A week after their victory in the new Montenegro national selection Montesong, band NeonoeN decided to withdraw from Eurovision 2025.
A week of suspense
The move came after several days of suspense, after a video of NeonoeN performing their song “Clickbait” in the 2023 festival Kulture Zabjelo came to the attention of broadcaster RTCG. Songs performed publicly before the deadline of September 1st, 2024 were not eligible to take part in Montesong, a rule closely following that of the Eurovision Song Contest.
RTCG officially asked for the EBU’s opinion on the matter a few days ago, and had not taken any official decision when NeonoeN informed them of their decision to withdraw from Eurovision participation.
A statement from NeonoeN
“Dear all,
In the best public interest, with the desire to end the uncertainty and once again contribute to the music we stand for, 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 full support.
The victory at Montesong brought us publicity whose type and scope we did not choose, nor could we control. We would like to point out, and the facts confirm this, that performing the working version of the song live neither jeopardized the process of the Montesong festival itself, nor could it have influenced its final outcome and our placement. The fact is that there has been 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 the others, which is clear for everyone.
However, we simply do not want to be part of any stories outside of music, nor to promote our author’s work in this way.
Eurovision has never been a goal in itself for us. Expanding the field of our musical activity – that certainly is!
The Montesong Festival organized by the Association of Entertainers brought 16 new songs and that is its greatest value.
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.NeonoeN
Special and enormous gratitude for the support of fellow musicians, lovers of good music, friends, acquaintances, journalists and the general public from Montenegro and abroad, which gave us strength in the last days. Our families, together with us, have experienced all the splendor and despair of this process and now it is time to repay them and dedicate ourselves to them in the right way.
CLICKBAIT continues to live as a musical single, but we are also afraid of it as a contemporary social phenomenon.
Once again, thank you all. Now let’s all support Montenegro at Eurovision!”
RTCG thanked NeonoeN for their statement, and stated themselves that a decision on who will represent Montenegro in Basel will be taken in the coming days.
With this decision, NeonoeN’s “Clickbait” becomes the first song since 2022 to win a selection and not go to Eurovision, after Ukraine’s Alina pash was disqualified by UA:PBC after its victory in Vidbir with “Tini Zabutykh Predkiv”.
Did you expect this decision from Neonoen? Who do you think will represent Montenegro in Basel? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!
