This photo is out — and the singer is in. On Saturday Montenegro’s broadcaster RTCG teased its Eurovision 2022 act with this black-and-white baby snap.
“This six-month-old baby has been dreaming of singing at the Eurovision Song Contest for a long time. This year they will represent Montenegro in Turin.”
RTCG will reveal the artist’s identity on Tuesday, January 4, during the broadcaster’s morning program. Stana Salgo, music editor of Radio Montenegro, will also reveal details about the work of the selection committee.
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Update: On January 2 the broadcaster teased us with a second clue.
Apparently the singer previously performed at Montevizija — the old national selection. But they may or may not have appeared as a competing act.
Montenegro’s @Eurovision entrant has already performed in #Montevizija. But was it in the competition part, or as an interval act…? Hm… 🤔
— Montenegro Eurovision (@Montevizija) January 2, 2022
.#montenegro #eurovision #esc2022 #guesswho pic.twitter.com/YJv97qs7om
Update #2: The Montevizija Twitter account has now revealed that the photograph is of a baby girl.
Their latest tweet shows the silhouette of a woman and uses the female pronoun her.
Is this going to be her first, or her second appearance in Eurovision? 🤔
— Montenegro Eurovision (@Montevizija) January 3, 2022
.#Montenegro #eurovision #esc2022 #guesswho #finalclue pic.twitter.com/vtN8LzHoqm
Montenegro opened submissions for their song selection at the end of October.
The requirements were largely the same as for the 2018 and 2019 contest, when selecting competing entries for the revamped national final Montevizija. However, RTCG confirmed they would not hold the national final this season.
Montenegro — one of the smallest countries in Europe — cast the net wide. The internal selection was open to songwriters from any country, and songwriters could each enter up to two entries. However, entries had to be made by someone who is a Montenegro citizen.
The usual Eurovision rules applied to singers. However, RTCG also reserved the right to suggest changes to the song and performers.
And again like the last two years, song entries had to be made anonymously. Entrants were required to submit a demo of their song on CD or USB in a “large envelope”. Inside that envelope, the entrant needed to insert a smaller sealed envelope with details of their identity and entry paperwork.
From there, an expert committee rated the songs on three criteria: composition (up to 50 points), lyrics (up to 30 points) and production potential (up to 20 points). This added up to a maximum of 100 points.
Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest
Ahead of the announcement, we wanted to learn a bit more about Montenegro’s long and varied history at the Eurovision Song Contest. So we sat down with former Head of Delegation Sabrija Vulić.
He’s seen it all. From the high of Knez and Sergej Cetkovic making the final to the pain of watching the jury keep Who See and Nina Zizzic out of the grand final, Sabrija spills the tea.
How hard was it to find artists for the former Montevizija national final? What behind-the-scenes dramas were difficult to overcome? We talk about all of this and more. The video premieres on Sunday.
Who do you think is in the photo? Who do you want it to be? Let us know down below!
Let’s make it longshot and say it’s Ksenija Knezevic on her own for Montenegro, in the background of female silhouette is Rotterdam stage , so maybe just maybe that is the hint , plus maybe she wanted to represent her own country like Sanja did, so don’t be surprised tomorrow.
I will say it’s Knez once again!
That has to be Tamara Vujacic from D-mol (Montenegro 2019)
I hope she has so much potential more then she ever had with D Mol
would be great but d-mol members were born in early 2000s, this is older picture
I think it’s just a poor quality picture, or they’ve added a filter to it for effect?
Oh, surely Vladana Vucinic then!
Okay any guesses so far? Assuming the silhouette is of the artist, we know her body type and approximate length of hair. It’d be possible to know for sure right now.
Edit: of all the Female MV participants, the biggest similarity with the silhouette would perhaps go to Katarina Bogi?evi? but that’s just eyeballing
It’s Andrea Demirovic you guys
That was my guess!
People kept on downvoting me, when I wrote it here (way before RTCG announced it’s a girl), it’s always been a girl, no boy. People who downvoted me like crazy should write an apology to me. #GenderAwareness
The caption did say it was a boy. Maybe you should take this up with the author of the article.
You get a downvote for using a hashtag unironically.
It was the condescending tone of your comment and unnecessary hashtag for me. The question itself wasn’t bad since we weren’t sure where the notion of the person being a male came from. Just try to word your comment a little differently next time then maybe people will listen.
To be fair the article said it was a boy
It’s a female singer, confirmed by Montevizija. I wasn’t a boy in the picture.
With the last hint they anounced it is a female performer so we were all wrong with our guesses lol
I think is Eldar Gasimov but… This man is not from Montenegro, it would take a real Montenegrin!
If it’s Montenegro I hope it’s an ethnic ballad because those have been their best songs.
I really want a Slavko Kalezic redemption at Eurovision. I hope RTCG consider him again in the future. All Slavko needs is a well-produced Balkan club banger with overly camp staging and he could easily achieve Montenegro’s best result. ‘Space’ was too outdated and lacked the *oomph* needed to qualify in 2017.
“Space” was amazing. It wasn’t outdated and brought the Eurovision weirdness back, which was essential. Basically a troll act, but not very trolly. Slavko is talented and handsome, and he’s also humble.
Who said, that this picture shows a baby-boy ……that is the amazing Vladana (born in 1986). She is a Montenegrin pop/rock singer and songwriter with Macedonian roots.
RTCG referred to the baby as ‘he’.
Could be a translation error, because recently RTCG confirmed the artist is a girl.
They never wrote ‘he’.
I am going out on a limb and say it is Dado Polumenta 😛
I Reckon it could be Zeljko Vukcevic from D Mol.
What a fun tease. I’ve no idea other than to say it looks like that picture might have been taken in the 70s
If you look at the clothes though it looks very 90’s. Colour film was expensive, up to say mid 1990’s. And especially in Balkan/Former Yugoslavia it was luxury. So it could be a young performer which I think it is..
Snippet of Vasilije’s song is on youtube tho
I don’t care what anyone says… that baby picture is Marija Serifovic!!! Haha
Montenegrin has nouns changing in cases, so it’s – Nominative (who or what?) – Ovo je Crna Gora. – That is Montenegro. Genitive (of whom or of what?) – Zastava Crne Gore. – The flag of Montenegro. Dative (to whom or to what?) – Prilazim Crnoj Gori. – I am approaching Montenegro. Accusative (whom or what?) – Vidim Crnu Goru. – I see Montenegro. Vocative (oh, you!!) – O, Crna Goro! – Oh, Montenegro! Locative (in / about / on whom or what?) – Pricam o Crnoj Gori. – I talk about Montenegro. Intrumental (with whom or with what?) –… Read more »
Yes. The changes are different based on gender (male / female / neutral) and singular / plural. For instance, a country like Portugal, which is in a male gender form, would have the same sentences as following: N. Ovo je Portugal. G. Zastava Portugala. D. Prilazim Portugalu. A. Vidim Portugal. V. O, Portugal(u)! (both can be heard) L. Pricam o Portugalu. I. Prolazim Portugalom. PS. Most countries in Croatian / Serbian / Bosnian / Montenegrin are in a female gender form, with most of the exceptions in a male form being Island, Portugal, Izrael, Monako, Luksemburg, Lihtenštajn, Japan, Chile, Brazil,… Read more »
The cases are, I’d say, the most tricky part of the languages, and a lot of times, even the native speakers make mistakes in a casual written form (Facebook posts, messages or Tweets). Adjectives, and also some verbs follow the change of the noun in gender and number, so that can be tricky as well. But at least the pronunciation is rather easy, once you get the gist, as there are no silent letters, no double letters, and every letter is pronounced more or less in the exact same way no matter where it’s positioned or next to what other… Read more »
Disclaimer: While the languages are around 98-99% the same, keep in mind that this is like if an Irishman explained how to communicate in Canada. You’ll get the vast majority of it, but I assume there are some details someone from Montenegro could explain even better (even if I’m fairly positive that all of these grammar rules apply to all four languages (Serbian would be in Cyrillic, though). 🙂 For the most part, the differences are in the usage of ije/je/e when it comes to some words, but in most cases, both Croatian and Montenegrin use ”ije” while Serbian prefers… Read more »
Learning Cyrillic was actually a norm throughout Yugoslavia, so people over 50 are far more likely to inherently know it. When I was in Belgrade, it was interesting, as I understood everything, but took some time to read it. Same as in Beovizija. In most other NFs, I can read everything, but I don’t understand what they say. In Beovizija, it was the opposite. But yeah, after a few days, letters start to click. Still, it would take me much slower to read the title in Serbian. So slow that I couldn’t do it as fast as the subtitles on… Read more »
That must be cool! 🙂 I love how sports and music bring people together. 🙂
Such a cute baby
It’s tamara vujacic the representative of Montenegro in 2019 with the band heaven
D-Mol*
Heaven was their song.
Oh, I know him! It’s Babyface with his song Boo-Boo, Ga-Ga. Gonna be a banger!
I hope so. “Everytime I Close My Eyes” is a baaahp.
“Girl, it’s been a long, long time comin’ yes it has
But I, I know that it’s been worth the wait yeah
Yeah
It feels like springtime in winter
It feels like Christmas in June
It feels like heaven has opened up its gates for me and you yeah“
I think it’s Knez or Zeljko Joksimovic!
That’s a picture of Knez, taken about three weeks ago. He underwent a couple more facelifts. You’re welcome.
Its Vladana Vu?ini?
Hope it’s not Bill Bailey or Gemma Collins
Donald Trump is a singer? WOW!
Isak Sabanovic?
Clearly it’s Flo Rida!
Are there no female singers in Montenegro? Are they banned from participating in Eurovision?
It’s like Albania, where “the men are banned” from participating
Anyone know if the song will also be released on the 4th? Or is it just the artist?
It is Isak Šabanovi?. He was a big favourite in the last season of Zvezde Granda – biggest show in Ex-Yu – with his raspy rock voice
I can not be the only one who thinks that leaking a baby photo kind of creepy is right?
They most likely got the artist’s consent before posting it
I agree. In my opinion, it’s entirely creepy and inappropriate for the ESC selection.
Because…..?
If the artist consented, it shouldn’t be the case.
good his desicion
sorry for off top, but there is news about Vidbir, one song ‘Casino’ is already out on YouTube, its from Sophia Ivanko from jesc2018 and second will be realised in few days from Eria (Vilna from Vidbir 2018)
please wiwi team post an article about Ukrainian NS, thanks
Eria’ song called ‘Mavka’ and it will be out in 2 days
also there is a rumor that both Tayanna and Khayat are coming back to Vidbir this year
I also heard Art Demur applied to Vidbir and is auditioning for the San Marino selection, he was one of the 2017 stand-ins (most notably doing the initial stand-in performance for Portugal) and was one of Nathan Trent’s backing singers
I wonder what would happen if he gets accepted to both the Ukrainian and San Marino selections? Would he have to withdraw from one? Probably prioritize his own home country.
They’ll post an article when they go it but fair game if other ESC fan media got to report it first.
I also believe it’s Isak
I followed the competition he participated in together with one of the RTS competitors Zorja and he has a strong stage presence but idk if he is yet ready for esc but yeah worth a shot!
Isak Šabanovi
It’s Isak Šabanovi? 100%
Dado Polumenta???
As Bosnian I am quite sure that it is Ishak Sabanovic. Just look at the shape of the forehead of baby and then look at his face. There’s no difference. Also, he is rock singer, so it all makes sense.
Checked the person in question pics. Sounds extra credible
for me he is him, the forehead is very similar
Actually it could also be Damir Polumenta. It’s definetly one of them, but since Ishak is rock singer and the other singer never mentioned Eurovision in any context it’s most likely him.
Isak Šabanovi? ???
How do you all know it’s a boy??? #GenderAwareness
Because it says so under the caption
On RTCG page (link can be found in this article) they (the Broadcaster) don’t specify gender. Exact Reading is tough, I know.
I was right, it’s a girl! If only I had a middle finger for all the downvoters!!!
You’re still on time to say this is bait
It’s a black and white photo so I’m guessing the photo is from the 1980s or the early 1990s and the singer is someone who is currently older than the average Eurovision participant (who is usually in their 20s). Perhaps it’s someone who is currently in their 30s or 40s (unless the color of the photo is actually a filter).
You do realise they had colour photos in the 80s and 90s?!
Color film were expensive until well into the 1990’s.
This is quite unusual way to announce your artist, but What a cute baby picture. I don’t know if this is somebody who’s returning to the contest or it’s somebody new, but I guess we’ll have to find out on the fourth.
It’s definitely not going to be Vasilije Ojdanic, we’ve heard nothing out of him since 2018 when he tried to submit multiple songs to 1in360 (only to fail with them all) and then lied about having an injury to his vocal cords rendering him never to sing again but still managed to submit songs to the Slovenian selection. I’m of the opinion he ended his short-lived music career after all that given all the lies and deception he was caught in
Kinda makes me think about knez which wouldn’t be strange since he achieved one of their best results. Just wondering if they put a filter over the photo.
I think that it might be Deen who sang for Bosnia in 2004 and 2016
He now works as a fashion designer and lives in US so probably not:)
Plus he is in his forties now and the picture looks like someone born in the 90s
Thank you so very much for telling me I didn’t know he was doing that now
from the photo it looks like a male born in the 90s because those horizontal strips were very popular in that decade, perhaps of Roma or Gypsy origins