BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Austrians had been preparing Sunday to welcome again dwelling and rejoice classically educated singer JJ, who received the 69th Eurovision Music Contest for his or her nation with “Wasted Love,” a music that mixes operatic, multi-octave vocals with a techno twist.
The 24-year-old countertenor, who sings on the Vienna State Opera, was anticipated to land at Vienna’s airport within the afternoon and maintain a press convention within the night.
JJ, whose full title is Johannes Pietsch, was Austria’s third Eurovision winner, after bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst in 2014 and Udo Jürgens in 1966.
“That is past my wildest desires. It’s loopy,” stated the singer when being handed the microphone-shaped glass Eurovision trophy after his win within the Swiss metropolis of Basel on Saturday night time.
“All of Austria is happy”
Austria’s leaders had been among the many first to congratulate JJ. On Sunday morning, the nation’s president, Alexander van der Bellen, celebrated JJ in a video posted on X.
“What a success! What a voice! What a show!” he exclaimed. “All of Austria is happy.”
Chancellor Christian Stoecker wrote on X: “What a great success — my warmest congratulations on winning #ESC2025! JJ is writing Austrian music history today!”
The Vienna State Opera additionally expressed pleasure over the win. “From the Magic Flute to winning the Song Contest is somehow a story that can only take place in Austria,” opera director Bogdan Roscic instructed the Austrian press company APA.
A number of Austrian cities had been fast to point out their curiosity in internet hosting subsequent yr’s contest. Innsbruck Mayor Johannes Anzengruber instructed APA that “not everything has to take place in Vienna. … Austria is bigger than that,” and the cities of Oberwart in Burgenland and Wels in Higher Austria additionally threw their hats into the ring.
JJ himself stated Saturday night time he hoped that Vienna would get the subsequent ESC which he would like to host collectively together with his mentor, Conchita Wurst.
A nail-biting closing
Israeli singer Yuval Raphael got here second at an exuberant celebration of music and unity that was shadowed by the Gaza conflict and rattled by discord over Israel’s participation.
JJ received after a nail-biting closing that noticed Raphael scoop up an enormous public vote from her many followers for her anthemic “New Day Will Rise.” However she additionally confronted protests from pro-Palestinian demonstrators calling for Israel to be kicked out of the competition over its conduct of the conflict towards Hamas in Gaza.
At a post-victory press convention, JJ stated the message of his music about unrequited romance was that “love is the strongest pressure on planet Earth, and love persevered.
“Let’s spread love, guys,” stated JJ, who added that he was honored to be the primary Eurovision champion with Filipino heritage, in addition to a proudly queer winner.
Eclectic and generally baffling
The world’s largest stay music occasion, which has been uniting and dividing Europeans since 1956, reached its glitter-drenched conclusion with a grand closing in Basel that provided pounding electropop, quirky rock and outrageous divas.
Acts from 26 international locations — trimmed from 37 entrants by means of two elimination semifinals — carried out to some 160 million viewers for the continent’s pop crown. No smoke machine, jet of flame or dizzying gentle show was spared by musicians who had three minutes to win over hundreds of thousands of viewers who, together with nationwide juries of music professionals, picked the winner.
Estonia’s Tommy Money got here third together with his jokey mock-Italian dance music “Espresso Macchiato.” Swedish entry KAJ, which had been favourite to win with jaunty sauna ode “Bara Bada Bastu,” got here fourth.
A number of extremely praised singers who had been tipped to win fell quick, together with French chanteuse Louane and soulful Dutch singer Claude.
The present was a celebration of Europe’s eclectic, and generally baffling, musical tastes.
The conflict in Gaza clouded the competition
This yr’s contest was roiled for a second yr by disputes over Israel’s participation. Raphael — a survivor of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on a music competition in southern Israel that triggered the Gaza conflict — was met by a mixture of cheers and boos as she sang.
Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR stated a person and lady had been stopped as they tried to climb over a barrier to the stage on the finish of her music. It stated a crew member was hit by paint thrown by the pair. Raphael’s staff stated she was left “shaken and upset.”
The Oct. 7 cross-border assaults by Hamas militants killed 1,200 folks, and roughly 250 had been taken hostage into Gaza. Greater than 52,800 folks in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, in keeping with the territory’s well being ministry.
Professional-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests each befell in Basel, although on a a lot smaller scale than ultimately yr’s occasion in Sweden.
A whole bunch of individuals marched by means of Basel simply earlier than the competitors, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Boycott Israel.” Basel police stated Sunday that the protest had not been approved and that three officers and one protester had been injured.
Earlier on Saturday, a bunch of Israel supporters had gathered in Basel’s cathedral sq. to root for Raphael and to point out that “Jews belong in public spaces in Switzerland,” Zurich resident Rebecca Laes-Kushner stated.
She stated that “that is imagined to be about music, not about hate.”
The European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, which runs Eurovision, tightened the competition’s code of conduct this yr, calling on contributors to respect Eurovision’s values of “universality, diversity, equality and inclusivity” and its political neutrality.
Eurovision director Martin Inexperienced instructed reporters that the organizers’ aim was to ”re-establish a way of unity, calm and togetherness this yr in a troublesome world.” He stated all 37 nationwide delegations “have behaved impeccably.”
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Grieshaber reported from Berlin.
