Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019


Montenegro participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel with the song "Heaven" performed by D mol. The group won the national final Montevizija 2019, where they were credited as D-Moll. The spelling of their name was later changed to D mol.

Background

Prior to the 2019 Contest, Montenegro had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent nation ten times since its first entry in its own right in. The nation's best placing in the contest was thirteenth, which they achieved in 2015 with the song "Adio" performed by Knez. In, Montenegro qualified to the final for the first time since they began participating and have since featured in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest two times up to this point. The nation briefly withdrew from the competition between 2010 and 2011 citing financial difficulties as the reason for their absence. In 2007 and 2008, the Montenegrin entry was selected via the national final MontenegroSong. Since 2009, the broadcaster had opted to internally select both the artist and song that would represent Montenegro. For the selection of the 2018 entry, RTCG, the national broadcaster, opted to return to a national final format.
In 2018, Montenegro failed to qualify to the final, placing 16th in the second semi-final with the song "Inje" performed by Vanja Radovanović.

Before Eurovision

''Montevizija 2019''

Montevizija 2019 is the national final organised by RTCG to select Montenegro's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

Competing entries

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their song entries from 28 October 2018 to 28 November 2018. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries. Songs must be performed in either one of the country’s native languages or in English. RTCG received 27 entries. A five-member jury panel evaluated the 27 submitted entries, with the submission being marked against a number of criteria and shortlisted five entries which will take part in the second round of the selection. The jury panel that shortlisted the finalists consisted of:
The five finalists were announced on 18 December 2018.

Final

Five entries competed in the televised final, which was held on 9 February 2019, where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top 2 songs based on the combination of votes from three different jury panels consisting of representatives of radio stations all over Montenegro, international juries, Montenegrin expert juries and a public vote qualified to the second round. In the second round, the act who received the most votes from the Montenegrin public was declared the winner. The international jury members were:
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Montenegro was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Montenegro was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Cyprus and preceding the entry from Finland.

Semi-final

Montenegro performed second in the first semi-final, following the entry from Cyprus and preceding the entry from Finland.At the end of the show, Montenegro was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.It was later revealed that Montenegro placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 46 points: 15 points from the televoting and 31 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Montenegro

Points awarded by Montenegro

Split voting results

The following five members composed the Montenegrin jury: