Read back: Who will succeed Slavko Kalezic for Montenegro?

Tonight Montevizija 2018 held their national final organised by RTCG to select Montenegro’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Five entries competed in the televised final and the winner was decided by public vote. You can follow the show along with us on this live blog.

Here is the line-up for tonight in Montenegro. You can watch the show along with us by clicking on this link:

01. Nina Petković – “Dišem” (I breathe)
02. Vanja Radovanović – “Inje” (Hoarfrost)
03. Ivana Popović Martinović – “Poljupci” (Kisses)
04. Katarina Bogićević – “Neželjena” (The unwanted)
05. Lorena Janković – “Dušu mi daj” (Give me soul)

Live blog for the national final in Montenegro for Eurovision 2018:

[21:55] That concludes our live-blog of Montevizija 2018. Thank you for watching along and let us know what you think of the Montenegrin entry going to Lisbon later this year.

Winning Montevizija 2018 and representing Montenegro in Lisbon later this year is…Vanja Radovanović with “Inje”.

2nd place is: Katarina Bogićević – “Neželjena”

3rd place is: Lorena Janković – “Dušu mi daj”

[21:45] We’re back with the hosts and super-finalists as it’s now finally time to find out who will represent Montenegro at Eurovision 2018.

[21:38] Onto another ad followed by a long VT of a random Montenegrin duo talking to one another and the crew.

[21:26] Shown another recap but this time of just the superfinalists. I believe it’s between Vanja and Katarina for the win. We return with another Eurovision quartet medley followed by Knez performing his Eurovision 2015 entry “Adio”.

[21:15] Onto tonight’s second-last ad before we finally decide the final televoting results and who will represent Montenegro in Eurovision 2018.

[21:11] Finally to re-perform is Lorena with “Dušu mi da”. All three of tonight’s superfinal songs bring something different in terms of potential for Montenegro but I believe this one is the biggest risk. Even with it’s slow pace she can capture your attention.

[21:08] Katerina next up. Another good contender but perhaps slightly too repetitive within the chorus with the vocal trills. Does build well in terms of composition.

[21:05] Vanja is first up to re-perform. I believe this is the strongest of the three to represent and would follow Montenegro’s previous success in Eurovision in terms of utilising a male singer with a proper Balkan sounding ballad.

[21:03] The televoting lines are now re-opened which unfortunately means we must say goodbye to fan favourite Nina Petković along with Ivana Popović Martinović. Now for the top three to re-perform.

The top three are:

  • Katarina Bogićević – “Neželjena” (The unwanted)
  • Vanja Radovanović – “Inje” (Hoarfrost)
  • Lorena Janković – “Dušu mi daj” (Give me soul)

[21:00] The artists are already back on-stage, tense music appears on-stage. It’s time for the reveal the top three to represent Montenegro.

[20:56] Hosts announce the public to stop voting as televoting closes. We see a VT of Salvador’s win the previous year for Portugal.

[20:54] We now see another VT featuring behind-the-scenes footage of preparing for the national final. I believe we are getting close to the final part of the show.

[20:50] We have four minutes left on the clock until televoting is closed. Our hosts now chat while the clock counts down. We now see a VT of Albania’s entry for Eurovision 2018 who is a special guest in the show.

[20:47] We return to the female quartet as they play “Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)” followed by “Waterloo”, “My Number One”, “Fairytale” and more-  all Eurovision winning songs, of course. Another recap shown after.

[20:42] Ivana comes back out and chats to Slavko while a clock shows less than 13 minutes until the televoting closes. Could this be the fastest national final in Eurovision history? Next up a short ad.

[20:38] Without warning, we jump into Slavko on-stage (with playback) performing “Space” followed by a short monologue along with his new single “El ritmo” alongside (interestingly) four female backing dancers.

[20:34] Televoting is now open and Montenegrin viewers can vote via. SMS only. We have one hour and 25 minutes left of the show. How will we continue the show that long with the entries having already performing? We now see a recap of tonight’s five entries.

[20:31] #5 | Lorena Janković | Dušu mi daj 

Our last act is Lorena wearing a blue, Disney-like one-piece outfit which suits the song. She performs well albeit looking like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. The entry itself may be too slow-paced to really provide emotional impact however she delivers from a performance level regardless. Vocals are decent and a nice end to a very fast national selection of entries.

[20:26] #4 | Katarina Bogićević | Neželjena

Our penultimate entry already! Katrina wears a pink satin gown as she looks like a bridesmaid. Music is quite hollow which doesn’t give Katarina much room to recover vocally. A lot of vocal trills that make the song sound a little cheap. However, she can deliver emotionally which may help it become a dark horse.

[20:22] #3 | Ivana Popović Martinović | Poljupci

Ivana parts her blond, shoulder-width hair to the side in an emerald-coloured outfit with a collar that resembles an outfit you’d see in Star Trek. Nonetheless, her vocals sound very strong and she delivers star quality even though she stands still on the stage. The track sounds quite dated and would require a revamp to help it sound fresh for Eurovision.

[20:19] #2 | Vanja Radovanović | Inje

Vanja has that classic Balkan sounding voice similar to Sergej Ćetković. He’s dressed in a captain’s overcoat with gold buttons. Vocals sound far stronger perhaps due to the native language. Composition builds after it’s first half to something very worth listening to. Another strong contender for Montenegro.

[20:16] #1 | Nina Petković | Dišem

Nina is dressed in a blue, sparkled gown with the hood up. Vocals sound well for the audio quality we’re getting on the live stream. She takes off the gown during the first chorus and is joined by four male backing dancers wearing black clothing. This reveals a diamond-embezzled outfit that covers most of her upper-body. Looks expensive. Great start so far.

[20:10] Another VT with a more detail look at all the Montenegrin entries since their debut in 2007. Now it’s time for our first postcard for Nina’s entry “Dišem”.

[20:06] We see a quick VT of previous Montenegrin entries including Knez, Slavko and Sergej Ćetković. We return to the hosts who explain tonight’s jury members.

[20:02] The show has begun with our hosts Ivan and Dajana alongside a quartet who perform the Eurovision opening theme followed by our hosts and quartet performing classic Eurovision entries with some speaking in-between i.e. Insieme for Italy in 1990.

[19:50] The show will start in ten minutes! Refresh every 5 minutes for updates.