Montenegro are returning to Eurovision after a hiatus. The Balkan nation has only ever qualified twice for the grand final and they are looking for a third admission this year. The singer tasked with achieving that is Vladana, who will perform the song “Breathe” in Turin at Eurovision 2022.
Scroll down to read the “Breathe” lyrics
Montenegro in Eurovision 2022: Vladana “Breathe”
Vladana — full name Vladana Vucinic — is a Montenegrin singer-songwriter. Born in Podgorica, she has extensive musical training and released her first single back in 2003. The experienced and talented vocalist was internally selected to represent Montenegro at Eurovision 2022.
“Breathe” was written by Vladana, alongside North Macedonian songwriter Darko Dimitrov. Dimitrov has been involved in a number of Eurovision entries from North Macedonia and neighbouring countries, most notably Tamara Todevska’s “Proud”, which won the jury vote at Eurovision 2019.
What do the “Breathe” lyrics means?
The lyrics of “Breathe” are deeply personal, painful and melancholic. The opening line, “The pain will go away, they say”, sets the tone in this manner. These are raw feelings for Vladana and she implies that people are wrong to assume that pain will simply fade.
Vladana offers a visual representation of her pain, singing, “You’ll keep the things to feel their smell”. We are given an intimate look into Vladana’s pain and this is a pain which is not going to vanish overnight. “Nothing feels the same,” Vladana tells us, saying that “the fear won’t leave you anyway”.
The chorus is in equal parts pleading and powerful. Vladana tells us that “the air is what they need, the air is what they breathe”, exploring the battle for each and every breath. This is a battle that those who have lost loved ones through the pandemic are likely to be able to relate to, with the message ringing true in the Balkans and beyond.
Vladana says that “they’ll die without it, it’s unforgivable”, suggesting that depriving them of that oxygen is the most heinous of crimes. There is blame to be attributed and Vladana is calling out those who are responsible for her loss. These lyrics are packed with a multitude of emotion, detailing her anguish over her loss as well as her fury at those she deems responsible.
Vladana chants “breathe, breathe” at one stage, perhaps imploring those she has lost to keep fighting for every breath, as well as emphasising how difficult that can be for someone in that situation. The air most of us take for granted can be a battle for some.
“Breathe” lyrics — Vladana (Montenegro Eurovision 2022)
Written and composed by: Vladana Vucinic and Darko Dimitrov
Breathe
The pain will go away, they say
And the clouds fall
You’ll keep the things to feel their smell
Just to make you warm
No, nothing feels the same
The fear won’t leave you anyway
The battle for the life
Is bigger than you know
To act so selfishly is unforgivable
The air is what they need
Air is what they breathe
They’ll die without it
It’s unforgivable
Breathe, breathe
Fight for your life
Breathe, breathe
Go to sleep and dream that we
We will be reborn
Our souls will find themselves again
In the sweat of the storm
No, nothing feels the same
The fear won’t leave you anyway
The battle for the life
Is bigger than you know
To act so selfishly is unforgivable
The air is what they need
The air is what they breathe
They’ll die without it
It’s unforgivable
The air is what they need
The air is what they breathe
They’ll die without it
It’s unforgivable
Unforgivable, forgivable
Nothing will feel the same
Unforgivable, forgivable
We can’t lose them
Have to save them
It’s unforgivable
Breathe, breathe
Fight for your life
You better breathe
The air is what they need
The air is what they breathe
They’ll die without it
It’s unforgivable
Breathe
What do you think of Vladana’s “Breathe” lyrics? Can Vladana take Montenegro to another grand final? Let us know in the comments below.
This lyrics are horrible… They dont make any sense, it is just a bunch of words put together… Why is it that they need to explain ‘the message’ of the song? A good song lyric wise is the one no one needs to explain. Take Montenegro’s 2015 (i think) Adio… Just beautiful. No need for weird explanations. Do you really thing the writer of the song was thinking of making sense when writing this? He/she was just using some words that might sound deep ‘breath, they need to breath, fight for your life, the battle for the life is bigger… Read more »
I don’t find the song deep at all, nor the explanation weird. In fact, I’d say it’s a quite straightforward song, even literal at places? Wiwibloggs just post these explanation articles for the lyrics of all the songs, no matter how obvious and simple are messages of some of them. For me it seems to lie pretty much at the surface that the lyrics of Breath represent stages of grief (albeit not in the order they are usually said to come, but it has already been proven they can come in a different order to different people): “We can’t lose… Read more »
Absolutely one of the best lyrics of this year for me. I can deeply relate to these feelings, especially the part about selfishness and the epiphoric refrain “unforgivable”. Makes me feel similar to how “Voy a quedarme” were making me feel last year. I bloody hate Covid with all my heart and still didn’t fully get over the fact that nobody will ever get punished for millions of deaths, people who could otherwise live some happy years more with their families. Especially disabled people who got hit the first and the most. Also people who were dying in the outdated… Read more »
i more or less knew what this song was about, and reading this analysis confirms my opinion on it. it’s basically about aggressive treament which is going to split opinions, and mine is against it. the overall execution is poor – they chose a lot of words with little musicality, often with more syllables than there should be, and the result is a song that doesn’t flow nicely.
It’s not relaxing for you, maybe you’ll like average songs like Portugal and Cyprus.
When it was first released, I was thinking “safe qualification for Montenegro this year”.
Well, not anymore. I want them in, but SF2 is strong and she struggles with some parts of the song. Plus Montenegro isn’t famous for qualifying with ease generally.