Montenegro gets an A for effort, but will effort alone win them the Eurovision Song Contest?
Montenegro's last few Eurovision entries have been...interesting, to use some tact((I'm Minnesotan. If I tell you something is "...interesting" or "...unique", that is my nice way of saying I applaud your effort but don't entirely get what you're going for)). "Euro Neuro" and "Igranka" have certainly gotten a response from the EBU community, but that response has been a strong "hell no" when it comes to Montenegro reaching the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. After a few years of sending entries that feel more visual than audial like these, Montenegro appears to be more of an effort this year, switching it up from hip-hop and dubstep and sending Sergej's "Moj Svijet", a ballad. Take a listen:
The song is nice, if mostly unmemorable. The instrumentation at the beginning reminds me of "My Heart Will Go On", although I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good mental association or a bad one. The song's ending isn't great - I actually tabbed back to Youtube while listening to check if it was buffering before a final triumphant chorus, only to find what I thought was a buildup was actually the end. Sergej's voice is nice (or at least seems that way - I'll get to that in a minute) and carries the song well, but it's not moving anything past audio wallpaper as far as I'm concerned.
As far as the performance goes...I haven't got much to say. The reveal over the weekend was simply a promotional video (which I haven't included here), and we haven't seen Sergej perform the song live. This doesn't make predicting how the song will do in the first semi-final any easier - he could sell the hell out of this thing and hide its flaws, or his singing skills could make those even more apparent. Will there be instrumentalists on stage? Dancers? A monkey in a hat? We don't know. Hopefully Sergej makes some appearances at multi-country concerts before the big event so viewers and voters can get a taste of his performing style, otherwise I fear Montenegro has a mountain to climb((pun fully intended - go look up what Montenegro means)) if they want to reach the finals.