Austria has come out on prime for this yr’s Eurovision Track Contest with 436 votes for singer-songwriter JJ, who beat Israel’s Yuval Raphael.
This makes the nation’s third win following earlier victories in 1966 and 2014 – this makes Austria the nation with the longest hole between years at 48.
The 24-year-old JJ – actual identify Johannes Pietsch – gained Eurovision 2025 with ‘Wasted Love’, a stirring pop tune with parts of classical opera. The awards ceremony was held in Basel, Switzerland.
Pietsch stored his thank-you speech quick, telling the gang: “Love is the strongest pressure on the earth. Let’s unfold extra love.” He adopted it up with a rousing encore efficiency of ‘Wasted Love’.
JJ beat out Raphael, whose efficiency of ‘New Day Will Rise’ acquired a major push in votes from the general public after simply garnering 60 votes from the assorted European juries. They completed in second place with 357 votes in whole. Watch JJ’s efficiency of ‘Wasted Love’ beneath.
Earlier this week, NME reported the bookers’ odds of Eurovision 2025 winners, with Austria’s JJ at 21 per cent in second place. Sweden’s KAJ had been the bookers’ favourites, though the ultimate outcomes positioned them at fourth place with 321 factors.
See the total checklist of winners beneath.
There was controversy surrounding this yr’s occasion after over 70 former Eurovision contestants signed a letter calling to ban Israel. The letter stated that the inclusion of Israel within the 2024 version led to it being “essentially the most politicised, chaotic and ugly within the competitors’s historical past”.
It additionally accused KAN of being “complicit in Israel’s genocide in opposition to the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and navy occupation in opposition to all the Palestinian folks”, and claimed that the EBU was “normalising and whitewashing its crimes”.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ additionally requested Eurovision for a dialogue over Israel’s involvement within the tune contest.
UK’s Keep in mind Monday, who completed in nineteenth place, spoke to NME about competing on this yr’s tune contest in Basel – and revealed that Queen‘s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was a serious affect on their “chaotic” power-pop tune ‘What the Hell Simply Occurred?’
Estonia’s Eurovision 2025 entry Tommy Money, who completed third with 356 factors, additionally lately spoke to NME concerning the inspirations behind his controversial tune ‘Espresso Macchiato’ and his hopes for successful.