Photo Credit: EBU
Montenegro may be one of Eurovision’s youngest countries but they have a lot more of a history than you might think. In this article, we look at their history in the contest when they were a part of Yugoslavia, and Serbia and Montenegro to present day, so let’s dive in!
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia first took part in Eurovision in 1961 and they used a national final to determine their entry every year. This was called Jugovizija and each of the broadcasters of the federal units of Yugoslavia took part. Montenegro was no exception. I wrote a bit more about the selection process in my deep dive article about North Macedonia.
While North Macedonia were unlucky and didn’t get the chance to have a North Macedonian represent Yugoslavia, Montenegro were lucky. In 1983, Montenegrin singer Daniel became the first contestant from the small nation to represent Yugoslavia at Eurovision with his song ‘Džuli’ and he did very well. finishing in 4th place scoring 125 points, which at the time was one of Yugoslavia’s most successful Eurovision results.
The following year, Montenegro won the right to represent Yugoslavia at Eurovision as singers Vlado and Ida won Jugovizija 1984 on behalf of the Montenegrin broadcaster. They sang ‘Ciao Amore‘ but the duo were unable to replicate the success of 1983 and ultimately finished in 18th place out of 19 scoring 26 points. These were the only times where the Montenegrin broadcaster were responsible for the Yugoslav entry in Eurovision.
Serbia and Montenegro
After Yugoslavia broke up in the early 1990s, what was left of the country of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) did take part in 1992 as the ‘Federal Reublic of Yugoslavia‘ but it was Serbia who were responsible for their entry as the Belgrade broadcaster won Jugovizija that year. FR Yugoslavia was then banned from competing in 1993 due to UN sanctions because of the ongoing war. Yugoslavia which was renamed as Serbia and Montenegro in 2003 did not take part in Eurovision for a decade whereas many of the other nations did, despite still broadcasting the contest.
In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro had expressed interest in taking part in Eurovision 2003 as well as Albania and Belarus but the EBU were concerned that too many countries would be relegated and they couldn’t join. They wouldn’t have to wait too long though as it was announced in January 2003 that Eurovision would introduce semi-finals in 2004 meaning that lots more countries could take part without worrying about the relegation system.
Serbia and Montenegro officially debuted in 2004! despite Serbia being responsible for their entry, Zeljko Joksimovic with his composition ‘Lane Moje‘ finished in 2nd place scoring 263 points in the final, and is still highly regarded as one of the most popular non-winners of the contest.
In 2005, in their joint national final, Evropesma-Europjesma which featured an all-Serbian and Montenegrin semi-final, it was Montenegrin boyband ‘No Name‘ who were outsiders to win the right to represent Serbia and Montenegro. They were also able to deliver a great result for the nation finishing in 7th place overall. This would inevitably become their last appearance in Eurovision.
In 2006, while Serbia and Montenegro were scheduled to compete in Eurovision, controversy erupted in their National final when No Name won again for Montenegro with their song ‘Moja Ljubavi‘ but many of the audience in attendance wanted Serbian act Flamingosi to win.
The way the voting system worked was that there were 8 jurors, 4 Serbian and 4 Montenegrin and they would award their 1-12 points accordingly. Then the televote that followed held the same percentage as one individual juror meaning that the maximum points the public could give were 12. The controversy was that all four of the Serbian jurors gave 12 to Flamingosi and all of the Montenegrin jurors gave 12 to No Name. Flamingosi scored nothing from the Montenegrin jurors but No Name did score some points with the Serbian jurors which pushed them ahead. Despite the televote overwhelmingly preferring Flamingosi, No Name just pipped them at the post. This led to loud boos and jeers in the audience and the runner-ups eventually performed a reprise at the end.
Photo Credit: UJRT
While there had been controversies in previous years where the Serbian and Montenegrin jurors had been accused of voting for their own countries’s songs, there hadn’t been this much upset before. Two Serbian jurors withdrew their votes because of ‘tactical voting’ and their participation came into question. The EBU wanted both broadcasters to come to a solution. In the end, Serbia and Montenegro withdrew but voters in Serbia only, a first were able to vote in Eurovision 2006.
Weeks after the contest, Montenegro became an independent nation after the people of Montenegro voted for independence. This meant that they could take part in Eurovision 2007.
Montenegro Takes To The Stage
Steven Faddy became the first entrant from an independent Montenegro to take part in Eurovision. They adopted a national final called Montenegro Song and he won the televote. He ultimately finished 22nd out of 28 scoring 33 points in the Semi-Final and missed out. All of his points came from former Yugoslav nations and the Albanian jury.
In 2008 and 2009 the story was the same, despite an 11th place finish in the semi final in 2009, it was just not enough to qualify but it was their best result as an independent nation at the time.
Montenegro withdrew from Eurovision in 2010 citing financial difficulties and didn’t return until 2012. Rambo Amadeus was internally selected to represent the nation who was an author and rapper to sing his satirical song ‘Euro Neuro‘ but he ultimately finished in 15th place in his semi-final scoring 20 points.
The year after, hip-hop duo Who See and Nina Zizic were selected to represent Montenegro in 2013. They sang ‘Igranka‘ which for its day was a contemporary hip-hop and dubstep number. The staging and costumes were unique as they featured the duo dressed as space astronauts and Nina then suddenly appeared on the stage through a secret raised platform and she was dressed as a cyborg.
Some predicted good things for this entry as it was unique and popular amongst fans, but ultimately it controversially missed out. 2013 was the only year where instead of the EBU revealing the detailed points for juries and votes from the public, this time an average ranking system was introduced. Despite finishing in 4th place in this televote ranking system, Montenegro scored badly with the juries which pushed them out of the top 10 overall. This was a controversial system as it was never explicit how many points each country got with just the juries or televote, and even now, we still have no idea what the full split results were.
Montenegro’s First Qualifications
In 2014, it was a different story, Sergej Ćetković sang the ballad ‘Moj Svijet‘ which safely qualified in 7th place becoming Montenegro’s first qualification to the Eurovision final as an independent nation. The song went on to finish in 19th place.
Spinning into 2015 was Knez with his song ‘Adio‘ (Goodbye), the song had some high profile names behind it as 2004 runner-up Zeljko Joksimovic was the composer behind it and had his signature sound. Despite not being favoured in the odds, the live performance was great and it was clear Montenegro were determined to achieve their best-ever result. The Balkan ballad contained a traditional Montenegrin dance after the second verse to cheers from the crowd. Montenegro qualified for the second time in a row and they finished in 13th place overall scoring 44 points which remains their best ever result as an independent country.
Montenegro’s 2nd NQ Streak
The streak of Montenegro qualifying for the final was cut in 2016 when rock band Highway couldn’t get past the Semi Final with ‘The Real Thing‘ finishing in 13th place despite qualifying with the juries.
The year after, Slavko Kalezić with his infamous hair sang ‘Space‘, which was an uptempo pop song. The staging was simple and featured Slavko singing while swinging his hair like a helicopter. Despite being popular in the arena, it wasn’t enough to qualify for the final and finished in 16th place overall, but he did do decently with the televote finishing in 11th place.
British Eurofans may recognise Slavko later as a contestant on The X Factor UK that same year where he made it through to Judge’s Houses where he was mentored by Nicole Scherzinger and performed in front of her guest mentor Stormzy.
Sadly, Montenegro continued to struggle in the contest Vanja in 2018 sang the Balkan ballad ‘Inje‘ which finished in 16th in the semi final and in 2019, D Mol with their song ‘Heaven‘ also finished in 16th place. Despite reports that Montenegro were hoping to expand their NF Montevizija, Montenegro ultimately decided to withdraw from Eurovision 2020 and 2021 due to financial issues.
2020s-Present Day
Montenegro finally returned to the contest in 2022 where Vladana was internally selected to sing her emotive ballad ‘Breathe‘ which was dedicated to her mum who she sadly lost due to Covid-19. Despite singing in English and Italian (the host nation’s national language) it ultimately wasn’t enough to qualify and she finished in 17th place scoring 33 points.
Montenegro as well as Bulgaria and North Macedonia withdrew from Eurovision 2023, once again citing financial issues. RTCG, Montenegro’s public broadcaster issued this statement:
“In addition to the significant costs of the registration fee, as well as the cost of staying in Great Britain – we also faced a lack of interest from sponsors, so we decided to direct existing resources to the financing of current and planned national projects and organizational and program reforms, which entail significant investment interventions in equipment and premises”
This was a great shame and pop star ENISA who took part in the American Song Contest with her song ‘Green Light‘ claimed that she had been asked to represent Montenegro in Liverpool with her song ‘OLÉ‘. In my opinion, this was a great upbeat pop song and a definite crowd-pleaser. I think if this was the entry, this had a lot of potential, could have been a Top 10 result, and may have given the nation their best ever Eurovision result yet.
Conclusion
Although they may have had a short history in terms of an independent Eurovision nation, they’ve never been afraid to be themselves and experiment with different genres, from Balkan ballads, rock, pop to hip hop/dubstep. Some countries don’t always experiment with the genres they send and I think a reason why Montenegro still gets a lot of love and respect from eurofans was how year after year, they always send something different. Only Montenegro could send a rock band one year, an upbeat dance number the next, and then a Balkan ballad the year after! Despite their long NQ record, Montenegro has always picked up a few points here and there, they’ve never finished last in a semi-final and the lowest they’ve ever scored is 20 points in 2012.
In my opinion, they’re a good Eurovision country and have sent lots of great songs and produced many memorable moments and no other country does Eurovision like Montenegro.
It has been confirmed that Montenegro will likely be making its return to Eurovision in 2025, and we can’t wait to welcome them back and see what they bring to Eurovision!
What’s your favourite Montenegrin entry? Let us know in the comments!
