The Eurovision Song Contest is heading towards its 70th edition, which will take place in Vienna (Austria) on May 12, 14, and 16 at the Wiener Stadthalle.<\/p>\n
Montenegro returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2025 and, just like in its last two editions, the public broadcaster RTCG once again relied on its national competition Montesong to select its representative.<\/p>\n
15 artists with their respective original entries competed for the ticket to Vienna 2026. In the end, Tamara \u017divkovi\u0107 became the winner with \u201cNova Zora\u201d, after being the most voted by the professional jury and achieving second place in the public televote.<\/p>\n
How has she reached Eurovision? What experience does she have in the music industry? How is she preparing her entry for Vienna 2026?<\/p>\n
On this occasion, we review the musical career of Tamara \u017divkovi\u0107, the context of her candidacy, and her song. The Montenegrin representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will attempt to take her country to the Grand Final with \u201cNova Zora\u201d, in what will be Montenegro\u2019s 14th participation in the European contest.<\/p>\n
This is Tamara \u017divkovi\u0107, a young talent who has performed across the main Balkan stages<\/p>\n
Tamara \u017divkovi\u0107 was born on 5 June 2000 in Kotor, a coastal town in the southwest of the country. A professional singer and flautist, she began her musical training at a very young age at the local conservatory, developing both her vocal and instrumental technique. She currently divides her life between her hometown and Belgrade, where she studies at the University of Arts.<\/p>\n
From the beginning, she participated in numerous children\u2019s festivals in Montenegro and the Balkan region. At just 14 years old she gave her first solo concert, combining the flute with her voice, which already showed her artistic versatility. Among her early notable experiences is her victory at the Glas Boke festival in 2019, as well as her participation in events such as Beogradsko Prole\u0107e.<\/p>\n
Her television debut came in 2016 on Pinkove Zvezdice, although she did not manage to reach the final stages. Even so, this experience allowed her to become known in the regional scene. Later, in 2022, she participated in Zvezde Granda, one of the most popular music competitions in Serbia, where she reached the grand final. There she was evaluated by a jury that included Marija \u0160erifovi\u0107, the winner of Eurovision 2008.<\/p>\n
Her official recording debut did not come until 2024 with the single \u201cDa Li Smesh?\u201d, with which she participated in the Belgrade Spring Festival. That same year she took part in Montesong with \u201cPoguban Let\u201d, entering as a reserve. In 2025 she continued expanding her repertoire with songs such as \u201cPro\u0161la Godina\u201d, \u201cBez Kontrole\u201d and \u201cKona\u010dno Svoja\u201d, the latter presented at the Biser Jadrana Festival in Tivat. In addition to her solo career, she has worked as a backing vocalist for various established artists, enriching her musical experience. Her influences range from pop to electronic sounds, with references such as Lady Gaga or Rosal\u00eda.<\/p>\n
In 2025 she won Montesong with the song \u201cNova Zora\u201d, becoming Montenegro\u2019s representative at Eurovision 2026.<\/p>\n
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\n
\n<\/p>\n
This is \u201cNova Zora\u201d, the proposal by Tamara \u017divkovi\u0107 to represent Montenegro at Eurovision 2026<\/p>\n
Tamara \u017divkovi\u0107 defends the colors of Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with \u201cNova Zora (New Dawn)\u201d, a song written by the Serbian composer Boris Suboti\u0107, with production by Marko Dreznjak.<\/p>\n
The Montenegrin-language pop entry brings to the Eurovision stage a message of female empowerment, dignity, and the defense of women\u2019s rights to \u201cchoose their own path\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNova Zora\u201d was built as a \u201csong that encourages and reminds us that female strength is not taken for granted, but respected.\u201d For this reason, the entry is conceived as a manifesto of support for fighting women in their daily lives. The protagonist tries to break free from restraints, symbolizing that \u201cnew dawn\u201d as the moment when all chains are broken.<\/p>\n
Lyrics<\/p>\n
Montenegrin<\/p>\n
Ko je ovdje ko?
Ma kraj je
Moj je ja\u010di hod,
Za dalje
Iz srca sad vadim olovo,
Sve je gotovo,
Sve je gotovo<\/p>\n
Lijepe \u017eene, jake kao stijene.
Lijepe \u017eene, lijepe su zbog sebe.
Finally breathin\u2019 and finding love inside.<\/p>\n
Ki\u0161a traje, ki\u0161a traje,
Nebo znak mi daje
Grmi sijeva, grmi sijeva,
Sudbina se mijenja
Oe oe oe oe eo oe eo,
Iza gora, iza mora,
Rodila se nova zora
Nova zora<\/p>\n
Ko si ti da mi pri\u010da\u0161,
Ko sam ja?
Da l\u2019 \u0107u do\u0107 ili po\u0107?
Ja sam oti\u0161la.
Sve sto vodi do tebe,
Sam sru\u0161ila.
Iz tvojih otrova,
Se sunce probija,
I nova zora zasija.<\/p>\n
Lijepe \u017eene, jake kao stijene.
Lijepe \u017eene, lijepe su zbog sebe.
Finally breathin\u2019 and finding love inside<\/p>\n
Ki\u0161a traje, ki\u0161a traje,
Nebo znak mi daje
Grmi sijeva, grmi sijeva,
Sudbina se mijenja
Oe oe oe oe oe
Iza gora, iza mora,
Rodila se nova zora<\/p>\n
Nema okova, nema okova,
Nema
K\u2019o od gromova ro\u0111ena
\u017dena
Nema okova, nema okova,
Nema
K\u2019o od gromova ro\u0111ena
\u017dena<\/p>\n
English<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s who here?
That\u2019s the end of it.
My stride is stronger,
For what\u2019s ahead.
Now I\u2019m pulling the lead out of my heart,
It\u2019s all over,
It\u2019s all over.<\/p>\n
Beautiful women, strong as stone.
Beautiful women, beautiful for their own sake.
Finally breathin\u2019 and finding love inside.<\/p>\n
The rain goes on, the rain goes on,
The sky is giving me a sign.
Thunder, lightning \u2013 thunder, lightning,
Fate is changing.
Oe oe oe oe eo oe eo,
Beyond the mountains, beyond the sea,
A new dawn has been born.
A new dawn.<\/p>\n
Who are you to tell me
Who I am?
Will I come or will I go?
I left.
Everything that leads to you
I tore down.
From your poisons
The sun breaks through,
And a new dawn shines.<\/p>\n
Beautiful women, strong as stone.
Beautiful women, beautiful for their own sake.
Finally breathin\u2019 and finding love inside.<\/p>\n
The rain goes on, the rain goes on,
The sky is giving me a sign.
Thunder, lightning \u2013 thunder, lightning,
Fate is changing.
Oe oe oe oe oe,
Beyond the mountains, beyond the sea,
A new dawn has been born.<\/p>\n
No shackles, no shackles,
None.
A woman born
As if from thunder.
No shackles, no shackles,
None.
A woman born
As if from thunder.<\/p>\n
Montenegro at Eurovision: A Quick History<\/p>\n
Montenegro debuted in Eurovision in 2007. Since then, it has had a trajectory marked by irregularity and the financial difficulties of its public broadcaster. <\/p>\n
It has only managed two qualifications to the final: in 2014 with Sergej \u0106etkovi\u0107 (19th) and in 2015 with Knez, who achieved its best result with 13th place thanks to \u00abAdio\u00bb. The rest of its participations have ended in the semi-finals or have been marked by absences in 2010, 2011, 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n
After its return in 2022 without success with Vladana, it came back in 2025 with Nina \u017di\u017ei\u0107, who presented a powerful vocal proposal with a classic Balkan style, but finished 16th in the semi-finals, failing to connect enough with the televote to reach the final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eurovision Song Contest is heading towards its 70th edition, which will take place in Vienna (Austria) on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20858],"tags":[20859,20860],"class_list":{"0":"post-36231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eurovision","8":"tag-eurovision","9":"tag-eurovision-song-contest-2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}