NeonoeN had won Montesong 2024 with the song ”Clickbait” but on 1st December 2024, it was reported that they performed their song during a music festival, Festival Kulture Zabjelo, in 2023.
Following the report, RTCG the Montenegrin broadcaster reached out to the EBU (European Broadcast Union) on 2nd December 2024. The broadcaster stated a decision on NeonoeN and their ability to represent Montenegro next May 2025 would be jointly made between RTCG and the EBU.
Shortly after on 4th December 2024 news came that band NeonoeN have voluntarily withdrawn from representing Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
The band have said in a statement:
“Dear,
In the best public interest, with the desire to end the uncertainty and once again contribute to the music that we are here 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 him 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 have been many similar examples and that the EBU has always decided that these songs can participate (one even won at Eurovision), because they did not have a competitive advantage over the others, which is clear to 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 – it 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 good will 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.
Special and immense 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!”
The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest dictate that any song that competes at the contest must be a new, original work. As a result, a rule exists that says that songs that compete at Eurovision 2025 cannot released or performed publicly before 1st September 2024 and deemed to gain an advantage as a result.
A version of this rule was also in place at Montesong 2024, which NeoneoN won last week. The rules for the Montenegrin selection stated that songs cannot have been performed before 1st September 2024.
RTCG has stated that they will make a decision in the coming days on the new representative for Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
Eurovision 2025 will be held in Basel, Switzerland on the 13th, 15th and 17th of May 2025
It’s not even 2025, and there’s already Eurovision 2025 drama.