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!

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AngieP
AngieP
5 years ago

No, not a fan. This song has nothing.

Alexander
Alexander
5 years ago

Full offense but the chorus has me feeling some kinda way, and it’s not a good one.

Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders, anyone?

Alex
Alex
5 years ago

Pitchy solos and cheesy lyrics do not a good entry make. Montenegro has a lot of work to do before Eurovision. I guess everyone really wanted to choose a song in English?

Miguel
Miguel
5 years ago

Expected but disappointing.
Andrea was Montenegro’s best hope of qualifying for the final. I’m shocked she came last in the televote.

Nikos
Nikos
5 years ago

Somebody sabotaged Andrea with that AWFUL staging (wtf was the point of that Lordi-inspired demon aggressively moving around. She could’ve taken Montenegro to its best result ever with that amazing song….But, instead it will be another disappointing year for Crna Gora :/

Elli
Elli
5 years ago

Oh God. They chose this over Andrea. smh

Geo
Geo
5 years ago

Awful song, it’s like they really want to stay in the semi. Well, there you have it!

ESCalator
ESCalator
5 years ago

This is so dated. Like 90s dated. :-/

Matthew
Matthew
5 years ago

The two men on the right had nice voices, but all the harmonies were uncomfortable, and the song is so basic and unmoving, and that staging didn’t work well at all, I know there’s budgets but it needed to be bigger, with them on different platforms. they just looked like they were standing in a line, because they were.

Rasmus
Rasmus
5 years ago

1. The studio public here seems NOT very intrested in the selecion at all. In Sweden the public screams,applauds and are more enthusiastic. 2.After Australia selected there are 9 places left for the fina in semi 1l so Montenegro are not out yet:)

Marv
Marv
5 years ago
Reply to  Rasmus

As if Australias is already guaranteed to make the final

zeev
zeev
5 years ago

good luck from tel aviv nice song

Ted
Ted
5 years ago

I found this boring. It doesn’t qualify for me. I know it’s only Feb, but where are the quality award winning worthy songs?

Tim
Tim
5 years ago

I like it. Best so far. 7/10

Henry
Henry
5 years ago

No final for sure, this is very bad.

DavidR
DavidR
5 years ago

The fact that Andrea came last with the televote tells a lot about this national final. I did not trust the credibility of last year’s Montenegrin NF and it looks even more suspicious this year. I really wish there were some EBU members checking the results in some of the national finals and they could fine the broadcasters in case of vote rigging/corruption. I mean this country have chosen its worst possible acts for Eurovision two years in a row, that’s just ridiculous.

Georgian
Georgian
5 years ago

Thanks, Montenegro. I already have a toilet break entry in first semi.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
5 years ago
Reply to  Georgian

Oh, boy…That bad, huh?

Nicolas
Nicolas
5 years ago

Can we please cancel ESC 2019.

Rasmus
Rasmus
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

haha what?

Idksmth
Idksmth
5 years ago
Reply to  Nicolas

Choices from every NF have been questionable. Let’s just hope that others will save this years show, because this ain’t it. I pray for the internally selected songs to be good. And the staging better bring everyones A-game.

Gurl
Gurl
5 years ago

Boyband song, so outdated

AndersP
AndersP
5 years ago

It’s like a Hear’say album track from about 20 years ago. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it – could be a qualifier.

T.J.
T.J.
5 years ago

You can‘t even blame the juries as people normally would do in this kind of case. XD

Eurovisionfan12
Eurovisionfan12
5 years ago

Idk what happened to Andrea, she didn’t receive any points from the public and only got 1 from international juries

ApricotStone
ApricotStone
5 years ago

Montenegro… You really chose this over our amazing queen Andrea Demirovic… Why

Ruby
Ruby
5 years ago

This song sounds a bit forgettable.

NickC
NickC
5 years ago

When someone wrote “we all know D Mill will win”, I thought come on… And here we are.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
5 years ago
Reply to  NickC

Yeah, someone wrote the same thing (before contest) on my Youtube page and I thought they were joking. XD

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
5 years ago

I wish Montenegro could go back to the old “Igranka” or “Adio” days… This song is just so bland, idk what to say.

HBau
HBau
5 years ago

Oh dear, that’s a shame.

Loin dici
Loin dici
5 years ago

Seeing the live, it’s a good start. The staging looks interesting and elaborate, and the harmonies were quite solid, but there are A LOT of homeworks needed to secure this entry.

We need No Name (their vocal coaches, of course) to vocally and mentally strengthen them (especially that one blonde girl), to give them a more elaborate choreography, and to reinstrumentate some of the parts. Otherwise, it would get stuck nowhere.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
5 years ago

Ugh…out of five songs, how do you manage to select the worst? Even the UK didn’t manage that this year.

Héctor
Héctor
5 years ago

Contender for the last place in its SF. It’s not that there were better entries though.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

HE ACCEPTED!

Loin dici
Loin dici
5 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

YAHOO!

La Signora
La Signora
5 years ago

Mahmood won and I want to say that I am so proud to be Italian right now 🙂

Skiwalko
5 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

You have a reason, great choice Italy!

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

Since Italy returned to Eurovision, all their entries are top-notch. You have all the reasons to be proud. 🙂

OohHoney
OohHoney
5 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

If he chooses not to go to Eurovision I will be heartbroken

Gin
Gin
5 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

Wonderful choice Italy, Mahmood was awesome! All of the songs were great, of course. I always enjoy Sanremo.

Ruby
Ruby
5 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

I’m proud too and I’m not even Italian.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
5 years ago

OH GUYS! Mahmood freaking won Sanremo, I’m so shocked and happy wtf

Eurovision fan since 2014
Eurovision fan since 2014
5 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

I’m shooketh, like really shooketh, I wonder if Ultimo was confused a little XD

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago

Can you blame him though, with almost half the televotes? Yet Mahmood is still my number 1 in Eurovision now, that’s how good Italy is.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago

It is an interesting song, musically. Not a typical Italian entry either, so this will stand out if it goes to Eurovision. (We still don’t know yet.)

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

He’s young and looks happy-go-lucky to me, I don’t think he’ll reject it.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

He just went national, now suddenly he can go international. Mahmood won’t refuse it.
He’ll have to change the lyrics though.

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago

Mahmood won Sanremo!

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

It should have been Ultimo, he won the televote by such a huge margin, if I read the number that were briefly shown correctly. However, as a Eurovision act, Mahmood is good as well.

Johnyu
Johnyu
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Okay. Finally a decent song. Spain can go down now.
1. Italy
The rest I don’t care.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

Mahmood won!!!!!!!!

GuyGuy
GuyGuy
5 years ago

It’s nice, but dated. Would have scored nicely if we were back in the 90’s..

Rona
Rona
5 years ago

And then these small countries say We can’t qualify because of politics, because we don’t have diaspora blah blah blah. In fact you can’t qualify because you KEEP making the WORST possible choices. I mean who is going to vote for THIS, Montenegro? For the love of God! *headache*

Johnyu
Johnyu
5 years ago

I can’t recover from Electric Fields losing and now this? I swear I will never follow any national selection anymore. It’s been so weak so far.

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago

Now they’re playing cards in Italy. I’ll die waiting for the results.

Bbb
Bbb
5 years ago

My tv has been on Rai1 for 7 hours straight… They are gonna do. It now

yom124
yom124
5 years ago

Look it’s a nice song with some nice harmonies, on the other hand, I think we know who is performing 2nd in the first semi

Ohi
Ohi
5 years ago

Ok so Montenegro won’t be qualifying this year. I do like it where they hear my heart crawling into their arse

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago

Ultimo, Il Volo and Mahmood are the 3 finalists in Sanremo.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Il Volo in the Top 3 makes me angry (and I guess the Ariston’s audience too).

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

Why though? I understand that the fan-favourite was Loredana; that’s obvious, but why blame Il Volo? Strange.
Also I find that reaction (by San Remo audience) to be very disrespectful to the artists, to be honest.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

Not blaming Il Volo, but the Il-Volettes.

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

They’re a solid act, but I was expecting Irama to make instead of them.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

3rd place yesss!!

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

The audience is furious. I’m actually not. Ultimo enchanted me this evening. Stunning performance. Actually all three finalists performed beautifully and looked like a million bucks.

Lourdes
Lourdes
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

So sad for Irama! But I’m loving all the Sanremo drama 😛

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Is the voting always this intransparent or do they reveal detailed results after the show?

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago

I don’t know when they publish the results, but we’ll be able to check them later, yes.

Eurovision fan since 2014
Eurovision fan since 2014
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

4th place, so close yet so far… Rooting for Mahmood, but each of them is good enough to entertain the audience in Tel Aviv. Guess the rank does not change rapidly in the second round of voting?

Eurovision fan since 2014
Eurovision fan since 2014
5 years ago

Oh dear Lord, he did it! Now I’m fulfilled! 🙂

Sabrina
Sabrina
5 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Simone got a prize for songwriting and I’m very happy for him. Those lyrics are brilliant.

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

Sanremo is under fire
Go Mahmood!!!

Bruno
Bruno
5 years ago

WTH? Montenegro, no final again this year, sorry….

Rasmus
Rasmus
5 years ago
Reply to  Bruno

i LOVE it:)

Joe
Joe
5 years ago

Eh

TOM
TOM
5 years ago

The worst ever.

bastian
bastian
5 years ago

Its not bad to be honest, i quite like it, but its so oldfashioned. I cant see this doing well. Andrea was amazing althought she should have ditched the dancer, what a creep!

Apple
Apple
5 years ago

y tho?

Miguel
Miguel
5 years ago

I miss KNEZ

Please bring him back and save us all

Gudrun
Gudrun
5 years ago

I was thinking what this song reminds me of and I just found it. Switzerland 2006!!! LOL. I remember people were saying how dated that song was in 2006 and now we have another one in 2019. xD Well, they will definitely watch the final show at home. :p This is so bad that it actually made me laugh in some parts of the song.

I miss their internal selections. At least they were sending some weird/interesting stuff. :p

lolspain
lolspain
5 years ago

And Albania keeps staying on my number 1 spot.
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