The winners of Montesong 2024, rock band NeonoeN have withdrawn from Eurovision 2025 in the wake of the alleged breach of Eurovision rules after a video emerged showcasing the band performing their entry ‘Clickbait’ at a local festival in 2023.

RTCG, the Montenegrin national broadcaster was investigating the matter and was evaluating this issue along with the EBU, and thus verify if there had been a breach of the Eurovision rules as eligible songs for Eurovision 2025 cannot be published or performed publicly before September 1st 2024.

After NeoneoN‘s withdrawal from Eurovision 2025 the Montenegrin national broadcaster, RTCG, will determine which act will represent Montenegro at Eurovision 2025. Hence RTCG is expected to announce the name of the Montenegrin 2025 Eurovision representative in the coming days.

NeonoeN have released the following statement:

Dear,

In the best public interest, with the desire to end the uncertainty and once again contribute to the music for which we are here in the first place, we inform you that we are voluntarily withdrawing from participation in Eurovision. According to the regulations, RTCG will choose another representative, and we will be the first to wish him luck and provide our full support.

The victory at Montesong brought us publicity, the type and extent of which we did not choose, nor could we control. We note, and the facts confirm it, that the live performance of the working version of the song did not jeopardize the Montesong festival process itself, nor could it affect its final outcome and our ranking. It is also a fact that there were many similar examples and that the EBU always decided that those songs could participate (one even won the Eurovision Song Contest), 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 own work in that way.

Eurovision was never a goal in itself for us. Expanding the field of our musical activity – it certainly is!

The Montesong Festival, organized by the Association of Variety Artists, brought 16 new songs and that is its greatest value.

We would like to thank the management of RTCG for their benevolent relationship and their intention to give us room for other options. We believe that they will understand our decision to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest, and we thank them for that as well.

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 lived through all the splendor and despair of this process and now it’s time to repay them and dedicate ourselves in the right way.

CLICKBAIT lives on as a musical single, but we fear also as a contemporary social phenomenon.

Once again, thank you all. Now let’s all support Montenegro at Eurovision together!

NoenoeN were crowned the winners of the Montenegrin national final- Montesong 2024 and won the golden ticket to Eurovision 2025 with their entry ‘Clickbait’ last week.

Source: RTCG
Photo credit: RTCG