Throwback Thursday: When Andrea told us to get out of her life

When I was asked to write a Throwback Thursday article for Montenegro, there was just one song I could choose. Andrea Demirović’s “Just Get Out of My Life”. This energetic, catchy entry is now ten years old and I decided it would only be right to dedicate my article to this robbed masterpiece!

Discovering this Montenegrin bop

I began watching Eurovision in 2013, so when I became a fan of the show I decided to listen back to some of the previous years of the contest to see what I’d missed out on for eight years of my life! When I got to the 2009 contest, I stumbled across this song. When I first listened to it, I was sure it must had qualified. And finished quite high in the final too. But, when I found out this song didn’t even qualify I was mortified! There’s nothing about this song not to love.

However, when I looked more into this song I discovered why it had probably failed. It had opened the first semi-final of the contest. Unless you’re a real fan of the contest, you don’t really realise there are even semi-finals in Eurovision unless you stumble upon them and it’s very unlikely you’ll start watching the semi-final if all that’s happened so far is the presenters rambling on about voting information. Instead, you’d come back to it later – a few songs in – and that means the ‘casual viewer’ would have missed this song. It did however finish 11th in the semi-final but not even the tenth-placed song in that semi-final from FYR Macedonia could find their place in the final. It was the “jury qualifier” that took the tenth final spot – Finland.

When I realised all of this, I understood a bit more why Andrea didn’t qualify but it was still a shock that a song THIS GOOD could fail even with a running order as poor as the one Andrea had.

The song of a Siegel

“Just Get Out of My Life” was composed by German songwriter Ralph Siegel. And it wasn’t his first time composing or writing a Eurovision song. It was in fact his 19th time. However, it was his first (and only) entry for Montenegro. The song was written by Bernd Meinunger – who often wrote with Ralph. Bernd was no stranger to Eurovision either – it was his 18th appearance in the contest. But despite these big Eurovision names, the songwriters weren’t actually announced until a few days after the song’s release. It’s like they wanted to pretend the song wasn’t written by Ralph and Bernd. I wouldn’t see why they’d want to cover that up? They’ve gone onto do songs for San Marino, they must be amazing… anyway, back to Andrea.

Andrea was 23 when she represented Montenegro and she was the first female to represent the nation and also the first to perform in English. Andrea had her musical breakthrough in 2002 however at the Suncane Skale and then appeared in many regional festivals, scoring success in many. She also appeared in two Eurovision national finals before she made it to the big stage in 2009. She finished 5th in Montevizija in 2005 and qualified to the Serbo-Montenegrin national final where she also finished 5th. She also attempted to represent Montenegro in 2008 where she finished 2nd to eventual winner Stefan Filipovic.

Recently, Andrea has gone quite quiet on the music front. Her last single released on YouTube was the beautiful “Odlazim”, which was recently in 2012. She did however take part in the 2015 Serbian national final but failed to make it to contest. She read the Montenegrin votes the same year (in Vienna).

So, in conclusion, Andrea’s “Just Get Out of My Life” was robbed of a place in the final. She would have qualified in any other year except the bloodbath of a contest which was Moscow 2009. I’m very happy to hear Andrea will be back for Montevizija this year and hopefully, she will be able to make it to Tel Aviv, 10 years on since her appearance in Moscow.

What’s the team got to say?

Sean

First of all, I feel like I’m the only person who is still willing to go to bat for Ralph Siegel. I still think his entries can be fun, and Just Get Out of My Life is a testament to that. I love that the song is unashamed of its retro style and is really danceable. Andrea does a good job on vocals, and I’m eager to see her Montevizija entry this year. Overall, the package was one of the best of 2009 (which was a very good year overall) and it’s a shame that not too many others adore it as much as I do.

Lisa

One of their best! God bless Montenegro and the annual genre lucky dip. Who knew it would land on Disco Schlager? Everyone can relate to those hairbrush anthem lyrics. Such a pity it was in possibly the strongest contest ever. Any other year it would have qualified. Las Ketchup still win best use of an office chair at Eurovision, but Andrea made it work. Though it is all about the hypnotic, hip-shaking of the dancer! Looking forward to what Andrea has in store for the national final this time.

Natalie

I love a guilty pleasure song, but this is just guilty of being completely and utterly terrible. I wanted to like it to some extent, but the lyrics are so cringeworthy, and what the hell is that dancer on? It’s a shame really, Andrea’s vocals are decent in this performance, but they’re wasted on such a cheap song. I much prefer the entries Montenegro has produced in recent years. Adio and Moj Svijet are on another level compared to Just Get Out Of My Life. It will be interesting to see what Andrea has sent in this year’s national selection, but for now I want this song to get out of my life.

Nathan P

This is just trash and that’s why I like it! Montenegro is probably down there as one of my least favourite Eurovision countries of them all. But on this occasion I would actually say that this was robbed of a place in the final. The staging is cheap as chips and the dancer was obviously taken from a Ricky Martin tribute night from a bar from somewhere but it just adds to the total cheese fest of it all. The use of the office chair is hilarious. Yes it’s 70s Disco but yet it doesn’t sound all that dated in the grand scheme of 00s Eurovision. All in all it’s another song that I use to argue that Eurovision 2009 is the best Eurovision of all time.

What do you think of “Just Get Out of My Life”? Are you excited for Andrea’s return to Montevizija this year? Would you like to see her in Tel Aviv?

Let us know your opinions in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA. Do you agree with the team?