Montenegro: D-Moll wins Montevizija 2019 with “Heaven”

Eurovision season is well underway with entries being chosen left right and centre. Tonight was the turn of Montenegro to select their representative for Tel Aviv through their national selection show Montevizija. There was pop, there was soul and there was passion, but ultimately only one could prevail and that was D-Moll with the song “Heaven”.

Arranged as a series of notes along a music score, D-Moll showcased what their group is all about: harmonies.  Utilising a plethora of camera angles to show of their staging, the group served confidence and attitude during their performance.  They were memorable and impactful, which definitely helped them connect with both the televoters and the jury members.

Breakdown of the show

The show opened with a medley of former Montenegrin entries including (“Inje”, “Moj Svijet”, “Zauvijek Moja” and finally “Adio”) performed by local choir Kic Pop Hor. Subsequently, the three hosts were introduced to us: Ajda Sufta and Ivan Maksimovic hosted the main show while Andrea Lekic took the reigns of the green room.

Montevizija, like last year, was to be compact with five entries competing in the selection. Opening the contest were the only group in the competition D-Moll and wrapping everything up was 2018 returnee Nina Petkovic. It was a show worthy of the name with two intense rounds of voting and a special performance from Balkan megastar Hari Mata Hari. This year, however, producers of Montevizija fiddled with the formatting of the show.  Instead of a three-song super-final, only two would make the cut this year. The decision on which lucky two would advance would be made by a combination of four separate scores:

1. Televoting
2. Radio Jury
3. International Jury
4. Jury of Montenegrin artists

The international jury was announced by Montenegro’s national broadcaster (RTCG) before the show took place and consisted of many well-known names in the Eurovision bubble.

1. Ruslana – Eurovision 2004 winner (Ukraine)
2. Eldar Gasimov – Eurovision 2011 winner and 2012 host (Azerbaijan)
3. Lea Sirk – Slovene representative at Eurovision 2018
4. Andras Kallay-Saunders – Hungarian entrant for Eurovision 2014
5. Ira Losco – Two time Maltese representative at Eurovision 2002 and 2016
6. Jovan Radomir – Television presenter for SVT (Sweden)

Subsequent to first round of voting, the two super-finalists took to the stage once again to perform their entries.  This time, only the Montenegrin public would have a say in the final result – no juries, no wildcards, just a simple televote.

And the winner is…

Once all five acts had performed their numbers, the lines were opened for Montenegrins to cast their votes.  Voting time lasted for 25 minutes, during which we met the six international jurors and were treated to a guest performance by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Hari Mata Hari.

After the first round of results had been finalised, each of the four voting departments allocated 1, 2, 3 and 5 points to the acts of their choice. The two acts who received the most amount of points from all four areas would advance to the next round of the competition.

The total scores from the televotes and the three juries were combined and it was revealed that D-Moll with the song “Heaven” along with Ivana Popovic-Martinovic and her number “Nevinost” advanced to the super-final.

D-Moll won the first round of the vote receiving 17 points in total as well as top marks from three out of the four juries.  Second place was taken by Ivana Popvic-Martinovic who was awarded 12 points in total including top marks from the Montenegrin artists jury. Shockingly, Montenegro’s 2009 entrant, Andrea Demirovic, failed to advance to the final after receiving zero points from the televoting.  Nevertheless, the super-final was set: D-Moll against Ivana Popovic Martinovic.

The two acts then performed their songs once again, which was then followed by a second round of voting lasting for 15 minutes and consisted solely of a televote.  Once all the votes had been counted, D-Moll and Ivana were brought back on stage where, after a brief lottery, the final results were announced.  There was the usual dramatic pause but ultimately the hosts revealed that D-Moll had clinched the win with 62.1% of the televote.

Montenegro at Eurovision

Montenegro has had a rather checkered history at the Eurovision Song Contest.  Their debut came in 2007, however, the Balkan nation had to wait until 2014 until they would make the final for the first time.  They have sent pretty much every kind of genre to the contest – rap, rock, pop, ballad you name it. Once again though, Montenegro have managed to find a gap in their repertoire of genres as D-Moll’s a cappella-esque number is definitely something original for the country.

To conclude, Montenegro becomes the seventh country to have chosen their entry for the competition.  Are you pleased with the victor of Montevizija 2019? Do you think the mountain republic will improve upon their result from last year? Let us know your opinion down in the comments below!