Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Montenegro participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Space" written by Momcilo Zekovic. The song was performed by Slavko Kalezić, who was internally selected by the Montenegrin broadcaster Radio i televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) to represent the nation at the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. Slavko Kalezić was announced as the Montenegrin representatives on 29 December 2016, while his song, "Space", was presented to the public on 10 March 2017.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country	Montenegro
National selection
Selection process	Internal Selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 29 December 2016 Song: 10 March 2017
Selected entrant	Slavko Kalezić
Selected song	"Space"
Selected songwriter(s)	Adis Eminić Iva Boršić Momčilo Zeković
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (16th, 56 points)
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Montenegro was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 6, "Space" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Background

Main article: Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Montenegro had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent nation eight times since its first entry in its own right in 2007.[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was thirteenth, which they achieved in 2015 with the song "Adio" performed by Knez. In 2014, Montenegro qualified to the final for the first time since they began participating and have since featured in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest two times up to this point. The nation briefly withdrew from the competition between 2010 and 2011 citing financial difficulties as the reason for their absence.[2][3] Since 2009, the broadcaster has opted to internally select both the artist and song that would represent Montenegro, a procedure that continued for the selection of the 2017 entry.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 29 December 2016, RTCG announced that Slavko Kalezić would represent Montenegro in Kiev.[4] His song, "Space", was written by Momčilo Zeković and Stefan Örn, and it was presented on 10 March 2017.[5]

Promotion

Slavko Kalezić made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Space" as the Montenegrin Eurovision entry. On 2 April, he performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Kalezić took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where he performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[6][7] On 8 April, Slavko Kalezić performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[8] On 15 April, Kalezić performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[9]

At Eurovision

Slavko Kalezić during a press meet and greet

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[10] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Montenegro was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[11]

Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Montenegro was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Finland.[12]

Semi-final

Slavko Kalezić took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.[13] This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

At the end of the show, Montenegro was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Montenegro placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 56 points: 39 points from the televoting and 17 points from the juries.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Montenegro and awarded by Montenegro in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[14][15]

Points awarded to Montenegro

Points awarded to Montenegro (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
		Moldova	Australia	Slovenia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Azerbaijan  Italy		Finland	Iceland	Armenia  Spain  Sweden
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
		Azerbaijan	Greece
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
			Czech Republic

Points awarded by Montenegro

Semi-final 1 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Albania  Greece 10 points  Moldova  Albania 8 points  Slovenia  Armenia 7 points  Portugal  Azerbaijan 6 points  Azerbaijan  Sweden 5 points  Cyprus  Moldova 4 points  Greece  Portugal 3 points  Sweden  Australia 2 points  Belgium  Czech Republic 1 point  Australia  Slovenia

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Croatia  Greece 10 points  Italy  Romania 8 points  Portugal  Italy 7 points  Hungary  Sweden 6 points  Bulgaria  Belgium 5 points  Azerbaijan  Croatia 4 points  Belgium  Armenia 3 points  Moldova  France 2 points  France  Bulgaria 1 point  Cyprus  Austria

Split voting results

The following five members will comprise the Montenegrin jury: [16]

• Anita Popović – Chairperson – musician (only semi-final)
• Božo Bulatović – musician, radio DJ
• Branislav Nedović – singer, musician
• Ivana Pekić – solo singing professor
• Draško Djurović - TV and movie director
• Dragan Bulajić - music manager (only final)

Split voting results from Montenegro (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		B. Bulatović	B. Nedović	I. Pekić	D. Djurović	A. Popović	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Sweden	2	14	13	2	6	5	6	8	3
02	Georgia	14	3	15	10	8	12		16
03	Australia	17	10	10	1	2	8	3	10	1
04	Albania	1	7	1	8	10	2	10	1	12
05	Belgium	7	4	14	14	15	13		9	2
06	Montenegro
07	Finland	5	17	16	15	16	17		17
08	Azerbaijan	11	5	4	11	5	4	7	5	6
09	Portugal	15	9	2	6	7	7	4	4	7
10	Greece	8	1	8	5	1	1	12	7	4
11	Poland	13	13	17	9	9	16		13
12	Moldova	9	6	12	7	4	6	5	2	10
13	Iceland	10	2	7	17	13	11		11
14	Czech Republic	3	15	5	13	11	9	2	15
15	Cyprus	12	11	3	16	14	14		6	5
16	Armenia	4	12	11	4	3	3	8	14
17	Slovenia	16	8	9	3	12	10	1	3	8
18	Latvia	6	16	6	12	17	15		12

Split voting results from Montenegro (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		B. Bulatović	B. Nedović	I. Pekić	D. Djurović	D. Bulajić	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	26	24	25	6	26	26		16
02	Poland	13	11	20	18	12	16		23
03	Belarus	21	25	16	23	19	25		13
04	Austria	12	12	6	26	7	10	1	21
05	Armenia	8	26	4	12	6	7	4	20
06	Netherlands	24	23	5	25	14	21		26
07	Moldova	19	9	10	19	8	12		8	3
08	Hungary	20	17	17	11	25	20		4	7
09	Italy	2	5	2	4	4	3	8	2	10
10	Denmark	17	16	26	21	13	22		18
11	Portugal	18	3	9	14	20	11		3	8
12	Azerbaijan	22	20	8	20	10	17		6	5
13	Croatia	5	8	11	7	24	6	5	1	12
14	Australia	23	18	12	10	11	15		14
15	Greece	4	4	1	2	1	1	12	19
16	Spain	15	21	14	22	23	24		25
17	Norway	14	19	18	17	17	19		24
18	United Kingdom	1	10	19	13	22	13		17
19	Cyprus	16	15	21	24	18	23		10	1
20	Romania	3	1	3	3	3	2	10	11
21	Germany	9	22	22	15	16	18		22
22	Ukraine	25	14	24	9	2	14		15
23	Belgium	7	7	15	8	5	5	6	7	4
24	Sweden	6	6	7	5	15	4	7	12
25	Bulgaria	11	2	23	16	9	9	2	5	6
26	France	10	13	13	1	21	8	3	9	2

References

1. "Montenegro Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
2. Hondal, Victor (17 November 2009). "Montenegro withdraws from Eurovision 2010". ESCToday. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
3. Hondal, Victor (23 December 2010). "Montenegro officially out of Eurovision 2011". ESCToday. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
4. Mercereau, Damien (20 February 2017). "Eurovision 2017 : Slavko Kalezic, le spectaculaire Monténégrin" (in French). Le Figaro. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
5. Adams, William Lee (10 March 2017). "MONTENEGRO'S SLAVKO KALEZIC IS READY TO BLOW IN HIS EUROVISION 2017 SONG "SPACE"". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
6. Kavaler, Ron (22 March 2017). "ISRAEL CALLING! EUROVISION PROMO EVENT SET FOR APRIL 3 TO 6". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
7. Laufer, Gil (5 April 2017). "Tonight: Israel Calling 2017 to be held with 28 participating countries". esctoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
8. Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
9. Fuster, Luis (1 April 2017). "MADRID CALLING! 19 ACTS WILL TAKE PART IN EUROVISION SPAIN PRE-PARTY". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
10. Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
11. Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
12. Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
13. "Press". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
14. "Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 First Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
15. "Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
16. Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.