Update at 17:00 Montenegro time on 2 December: At the end of the working day on Monday, the Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG released a statement on social media saying that “no hasty decision will be made.” It said:
“RTCG and UEUI requested the opinion of the European Broadcasting Union — the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest — about whether NeonoeN in the newly created circumstances fulfills conditions for performing in Basel next year.”
“We want MONTESONG to remain a symbol of transparency and quality, in accordance with Eurovision rules. All decisions will be made in cooperation with the EBU. There will be no hasty decisions. That’s why it is important that everyone show patience and understanding at this moment.”
“The Podgorica rockers have confirmed last year’s song performance. They said: ‘We were not aware that a performance before September 1 was against the competition rules. We will respect every decision of the organisers and the EBU!”
Stay tuned..
Our original post remains in tact below:
You’ve got to hand it to Montenegro. Not only have they given Eurovision fans the first confirmed song of the 2025 cycle. They’ve also given us the first potential disqualification.
As you’ll all have heard by now, footage has emerged of NeonoeN performing “Clickbait” at the Zabjelo Culture Festival in 2023. That violates the EBU’s well-known “September 1” rule, which reads:
“The songs (lyrics and music compositions) submitted to represent the country of each Participating Broadcaster’s country in the ESC must be original and must not have been released and/or publicly performed in part or in full before 1 September 2024 (the “Release Date”).
Understandably, the Montenegrin broadcaster wants to address the issue directly, so they shared a statement on social media explaining that they’re looking into the matter.
“RTCG and UEUI are verifying the authenticity of the recording, which suggests the winners of this year’s MONTESONG festival, NeonoeN, performed the song Clickbait in a different version at last year’s Zabjelo Culture Festival…
FINAL DECISION TOMORROW
A decision on potential disqualification will be made tomorrow, December 2, after consultation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Will NeonoeN’s “Clickbait” be disqualified from Eurovision 2025 over previous performance?
Several Eurovision acts have come under scrutiny in the past for performing a version of their song prior to September 1. Among them are Ladaniva and Aiko from Eurovision 2024; Duncan Laurence, winner of Eurovision 2019; Anja Nissen from Eurovision 2017; and, most famously, Jamala, the winner of Eurovision 2016.
At the time of clearing Jamala to perform, the EBU released the following statement. It stressed that she had not received any unfair advantage. You can definitely apply that logic to NeonoeN, as the Zabjelo Music Festival isn’t exactly Glastonbury, is it? I’m going to assume most of the attendees were from Montenegro…and it’s not like they can vote for Montenegro at Eurovision anyway!
Statement on performance of Ukraine’s winning Eurovision Song Contest song before September 1 deadline
“The Eurovision Song Contest rule (1.2.1a) which states that entries must not have been commercially released before September 1 exists to make sure that the Contest can welcome new compositions each year, and that every song can compete on a level playing field. The purpose of the rule is to prevent wide distribution of any song that might give it an unfair advantage in the competition the following May.
In the past, songs that had been publicly available before the deadline, but had not been accessible by a wide audience, had been granted permission to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest by the Reference Group.
In the case of Jamala’s “1944” the EBU’s attention has been drawn, after the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, to a public performance of an earlier version of the song in May 2015.
The video of a small concert had only been viewed by a few hundred people before it was discovered in the past few days.
The EBU, based on previous decisions in the Reference Group, therefore has concluded that the published video did not give Jamala’s song any unfair advantage in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest and the song was eligible to compete.”
NeonoeN responds to disqualification threat
You can read the band’s full statement below.
“We would like to point out that the song has not been published, commercially or otherwise exploited and that it could not have had a competitive advantage in the competition, and therefore the victory on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. was fully deserved. The public heard the song at the moment when the other songs participating in this year’s Montesong were also published. If it had not won, this would not have been talked about, just as it was not talked about during the entire time the song was officially available to the public.
Whatever the decision regarding our victory, we will respect it and either represent Montenegro worthily or wish all the best to whoever will eventually represent us at Eurovision 🙂
Until yesterday, few people even knew we existed. Especially in our live performances where we played our original music mostly for a small circle of people in almost empty spaces. Suddenly, the problem is that somewhere, sometime in front of 20 people, we played a part of a song in the making, in one of its working versions 🙂 We wonder if any of the audience even remembered hearing it, and especially if that’s why they decided to vote for us at the Montesong festival almost two years later??? That’s Rock ‘n’ roll :)) But, as we’ve been saying from the beginning – our goal is actually to play the music we create and to expand the possibility of its distribution…
In the past, songs that were performed at small events before September 1 were allowed to compete due to no competitive advantage.
However, some have also been disqualified.
It is all a judgement call by the EBU if the entry has an advantage over other participating songs.”
Am I becoming too old? We’ve witnessed this situation like every single year since jamala – 1944. The EBU is totally cool with it. Doesnt give a single care unless you upload an official music video with millions of views.
People misinterpret this rule. It’s to stop an already big familiar hit from being selected.
Some unknown indy band performing it once at a closed doors live concert is not the same thing.
So the secret of the song “Clickbait” is that it’s… actual clickbait. That’s genius.
To be honest, I am not sure who is the bigger idiot in this situation. NeonoeN for not understanding the terms of the competition with their song, or the broadcaster for not doing enough due diligence to make sure the song was eligible in the first place.
Jamala was not disqualified in 2016. There is no ground to disqualify them. Moving on
Oh sweet Jesus! First song and there’s already drama. Sawry, just too gay lmao!
What part of that simple rule they do not understand?
I mean, if there’s evidence, I’d say they are pretty f*****.
Whether it does or it doesn’t, the song at least SHOULD be disqualified based on the EBU’s rules that have been set. The band can just rewrite the song or create a new one. However, if this is not the case, which is looking like it likely is, it would be a MASSIVE disappointment because it would show us that for another year in a row, the EBU have failed to follow their own rules. Last year, they had the problem with the ‘No politics’ rule that is very clearly stated in their own ruleset, as were Ukraine the two… Read more »
It would depend. I think France’s song in 2017 almost got hit with the September 1st rule, but a small revamp introducing English lyrics cured the concern. Neonoen already expressed interest in a revamp, so likely the festival performance will be disregarded on the condition that the new version is sufficiently lyrically/musically different when it comes out. It wasnt available for download or anything so I suspect they will get a pass.
many acts have done this before so i dont see a problem with it
Remember when Brooke had performed her whole song on her instagram (and it stayed up the whole time) many months before the artists were allowed to release their songs? Or when Jamala performed 1944 publicly to a live audience before she was supposed to? Aiko and Riley also had publicly performed and released their songs before they were supposed to. It would be so hypocritical of the EBU to not let NeonoeN go to Eurovision.
In theory, they SHOULD absolutely be disqualified. The rules of Eurovision on this matter are VERY clear. In addiition, Montesong have a similar rule and Neonoens performing at Zabjelo Music Festival (which isnt a small festival) COULD have affected the televote result in that competition. In most likelihood, Montesong will be stricter with that rule as many NFs have been. In regards to other recent examples like Jamala and Denmark’s 2023 representative performing earlier thana the 1st of September, it really shows the EBU’s hypocracy as of late that they cannot even follow their own rules. There are several options… Read more »
Probably nothing’s going to happen, but this is still hilarious that we only have one entry and already have Eurodrama XD I love this contest
If they stated that they will revamp the songs and include english lyrics then there’s no reason to disqualify them right…? Certainly that would be the case cus France’s Alma encountered this issue and had to revamp her song Requiem in 2017.
Naaa imo they won’t be disqualified, because even if they performed in this festival, it won’t give them an advantage in Eurovision compared to the others participants, and because they didn’t perform the final version of the song moreover they are going to revamp it and add english so. The same happened with Jamala in 2016 and Alma in 2017, and no disqualifications.
Well maybe they won’t have advantage in Eurovision from that, but they certainly did in Montenegro making it unfair for other Montesong participants.
Doubtful, these things seem to happen every year
Doubt it, Duncan Laurence performed Arcade before September 1st and went on to win, so I really don’t see anything happening.
Probably not! As usual with ESC drama for nothing…