music she listens to every day.
For Beherzalova, stage performance is a broader concept than vocals alone. She emphasises that she lives the songs she sings and that her main goal is to convey that feeling to the listener. In pop songs especially, dance and stage movement become an inseparable part of this expression.
When it comes to choosing songs, the artist has a principled approach shaped over the years:
As I grew older, I realised that everything we say is reflected in the universe. Songs are a kind of manifesto, too. Whatever we manifest in a song, we attract more of it to ourselves.
For this reason, in both her own work and her concert programmes, she favours optimistic pieces that reflect her dreams. Even when she sings sad songs at guests’ request, she tries to perform only feelings she has once lived through and understood. She stays away from songs that reflect emotions she does not wish to experience.
Performers from the international stage have also influenced her artistic outlook. Jennifer Lopez is the artist the singer regards as her ideal. She sees traits close to her own in Miley Cyrus‘s stage energy, while those around her often compare her style to Dua Lipa‘s. Even so, Beherzalova aims not to imitate anyone, but to create her own stage identity.
“Vaxt Elə Görüşək” (Let’s Make Time to Meet)
This same principle explains why the artist’s first official single was so long in the making: she wanted her debut song to reflect her own feelings and manifesto. Although she received offers from various composers over a long period, none of them felt close to her in terms of music, taste and spirit.
“Vaxt Elə Görüşək” was offered to her at the initiative of the composers themselves, at a time when she was experiencing exactly these feelings. “The song reflected my feelings completely. I said, this is the song I have been waiting for all these years,” the singer recalls of that moment.
The main idea of the song is the value of time and human relationships. According to the artist, the piece is not only about love: “This song is for lovers, friends, colleagues and family members. Some people think there is plenty of time, that they will meet later. But life flows on. If we truly want someone, we must be able to go after them.”
Music: Farid Karimli
Lyrics: Kamran Gafarli
Arrangement: Elvin Musayev
Vocal producer: Ismayil Asadov
“Vaxt Elə Görüşək” has been added to the Anti Radio playlist and is played on the station’s air.
Goals
Beherzalova’s near-term goal is to become known by her own name in Azerbaijan. She intends to achieve this through her education, stage image, musical choices and performances. Gaining international recognition, becoming famous and giving concerts are among the artist’s greatest dreams.
Personal life and interests
Having always felt her family’s moral support on her artistic path, the singer has overcome financial difficulties on her own. She reflects on her journey this way:
Despite facing many hardships in life, I have managed to rise again with determination. I believe the pain we endure makes us wiser.
In her free time, she enjoys reading books, listening to classical music and doing sports. She considers sport one of the key factors that keep a person vigorous and energetic.
