Behind-the-scenes at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with interval act Emin

Emin, who sang during the interval at last weekend's Eurovision Song Contest, tells us about his busy week as he prepared to perform for an audience of 300 million. No pressure at all then...

The whole week sped by as the Eurovision semi-finals came and went and swept the city of Baku up in the excitement. As well as the official shows, parties and smaller shows took place all over the capital.

But what of the big night? To be performing in my home town to an audience of 300 million worldwide was beyond anything I could even contemplate! I was indeed nervous, but so excited!

[Related story: The Hump limps home second from last in Eurovision]

This is the biggest thing I’ve done yet and I am so proud to have been a part of what I hope was an amazing showcase of my homeland Azerbaijan.

All week there has been such a great buzz here. There’s been so much going on with different cultures and people everywhere; a real feel of something huge happening.

It’s great that the Eurovision Song Contest can bring so many people from all over Europe together for one big celebration of music and culture! It’s a brilliant time to be in Baku, and there’s constantly new things to do.

The whole show on Saturday was definitely a spectacle. In terms of the contestants, I was definitely backing The Babushki – those girls can move!

I had my album launch party for ‘After The Thunder’ on Sunday at Sea Breeze on the coast north of Baku where The Babushki stayed all week. The location was beautiful and my friend Englebert came along which was great!

Obviously Englebert was a little disappointed with Saturday night and I had been expecting him to do really well, but it’s Eurovision - and the joy of it is, you can never predict anything!

Emin's album 'After The Thunder' is out now