Eurovision 2025 song (p)reviews: part 1/7 (Montenegro, Albania)

2025: an early start

Our decorations from Christmas 2024 haven't even come down yet and I'm writing about Eurovision 2025, and perhaps you're wondering why on earth anyone would be that keen. For a start, by Christmas we already had two countries that have confirmed their performers and their songs, both of which interested me for different reasons. I'm also aware that I want to cover all 38 entries and that even with splitting reviews into 2 parts, each part is a lot of effort to complete properly - so in the spirit of "the best is the enemy of the good", I'm going to start my song reviews early and do them in ad hoc batches as and when I feel able and inspired. And with just the second confirmed entry I'm already excited enough to want to get writing.

Just as I did for 2024's contest, I'm reviewing these songs well before the actual contest and so in general I won't be able to comment reliably on live vocal performances. There's so much variety in how different nations choose and present their entries that there's no point trying to attempt a fair comparison of live vocal ability overall. However, where there are live performances available, either from national finals or other social media, I'll happily comment on the vocal performances. But overall my goal is to cover the songs themselves in their studio versions. The same starring system is in play from 2023 and 2024, namely:

no stars = if I had control of the playlist I would turn it off or skip

★ wouldn't skip if it came up on shuffle

★★ on my "2025 Eurovision Favourites" playlist on Spotify

★★★ spent my own money getting a digital download; gone digging around their back catalogue for more stuff

★★★★ bought their entire back catalogue; checking out tour dates

So here we go: the first two confirmed entries for Eurovision 2025 in Basel are...

Albania: Shkodra Elektronike - "Zjerm"★★★★

With the announcement of this Albanian entry, Eurovision 2025 is already a success for me. If I get nothing else out of the contest in Basel, discovering Shkodra Elektronike and their particular brand of folktronica will have been worth it.

Beatriçe Gjergji and Kolë Laca at the Albanian national final

Unlike previous 4-star ratings I've awarded (Voyager, Blanca Paloma, Luke Black, Ladaniva) this one was less of a flash of brilliance and more of a grower. Within the first minute, the jangly strummed accompaniment in first verse, plus Beatriçe Gjergji's direct but plaintive vocal delivery, plus the lush orchestral strings in the chorus had already extracted a guaranteed 2 stars from me. Once the unsettlingly sparse middle section of fizzy synth bass under Kolë Laca's spoken word was over, this was a 3-star entry. Once I'd been misdirected by one bar of strumming calling back to the introduction (which was cut off by another strong rendition of the chorus to finish) I was wavering on whether to award 4 stars. By the time I'd found previous videos, I was tipped over into 4-star super-fan territory, knowing that Zjerm is not a one off: Shkodra Elektronike's back-catalogue is small but incorporates so many things I love: balkan brass, jazzy synth chords played over a 5-in-a-bar meter, and an E.P.'s worth of traditional Albanian folk songs with moody electronic accompaniment.

Zjerm itself has a slow tempo, 4 beats to a bar at 95bpm, with very slightly swung 16th notes. At points the first half of the bar contains the now-ubiquitous dembow (or tresillo) pattern, but the second half of the bar never does the same: we get plenty of rhythmic variety throughout the song, even though the foundation is a kick drum on every beat. I think I hesitated to award a 4-star rating because harmonically the song relies entirely on the "Andalusian cadence", an effective but very well-worn progression of 4 chords where the root notes of the chords form a descending bass line. In this case, the key is C minor and the oft-repeated chord progression is Cm-B♭-A♭-G7. The point of difference for this particular composition is that during the sparse spoken word section, almost all of this harmonic progression is silenced. None of the upper notes in the chords are present, and even the B♭ and G from the bassline are cut out, meaning that the only pitched sounds that remain are two of the bass notes, C and A♭. The alternation of these two disjointed notes creates a sparse, empty sound that contrasts with the richness of the orchestration elsewhere, all the while ensuring the structure of the chord progression stands unaffected. Not rocket science, but tastefully done.

Having seen the winning performance at Albania's national final, I'm confident that the live vocals will be very respectable in May's contest. In fact, Beatriçe's live delivery improved the overall performance by not slavishly imitating the recorded version and providing a more dramatic finish. My one fear about this entry is that it'll get a studio re-vamp before May (something the Albanian delegation has frequently done in previously years) and that it'll lose some character as a result. Fingers crossed!

Montenegro: Nina Žižić - "Dobrodošli" ★

A commendable performance which earned the right to represent Montenegro only after the original winner of the national final was forced to withdraw amid controversy. Dobrodošli is a quite straightforwardly constructed ballad in D minor, which has just enough melodic and harmonic interest to avoid zero stars from me, but as with most pop ballads, it definitely isn't something I'd choose to listen to.

Nina Žižić, truly an all-time contender for "Most Robbed Eurovision Performer"

Though the accompaniment is dull and predictable, the live performance from Montenegro's national final shows that Nina's voice is still in fine form. I say "still" because Nina has represented Montenegro at Eurovision before. And this is my main issue with Nina's 2025 entry: it is nowhere near as great as her previous effort.

Back in 2013 she sang alongside Who See, a hip hop duo. The spoken word verses of Igranka had reggaeton / dembow rhythms to accompany some pretty tidy flow from the MCs, delivered in Montenegrin. The introduction that also serves as a linking passage samples and chops up the vocals on the recorded version but is perfectly recreated live by Nina herself (no small technical feat). The chorus switches to a half-time dubstep wall of synths with a seasick sliding bass line that perfectly carries Nina's heroic vocal line. There's even an 8-bar bridge with some different harmony to add variety. Do yourself a favour: watch cyborg Nina from 2013 rise up from beneath the stage and hear her belt out the first chorus in Who See's Semi-Final performance, I promise you you'll be glad you did. I and many of the Eurovision commentators have put this on our all-time "Most Robbed" lists, and we remain bewildered that this didn't qualify for the Grand Final.

So welcome back, Montenegro, after missing 2 years of contests: I really hope Nina Žižić's excellent vocal skills will get her some more recognition and success in 2025, but I don't think this year's entry is destined for greatness, even though I'm optimistic about its qualification chances. And at least it's an excuse to rave about Igranka!

2 down, loads to go

Right, that's all there is for now, more 2025 Eurovision reviews as and when more entries are confirmed and I have a nice batch to summarise!