Montenegrin boy band Highway have revealed that their Eurovision song will be performed in English. In a recent interview, Highway member Marko Pesic said the group had recorded a demo, and that the song will feature all four members singing.
After taking a break for the holidays, Highway will continue to work on their song for Stockholm. Pesic says the song demo has received positive feedback, and that the song “wins the audience at first listen”.
We already know that the entry will be a modern rock, but following on from our recent chat with the band, Pesci also confirmed that the song would be released at the end of February or beginning of March, and that it would be presented in a special programme.
Montengro in English
Highway are not known for performing in English, with their debut single and most of their X Factor Adria performances being in Montenegrin. The group did, however, perform two songs in English on the talent show – Aloe Blacc’s “I Need a Dollar” and the Arctic Monkeys “Do I Wanna Know”.
https://youtu.be/GpZ2_iOYiho
New band member Bojan Jovovic, also performed in Montenegrin as part of the group No Name who represented Serbia and Montenegro at Eurovision in 2005.
In recent years, Montenegro has sent songs in Montenegrin – a variant of the Serbo-Croatian language that can be easily understood across the Balkans. In fact, the two times Montenegro has qualified for the final has been with Montenegrin lyrics.
The last English-language song Montenegro sent was the avant garde experimental free jazz electro rap “Euro Neuro” by Rambo Amadeus. It placed 15th in its semi-final.
Is singing in English a good move for Highway? Or should they stick with Montengrin? Share your thoughts below.
However, they will have support from Ex-Yu countries and Albania. From Serbia 12 points, for sure đ
I don’t see Montenegro doing well now… They perform better when they sing in Montenegrin…
Nope. Just nope. Montenegro has been in my top 10 for two consecutive years, count them out of my top 10 this year.
Amazing! Good luck Montenegro, good luck Highway! đ
I heard too that the creation of the song was in 1994.
I honestly have very low expectations for this. I didn’t like them on X Factor Adria and the fact they’re singing in English over Montenegrin (which has proven to be extremely successful in the contest) is not making me feel more confident. I guess we’ll have to wait for the song before we can fully judge but oh well.
I am actually casually optimistic about this decision. Rock song sung in original Balkan language has proven to not be a winning concept. It rarely, to say never works.
Balkan language work if the song is a ballad. Then it is an advantage. For everything else not so much. English could potentially help Highway to qualify.
Definitely disappointed, but well.
Their only hope of qualifying was from singing in a language different from English to make them stand out… But now they’ve kind of fucked up their chances….
@mad-professor
My point is of course that you enter a song in the language which you think can be most successful… it’s a competition, you want to win. Apart from the fact that Anglophone pop music dominates the charts almost everywhere, and some artists can’t even write proper songs in their own language.
Well, considering that Montenegro have so far only qualified with ballads in their national language (one of which being a Ćœeljko song) and their song set to be the polar opposite (a rock song in English), and that based on their performances on X Factor Adria in English, my hopes for Montenegro making it their third final in a row are extremely low. I just don’t see a rock song of Highway’s calibre doing well at Eurovision. There is a history of rock songs doing bad at Eurovision (See Albania 2013, Slovakia 2012, Finland 2015, etc.) and I don’t see… Read more »
? final in 2014,
Left hand side of sb = 2015
????10 = 2016= ??
????????
Shame..
@dutchie
Seeing as Australia has only competed once, it’s not like they have a track record of entering songs in English.
Final? Could be!
Winner? Hmm…
Can I just say how much I want Igranka back?
@escaus
Well, then it’s time for Australia to enter a song in an Aboriginal language and see how far they come…
Maybe if their English was impeccable but even then… Knez’s performance was so touching last year and I remember watching it in Australia with the English subtitles it just fit. It’s sad that most countries sing in English now when there are so many beautiful languages and cultures not being displayed. The commentators here in Australia always look down upon people singing in English and heavily praise those who sing in their own language because it seems cheap to sing in English and fake, supporting the idea that Eurovision is a joke ( as most people here think ). Good… Read more »
I may not understand Montenegrin but this band mother tongue is Montenegrin and they are good on it. They can express a song with emotions/feeling, the beauty of their own language put life to their musics, and if they will sang in English gosh its suicidal. See that X actor performance as if they are not singing at all but reading in impromptu.
FFS WHY, OUR LANGUAGE IS SO BEAUTIFUL WHY USE ENGLISH FFS
As a Montenegrian I’m truly disappointed with this decision đ
Still I wouldn’t count them out tho, we still have to hear the song.
Well we know one country that won’t make the final…