Vladana has a date! Montenegro will mark their return to the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 on 4th March, as their entry “Breathe” will see daylight that day. Vladana announced the news herself on her social media.
Vladana: “Emotional, powerful and melancholic”
Previously, Vladana already gave us a description of the song. In short: It’s one the ballad lovers will go mad for. Emotional, powerful and melancholic were keywords in her description of “Breathe”. We also know that Darko Dimitrov has been involved in creating the Montenegrin comeback entry. Dimitrov has been involved in eleven past Eurovision entries, ranging from Hurricane’s “Loco Loco” to “Pred Da Se Razdeni”, Esma & Lozano’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. His best score so far is Tamara Todevska’s seventh place and jury victory back in 2019 with “Proud”.
“Breathe” will be sung in English. It will be the sixth time that Montenegro have performed in English at the contest. Sadly, they’ve never qualified with a song in English. They’ve also never qualified with a female vocalist before, so Vladana is hoping to break the curse there. In fairness, though, Montenegro have only once sent a solo female vocalist to Eurovision: Andrea Demirović finished in eleventh in her semifinal back in 2009.
All the details so far
The countdown on Vladana’s Instagram account suggests a midnight release on the 4th March. In her story, the 35-year old singer also tagged some others who will most likely have been involved somehow. Lina Lekovic seems to be responsible for the styling of the video. Lekovic was born in Cetinje, Montenegro and has studied Costume and Fashion Design in Belgrade. In her job, she has designed costumes for many famous theatre plays, such as Anna Karenina, Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo and Don Quixote – all adaptations of literary works.
Furthermore, Aleksandra Jovic has worked on photography for Vladana. Make up will be in the capable hands of Vanessa Djurašaj, who has previously posted about creating looks for Montenegro’s Eurovision hopeful. The final name on Vladana’s list is Katarina Zlajic, a jewellery designer, also based in Montenegro.
For the video, Vladana travelled to Cetinje. The city, where stylist Lina Lekovic was born, is the historical capital of Montenegro. The president holds his official residence there and many members of the (former) royal family were from Cetinje. Montenegro’s most legendary historiographical mountain, Lovćen, which has also given its name to the country (black mountain, or Crna Gora in Montenegrin) is also located near the town.
Who is Vladana?
Born in Podgorica, Vladana Vučinić grew up in a musical family. Vladana studied music at both primary and secondary level, before graduating in journalism from Montenegro’s State Faculty of Political Science.
She made her television debut in 2003 on a national karaoke show, before performing at the Budva Mediterranean Festival. She took part in Montevizija in both 2005 and 2006, as well as competing in the Sunčane Skale festival.
Releasing music under the mononym VLADANA, she has had singles including “Kao Miris Kokosa”, “Bad Girls Need Love Too” and “Sinner City”. Though she has not been on the music scene for several years, she has edited online fashion magazine Čiviluk. RTCG announced her as their pick for Turin 2022 earlier this year.
2022 will mark Montenegro’s return to the Eurovision Song Contest. They had decided to sit out in 2020 and 2021 due to financial reasons. With the new car park now in place, Vladana will be fighting to bring Montenegro a place in the Grand Final of Eurovision – an achievement they haven’t accomplished since 2015.
Are you excited to hear “Breathe”? Let us know what you think! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the news in the upcoming months.