The first national final of the season ended less than a week ago, where Montenegro was selecting their entry for Eurovision. The winners were NeonoeN with “Clickbait”, one point ahead of Nina Žižić, who competed with “Dobrodošli”. After the festival, a video of NeonoeN performing their entry back in 2023 in a local festival started circulating online, which then triggered the question if they broke the rules of Montesong, and if they also broke the rules of Eurovision… or not.

RTCG – Montenegro’s national broadcaster contacted the EBU about this matter, and a final decision still hasn’t been communicated. However, the guys of NeonoeN announced that they withdrew from competing in Eurovision, and released the following statement:

In the best public interest, with the desire to end the uncertainty and once again contribute to the music, we inform you that we are voluntarily withdrawing from participating in Eurovision. RTCG, in accordance with the regulations, will choose another representative, and we will be the first to wish them luck and provide our full support.

Winning Montesong brought us the type of publicity we did not choose, nor could we control. We note, and the facts confirm this, that performing the working version of the song live neither jeopardized the Montesong festival process itself, nor could it have influenced its final outcome and our placement. The fact is that there were many similar examples and that the EBU always decided that these songs could participate (one even won Eurovision), because they did not have a competitive advantage over others, which is clear to everyone.

However, we simply do not want to be part of any stories outside of music, nor to promote our work in this way. Eurovision has never been a goal in itself for us. Expanding the field of our musical activity – it certainly is!

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We would like to thank the management of RTCG for their benevolent attitude and intention to give us space for other options. We believe that they will understand our decision to give up on Eurovision and we also thank them for that.

“Clickbait” continues to live as a musical single, but we are also afraid of it as a contemporary social phenomenon.

Now RTCG confirmed that in the coming days they will decide on how to proceed, and will also name a new entry for Montenegro for Eurovision 2025, which is to be held in Basel. Will it be the second-placed entry from Montesong – Nina Žižić with “Dobrodošli”, remains to be seen.