After a two-year absence from Eurovision, 32 songs have been submitted for Montesong, Montenegro’s national selection set to take place on November 27th.
Montenegro’s national broadcaster, RTCG, has disclosed that 32 songs have been submitted for the Montesong Festival, which will serve as Montenegro’s official national selection for Eurovision 2025. The event, set to take place at the Vučo Sports Hall in Podgorica, aims to choose the representative Montenegro will send to Basel after a two-year hiatus from the competition.
Key Details of Montesong 2024
Montenegro confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2025 on August 7, 2024, and opened the registration window for the festival on September 5. Although the registration window officially closed on October 1, festival organizers allowed a few additional days for song submissions arriving by mail. In total, 32 songs were received, from which the professional committee will select 16 finalists. The names of the songs and artists will be revealed on October 10, with the songs to be released on November 1.
Festival Management Emphasizes Open Participation and Local Talent
Festival manager Danijel Alibabić stated that all artists submitted songs on their own initiative: “No one was specially invited to participate in Montesong, and it is not possible to invite someone to represent Montenegro at Eurovision without participating in the festival.” Artistic director Vladana Vučinić, who represented Montenegro at Eurovision 2022, added: “The submitted songs represent a wide cross-section of the local music scene. Later, we will be able to determine if there is a basis to continue the competition in future years.”
Changes in Festival Format and Selection Process
About three weeks ago, Montenegro’s national broadcaster published the dates and rules of the festival. However, last week a decision was made to hold the festival on a single evening, rather than over two evenings as originally planned. The event will take place on November 27, 2024, and the winner will be determined through a combination of 50% jury voting and 50% public voting.
Participants will have the opportunity to improve their song arrangements until November 1, when the songs will be published on the festival’s YouTube channel. On the day of the competition, the songs will be performed live at the Vučo Sports Hall in Podgorica.
Montenegro in Eurovision 2022
“Breathe” is the name of the song performed by singer Vladana, who represented Montenegro in the second semi-final of Eurovision 2022. The song was written by Vladana herself along with Darko Dimitrov, who has composed 11 songs for the competition over the years for Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro. Dimitrov’s most successful entry is “Proud,” which represented North Macedonia in Eurovision 2019 and reached seventh place. “Breathe” was performed in English and Italian and was dedicated to Vladana’s mother, who had passed away a year earlier from COVID-19. Vladana only reached 17th place (second to last) in the second semi-final with just 33 points. This is one of the most disappointing results Montenegro has experienced in the competition.
Source: RTCG.me
Eurovision 2025: This will be Montenegro’s 13th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Montenegro joined the competition in 2007 and achieved its best result in Eurovision Song Contest 2015 when singer Knez reached 13th place with the song “Adio”.
