Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

On 31 October 2014, RTCG announced at a press conference at RTCG Headquarters in Podgorica that Knez would represent Montenegro in Vienna. Knez previously attempted to represent Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 where he placed third in the artist selection. Knez also attempted to represent Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 where he placed seventeenth in their national final with the song "Navika".[6][7] In regards to his selection at the Montenegrin artist, Knez stated: "I'll do my best and invest all my experience and knowledge. At the same time I'm hoping to have a perfect song which will represent Montenegro in the best possible way."[8]

On 18 February 2015, RTCG announced that the Montenegrin song would be composed by Serbian singer-songwriter Željko Joksimović. Joksimović had previously represented Serbia and Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 and Serbia in 2012 where he placed second and third at the contests with the songs "Lane moje" and "Nije ljubav stvar", respectively. Joksimović had also previously composed the Bosnian and Serbian songs in 2006 and 2008, respectively.[9][10] In response to preparations surrounding the song, Knez stated: "I am very pleased with the composition which will represent our country and I can say that the reactions of those who had the opportunity to hear it are positive on first listen, as we inspire optimism that we will achieve a good result in Vienna."[11] The song, "Adio", written by Joksimović, Marina Tucaković and Dejan Ivanović, was presented on 17 March 2015 via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv with the official music video being released on 18 March 2015.[12][13]

In the lead up to the contest, Knez released English and French language versions of "Adio" on 29 April 2015.[14] The English version had lyrics written by Nicole Rodriguez, Tami Rodriguez, Dunja Vujadinović and Milica Fajgelj while lyrics for the French version were written by Rob Wolfson.[15]

Knez at a dress rehearsal for the second semi-final

Knez took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 16 May,[22][23] followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[24]

The stage show featured Knez in a black suit joined by five female backing vocalists dressed in black and green outfits. The clothing worn by all six performers was designed by Boško Jakovljević, while jewellery worn by the female backing vocalists was designed by Katarina Zlajić. In regards to the staging, the Montenegrin stage director, Marko Novaković, stated: "Considering that the song written by Željko Joksiković has some modern, but also some traditional, ethnic elements, the visual elements needs to follow the story of a song. What you will see during the performance on the LED floor and background is: the mountains, Adriatic sea, but also traditional Montenegrin dances".[22][23] The five female backing vocalists that joined Knez on stage were Dunja Vujadinović, Lena Kuzmanović, Ivana Vlahović, Jelena Pajić and his daughter, Ksenija Knežević.[25]

At the end of the show, Montenegro was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.[26] It was later revealed that the Montenegro placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 57 points.[27]

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Montenegro was drawn to compete in the second half.[28] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Montenegro was subsequently placed to perform in position 16, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from Germany.[29]

Knez once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show.[30] Knez performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 23 May. At the conclusion of the voting, Montenegro placed thirteenth with 44 points.[31][32]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[33] In the second semi-final, Montenegro's vote was based on 100 percent jury voting, which was implemented due to either technical issues with the televoting or an insufficient number of votes.[34] In the final, Montenegro's vote was based on 100 percent televoting after the EBU announced that it had disqualified the Montenegrin jury results in the final due to irregularities. The exclusion of the votes was decided upon in consultation with the contest's independent voting observer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and based upon the decision of the Executive Supervisor and the Chairman of the Reference Group.[35]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Montenegro had placed eighteenth with the public televote and twelfth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Montenegro scored 34 points, while with the jury vote, Montenegro scored 44 points.[36] In the second semi-final, Montenegro placed ninth with the public televote with 58 points and eleventh with the jury vote, scoring 47 points.[37]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Montenegro and awarded by Montenegro in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[27][32][34][38]

The following five members comprised the Montenegrin jury:[33]

• Ilija Dapčević – Chairperson – professor of music
• Aleksandra Vojvodić – professor of music, singer
• Darko Nikčević – musician
• Renata Perazić – musician
• Senad Drešević – composer

Split voting results from Montenegro (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	I. Dapčević	A. Vojvodić	D. Nikčević	R. Perazić	S. Drešević	Average Jury Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Lithuania	13	12	13	11	11	11
02	Ireland	9	9	9	9	10	9	2
03	San Marino	6	7	6	6	8	6	5
04	Montenegro
05	Malta	2	1	2	2	3	2	10
06	Norway	5	5	5	4	5	5	6
07	Portugal	7	6	7	7	6	7	4
08	Czech Republic	10	10	10	10	16	10	1
09	Israel	8	8	8	8	7	8	3
10	Latvia	12	13	11	14	14	13
11	Azerbaijan	4	4	4	5	4	4	7
12	Iceland	16	16	15	16	9	15
13	Sweden	3	3	1	3	2	3	8
14	Switzerland	14	14	12	15	13	14
15	Cyprus	15	15	16	13	15	16
16	Slovenia	1	2	3	1	1	1	12
17	Poland	11	11	14	12	12	12

Split voting results from Montenegro (final)
Draw	Country	Televote Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Slovenia	7	4
02	France	25
03	Israel	8	3
04	Estonia	10	1
05	United Kingdom	22
06	Armenia	15
07	Lithuania	24
08	Serbia	1	12
09	Norway	17
10	Sweden	6	5
11	Cyprus	21
12	Australia	13
13	Belgium	12
14	Austria	26
15	Greece	16
16	Montenegro
17	Germany	18
18	Poland	23
19	Latvia	11
20	Romania	20
21	Spain	9	2
22	Hungary	19
23	Georgia	14
24	Azerbaijan	3	8
25	Russia	4	7
26	Albania	2	10
27	Italy	5	6