Good looks, confidence and an upbeat song proved to be no match against the tough competition in last night's semi-final and Morena failed to qualify for tomorrow's Eurovision final in Belgrade.
Malta sorely needed to qualify after two consecutive dismal rankings and everybody was banking on Morena's ability to woo Europe's voting public with her good looks and confidence - the charm failed to work its magic.
This coupled with an energetic song, composed by Philip Vella and penned by Gerard James Borg, should have proved to be a winning combination.
A gloomy mood hung over the Maltese in Serbia, as people began to question and analyse what could have gone wrong. What ingredients did Malta have to concoct to qualify for the final?
Despite this, Morena was taking the loss in her stride and last night went to party at the Euroclub with the other contestants.
Described by critics as the entry with "the catchiest introduction this year", and predicted by fans' polls to place among the top 10, Vodka, with its Eastern European influences, failed to rank.
After 15 minutes of televoting, the presenters Jovana Jankovic and Zeljko Joksimovic turned up with the 10 envelopes in hand. After the nine countries were announced and one envelope was left people started shouting, "Malta, Malta", but instead Portugal was read out.
For the past week, the 24-year-old Gozitan has been walking a tightrope of odds as predictions over her placing varied between the unimpressed bookmakers and the more optimistic fans and press.
The 2008 Europrediction of the oikotimes.com was placing Malta in ninth place as a likely qualifier for tomorrow's final, and in its review of the afternoon's rehearsal, the website, renowned for not mincing its words, praised Morena's singing and said, "It looks likely to be in the final shake-up".
Meanwhile, the bookmakers have never budged, and Malta remained stuck between the 13th and 14th place.
Irrespective of the fact that Malta failed to place, whoever competes next year will still have to start off in one of two semi-finals, after the European Broadcasting Union changed the regulations in a bid to create a fairer competition.
The first nine entries from last night's show were chosen through televoting, while the 10th was selected by a jury.
The 10 finalists that qualified, in the order they were announced, are: Ukraine, Croatia, Albania, Iceland, Georgia, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Turkey, and Portugal.
The scoreboard featuring the final results of the two semi-finals will not be revealed until after tomorrow's final so as not to prejudice the public vote on the night.