Meet Vanja Radovanović From Montenegro!
This year 43 countries will be present at this years Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Lisbon in May. With around two weeks to go until all of Europe descends on Portugal's capital, Eurovoxx will introduce you to each country that will be participating.
Who is Vanja?
Vanja Radovanović was born in Belgrade, Serbia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) on October 28, 1982. Vanja kick started his career in 2004 when he participated at the Budva Music Festival with his song "Dripac", winning the award for 'Best Debut'. Vanja returned to the Budva Music Festival a year later with the song "Krila Olovna", which later become a big hit in Serbia and Montenegro. He has since taken part in many other festivals over the years.
In 2006, Vanja participated in Beovizija, Serbia and Montenegro's national selection show for Eurovision 2006 with his song "Kad me jednom za te ne bude". In 2007, he released his first album and even formed a band, VIII2, for which he is the lead singer. He has since gone on to release a second album in 2012 and has spent a lot of time touring around the former Yugoslavia.
Check out Vanja's Eurovision song below:
How was Vanja chosen?
In February 2018, the Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG decided to host their first ever national final for Eurovision, Montevizija. A total of 31 entries were received, which were then whittled down to 5 by a panel of 5 juries. The 5 participants all took part in the live national final, with 3 of them advancing to the superfinal, where Vanja was declared the winner with 37% of the vote, narrowly beating Katarina Bogićević in second place with 34% of the vote.
Montenegro at The Eurovision Song Contest
Montenegro made their Eurovision debut as an independent country in 2007 with the song "Adje Kroci" sung by Stefan Faddy. Ultimatley, they failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 22nd place. Montenegro were back again in 2008 and 2009, both times failing to make the final, before taking a break. They returned to the contest in 2012 with Rambo Amadeus where once again they were stuck in the semi final. It wasn't until 2014 that Montenegro finally made it to the final with Sergej Ćetković, finishing in 19th place. In 2015, Knez achieved Montenegro's best result in Eurovision - 13th place. However, they were brought down from that high in 2016 and 2017 with non-qualifications. Will Vanja be able to bring Montenegro to the Eurovision final for a third time?
Check out Eurovoxx's reaction to Vanja's entry below:
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