Montenegro hopes to return to the grand final with balkan ballad
Montenegro is one of the countries with the worst record when it comes to their Eurovision results. Out of nine participations, they only managed to reach the final twice, both with a male vocalist performing a traditional Balkan ballad. They are clearly eager to make it 3 out of 10 as they follow the same recipe in 2018. Vanja Radovanivic won their national selection with the track ‘Inje’. Will he be able to top the 13th place which currently is his country’s best result?

You can’t really blame Montenegro for selecting a song in the same genre as their only two remotely successful participations, but it is predictable to say the least. ‘Inje’ is decent in its genre, but nothing too outstanding or memorable. Vanja is lucky that he is the only artist performing a proper balkan ballad, as a couple of years ago there was a handful of countries sending a similar song each contest. But even being the only one it its genre, ‘Inje’ seems rather forgettable and lacks a proper climax. With a great performance, I could still see Montenegro sneak into the final, but they won’t play any major role there. They might have to think of another strategy if they want to finish any higher than mid-table next year.

Review of Semi Final Performance:
Montenegro only made it to the Eurovision final on two occasions and both times they sent a classic Balkan ballad. They decided to try the same strategy this year with Vanja Radovanovic’s ‘Inje’. It is a decent composition to say the least, but this genre has been done many times before in Eurovision and better too. The melody of ‘Inje’ just is not as catchy as some of its predecessors. Montenegro’s performance is simple and straightforward and once you manage to look past that suit, you find out that Vanja is one of the most steady vocalists of the night. This alone was clearly not going to be enough for qualification though.

Read our other Eurovision 2018 reviews: ALBANIA – ARMENIA – AUSTRALIA –AUSTRIA – AZERBAIJAN – BELARUS –BELGIUM – BULGARIA – CROATIA – CYPRUS –CZECH REPUBLIC – DENMARK – ESTONIA – FINLAND – FRANCE – FYR MACEDONIA – GEORGIA – GERMANY – GREECE – HUNGARY – ICELAND –IRELAND – ISRAEL –ITALY – LATVIA – LITHUANIA –MALTA – MOLDOVA – THE NETHERLANDS – NORWAY – POLAND – PORTUGAL – ROMANIA – RUSSIA – SAN MARINO – SERBIA – SLOVENIA – SPAIN – SWEDEN – SWITZERLAND – UKRAINE – UNITED KINGDOM