At the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, Austria asserted victory, her first since Conchita Wurst’s 2014 success. The 24-year-old countertenor Johannes Pietsch, known by his stage name JJ, delivered the winning performance in his song Wasted Love, a dramatic mix of opera, techno, and high-pitched soprano notes.
With JJ’s performance winning over both the expert juries and international telespectators, Austria claimed its third Eurovision crown. He imitates Conchita Wurst (2014) and Udo Jürgens (1966). More than 160 million people all around watched the event.
Yuval Raphael of Israel, a survivor of the October 7 assaults, took second place with his song New Day Will Rise. Pre-contest favorites, Swedish comedy trio KAJ, noted for their funny homage to saunas, came in fourth. Host country Switzerland, following Nemo’s victory last year, came in tenth.
Viennese native JJ, of Filipino-Austrian ancestry, called his victory “totally insane” and noted the song captures his deepest ideas. He stressed that “love is never wasted” and dubbed it “the strongest force on planet Earth.”
Celebrating his victory, Austrian leaders including Chancellor Christian Stocker and Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger lauded JJ for putting Austria in the European spotlight.
JJ offered to act as a television host for the program and expressed his wish that the contest next year be conducted in Vienna, which last held it in 2015. Officials jokingly noted, though, the difficulty in paying for the celebration with upcoming budget reductions.
