The first participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 refused to participate amid a scandal with a violation of the rules

The Montenegrin band NeonoeN, which was supposed to represent the country at the international stage of Eurovision 2025, voluntarily withdrew from the song contest with their song "Clickbait." The reason is that a few days after winning the National Selection, they got into a scandal for violating the rules of the competition.

The artists informed the RTCG TV company about their decision. The performers noted that a new representative would be elected to replace them, whom they were ready to support personally.

"Winning the National Selection brought us publicity that we did not choose and could not control. We would like to point out, and the facts confirm this, that the live performance of the working version of the song did not jeopardize the festival process itself and could not affect its final result or our rating. It is also a fact that there have been many similar examples, and the European Broadcasting Union has always decided to allow these songs to participate because they had no competitive advantage over others, and everyone understands this," the performers said.

However, NeonoeN members do not want to be part of scandals or any other events outside the industry. According to the artists, their main goal has always been to distribute their music, not to appear on the Eurovision stage, so they decided to refuse to participate in the contest.

"Many thanks for the support to fellow musicians, lovers of good music, friends, acquaintances, journalists and the general public in Montenegro and foreigners who gave us strength in the last few days. "Clickbait" continues to live on as a music single, but unfortunately, also as a modern social phenomenon," the artists added.

Before NeonoeN's official refusal to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, their participation in the contest was in doubt due to a serious violation of the rules. The fact is that the contest requires performers to showcase new songs that have not been released or presented to the public before September 1, 2024. However, the band won the National Selection with the track "Clickbait," which they performed at the Kulture Zabjelo festival in the summer of 2023.

The artists justified themselves by saying on their social media that almost no one knew about them at the time of the event. Most of NeonoeN's concerts took place in half-empty rooms, so they don't see a problem with the fact that a few people heard a fragment of the song.

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