Montenegro was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "", written by Boris SubotiÃÂ, Darko Dimitrov, and Violeta Mihajlovska MiliÃÂ, and performed by Nina à ½ià ¾iÃÂ. The Montenegrin participating broadcaster, Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), organised the national final Montesong 2024 to select its entry for the contest. The song "Clickbait" performed by Neonoen won the national final, however, the band withdrew due to a controversy over having previously performed their song in June 2023, with runner-up à ½ià ¾iàlater announced as their replacement.
Montenegro was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 15 May 2025. Performing during the show in position 2, "" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Montenegro placed last out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 12 points, marking the first time Montenegro finished last in a Eurovision event.
Prior to the 2025 contest, Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Montenegro as an independent country twelve times since its first entry in . Its best placing in the contest was thirteenth position, which it achieved in with the song "" performed by Knez. In , Montenegro qualified to the final for the first time since it began participating, and have since featured in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest one more time in . RTCG briefly withdrew from the competition between 2010 and 2011, as well as in 2021, 2023, and 2024, citing "modest results" and/or financial difficulties as the reason for its absences. In , Montenegro failed to qualify for the final with the song "Breathe" performed by Vladana VuÃÂiniÃÂ.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTCG organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. On 6 January 2024, RTCG outlined its aim to introduce a popular music festival, which could serve as its selection process for the 2025 contest, dependent on funding. On 7 August 2024, RTCG published a document outlining the rules of Montesong 2024. An official confirmation of both participation in the 2025 contest and the organisation of a national final was announced by RTCG on 15 August 2024. RTCG had used various methods to select the Montenegrin entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. The reintroduction of a national final for the 2025 contest marked the first time since that the broadcaster organised a national selection, with held in 2018 and 2019.
Montesong 2024 was the national final format organised by RTCG to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Organised in a collaboration between the broadcaster and the Association of Variety Performers of Montenegro, a live final was initially scheduled for 26 November 2024, with an awards ceremony to be held the following day. However, the event was later revised to a final on 27 November 2024. The competition took place at the Voco Hall in Podgorica, and was hosted by Marko Todoroviàand Vladana VuÃÂiniÃÂ, the latter of whom represented , alongside Lazar Raduloviàand Andrea à  ekularac reporting from the green room. The show was broadcast live on TVCG 1, MNE Play, and via the event's YouTube channel.
The competition consisted of a live final held on 27 November 2024. Sixteen entries competed. The winner was selected through a 50/50 combination of votes from a 7-member jury and from a public televote, with the same system used to award points in the Eurovision Song Contest final: the jury and the public each awarded one set of 12, 10 and 8âÂÂ1 points to their 10 favourite entries. In case of a tie following the addition of the jury and the televoting points together, the song that received more 12 points from individual members of the jury had an advantage. This process was to be repeated with other points, in descending order, until the tie could be broken. In the public televote, only one vote per phone number was permitted. The professional jury consisted of both local music professionals and music representatives from across Europe.
On 7 August 2024, RTCG opened a submission platform for interested artists and composers, which remained open until 1 October 2024. Performers are required to be citizens of Montenegro, while songwriters may be of any nationality. All submitted songs are required to be written in at least 51% of one of the official languages of Montenegro. From there, a committee set up by the broadcaster reviewed the submissions and selected sixteen songs for the competition. The panel consisted of Boris à  aranÃÂià(entertainment editor for TVCG), Draà ¾en Baukovià(journalist and editor of music shows), Eva Papovià(music editor at TVCG), Ana Petrovià(music editor at RCG), Renata Perazià(musician and author), Marija Boà ¾ovià(musician and author), and Natalija PaviÃÂevià(songwriter). Each juror judged each song using a points system, giving a maximum of 50 points for composition, 30 points for lyrics and 20 points for production, meaning each song could earn a maximum of 100 points. However, songs had to achieve at least 75 points from this process in order to reach the competition stage. RTCG also stipulated that it had the right to internally select its entry for the contest if no submitted entry reached the threshold. At a press conference on 5 September 2024, Montesong director Danijel AlibabiÃÂ, who represented as part of No Name, confirmed that up to sixteen entries would be performed in the national final. On 2 October 2024, RTCG revealed that it had received 32 submissions, and that they would allow any further late applications due to postal delays. In total, 37 submissions were received, with 4 of those being disqualified. The competing entries (plus three backups) were announced on 10 October 2024 during the RTCG show , which was broadcast on TVCG 1. On 4 November 2024, Boban Rajoviàwithdrew from the competition due to personal commitments, and RTCG confirmed that reserve artist, Tamara à ½ivkoviÃÂ, would replace his entry for the contest.
Among the competing artists was Nina à ½ià ¾iÃÂ, who provided uncredited vocals for Who See at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Also among the competing acts were Kejt, who competed in , Marko VukÃÂeviÃÂ, lead singer of Neonoen, who competed in as member of the group and in as a solo artist, Milena VuÃÂiÃÂ, who competed in <span lang="sr-latn">Evropesma</span>-<span lang="cnr">Europjesma</span> 2004 as member of the group and in as a solo artist. Among the backup entries was Danijel PopoviÃÂ, who won , 's national final for Eurovision, and subsequently represented the country in the with the song "Dà ¾uli"; he competed in Yugoslavia's national selection a further four times: in , , , and . He previously applied his entry "" to , Croatia's national selection for the . The competing songs were released on 10 November 2024.
Entry withdrawn Replacement entry
The final took place on 27 November 2024 at 20:00 CET. The running order was revealed on 19 November. The song "Clickbait" performed by the group Neonoen won the contest. It finished second in the jury vote, and second in the televote. The jury consisted of: Hari Vareà ¡anoviÃÂ, who represented as part of Hari Mata Hari; Nuà ¡a Derenda, who represented ; Dado TopiÃÂ, who represented with the group Dragonfly; Elena Risteska, who represented ; Tijana BogiÃÂeviÃÂ, who represented ; Emmelie de Forest, who represented and won the ; and Danijel PopoviÃÂ, who represented .
In addition to the competing artists, guests included Sergej ÃÂetkoviÃÂ, who represented , and event director Danijel AlibabiÃÂ, who represented as part of No Name. Guest performances featured at the opening of the show included Danijel PopoviÃÂ, who performed his 1983 Eurovision song "Dà ¾uli", and co-host Vladana VuÃÂiniÃÂ, who performed "", an Italian language version of her 2022 Eurovision entry "Breathe". During the interval between the last competing song and the announcement of the votes, additional guest performances included Sergej ÃÂetkoviÃÂ, performing his 2014 Eurovision song "", Elena Risteska, who performed "", and Emmelie de Forest, who performed her 2013 Eurovision winning song "Only Teardrops".
A total of 3,262 votes were successfully cast according to RTCG, however the figure announced during the show was 2,233. The broadcaster explained that the discrepancy was due to a delay in communicating the updated number of received votes. BogiÃÂeviÃÂ accidentally awarded her 8 points to "Repeat" instead of "", which she disclosed while announcing her points.
On 1 December 2024, RTCG revealed that "Clickbait" was previously performed during in Zabjelo, Podgorica in June 2023, which breaches the contest's rules obliging that competing songs may not have been released commercially or publicly performed before 1 September 2024, and that it would discuss with the EBU the following day to decide whether the entry is eligible for the contest. In response, Neonoen stated they believed the number of attendees who saw the performance was not substantial enough to influence the result of Montesong 2024, as well as that they were not aware of the rule regarding the ban on performing the entry fully or in part prior to 1 September 2024, but that they would respect any decision made by RTCG and the EBU. On 4 December, Neonoen voluntarily withdrew from participating in the contest, citing a "desire to end the uncertainty". On 8 December, RTCG announced that the second place of Montesong 2024, "" performed by Nina à ½ià ¾iÃÂ, would represent Montenegro at the contest.
VuÃÂiniÃÂ announced her intention to resign from RTCG the day after the national final on 5 December, citing a lack of transparency in the organisation of the national final. Despite this, she was later appointed head of the Montenegrin delegation for Eurovision.
The Montesong itself was widely criticized for its bad organization, with VuÃÂiniÃÂ being ridiculed for her frequent slips of the tongue, mispronounced words, and disjointed sentences.
On 26 January 2025, RTCG confirmed that "" will undergo a minor revamp prior to the contest. à ½ià ¾iàaffirmed that the delegation would carry out a revamp, but that nothing would "significantly change the song itself". The revamped version was released on 9 March, during a special edition of the RTCG show .
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 took place at the in Basel, Switzerland, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 13 and 15 May and the final on 17 May 2025. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 28 January 2025, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country would perform in; the EBU split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. Montenegro was scheduled for the first half of the second semi-final. The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Montenegro was set to perform in position 2.
In Montenegro, RTCG broadcast all shows on TVCG 1 and TVCG MNE with live commentary from Draà ¾en Baukoviàin Podgorica.
Nina à ½ià ¾iàtook part in technical rehearsals on 5 and 9 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 14 and 15 May. The stage performance retained elements of the national final performance, with the delegation focusing on enhancing the aesthetic quality to suit the larger stage. The performance saw à ½ià ¾iàperform alone in an outfit designed by Serbian fashion designer Amina HasanbegoviÃÂ. The stage performance was designed by Dalibor IvankoviÃÂ, Boris Subotiàand Aleksandar MariÃÂià- the same trio which directed à ½ià ¾iÃÂ's national final performance. As in Montesong, during the introduction of the performance, à ½ià ¾iàwore a blindfold to symbolise Lady Justice. To add to this, a depiction of a sword with scales was displayed on the back LED screen before the bridge of the song.
Montenegro performed in position 2, following the entry from and before the entry from . At the end of the show, the country was not announced as a qualifier for the final, extending Montenegro's run as the country with the longest non-qualification streak. It was later revealed that Montenegro placed last out of the sixteen participating countries in the second semi-final with 12 points, marking the first time the country had finished last in a Eurovision event.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded by and to Montenegro in the second semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. The Montenegrin jury consisted of Gavrilo RadunoviÃÂ, à ½eljko VukÃÂeviÃÂ, Bojana NeneziÃÂ, Jelena Boà ¾oviàand Marija Boà ¾oviÃÂ. In the second semi-final, Montenegro placed 16th with 12 points, all of which came from . Over the course of the contest, Montenegro awarded its 12 points to in the second semi-final, and to (jury) and (televote) in the final.
RTCG appointed Marko VukÃÂeviÃÂ as its spokesperson to announce the Montenegrin jury's votes in the final.
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. 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 were released shortly after the grand final.
The following members comprised the Montenegrin jury: