One of only two songs to be song in the national language in semi one, Sergej Ćetković sings the grandiose balkan ballad Moj Svijet for Montengro next. Hopes are high that Sergej will manage to take them to the final for the first time. Would his first rehearsal give us any indication of their chances this year?

The rehearsal opens with an aerial view of the stage floor which looks as if it is awash with bubbles in blues and purples, lit by sapphire blue rays shining down onto it. The backdrop pictured what resembled an underwater motiv also in various blue hues. 

Sergej was wearing a dark suit as the aerial shots of the camera zoomed in on him. He gave consistently steady vocals throughout as he stood still centre stage. He was assisted vocally by three backing singers who created some striking harmonies.

Even though Sergej comes across as very static for most of the number, there is enough going around him on stage to make visual impact. There was some camera experimentation at the beginning of the song, where, on the third run through, the ice skater was present on stage from the beginning. Wherever she skated around the stage, she left a sparkling trail behind her and this was captured perfectly with the aerial shots and worked much better than the other alternative openings. This is one of the features that will make Montenegro stand out this year. The female ice skater who puts on quite the show behind Sergej as she twirls and pirouettes gracefully around to the sound of pan pipes and lush strings. It is a sleek, well thought through presentation that visually is extremely engaging. 

It looks however at times that Sergej is having trouble with both his earpiece and with looking into the correct camera, but those small difficulties didn’t prevent him from looking rather bemused at times. His third run through was interupted and had to be started again due to technical issues. Despite the technical issues, Montenegro’s first rehearsal was very succesful and left an impression of a highly polished act and an outstanding vocal.