Austria’s JJ wins the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest with his operatic club anthem Wasted Love, beating Israel and Switzerland in a glitzy showdown.
Austria claimed the crown at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night, with countertenor opera singer JJ stunning audiences and juries alike with his dynamic anthem “Wasted Love.” Blending operatic vocals with an electrifying club beat, the track earned 436 points, winning the world’s most-watched music competition in a show bursting with spectacle and controversy.
Held at Basel’s St. Jakobshalle arena, this year’s 69th edition of Eurovision saw Austria come out on top after an evening of fierce musical rivalry. The votes were tallied from a mix of public viewers and professional juries across the 37 participating countries. JJ’s genre-defying performance began with soaring orchestral swells and crescendoed into a dance-floor-ready finale — showcasing both vocal power and modern pop appeal.
The result came despite intense anticipation for a rumored appearance by Celine Dion, who famously won Eurovision for Switzerland in 1988. Though the superstar didn’t attend due to ongoing health issues related to stiff-person syndrome, she did send a heartfelt video message earlier in the week, calling the contest “life-changing.”
Eurovision, known as much for its political subtext as its sequins and pyrotechnics, was no stranger to geopolitical tensions this year. Israel’s entry, Yuval Raphael, finished in second place with 357 points for her hopeful ballad “New Day Will Rise.” The song, written in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel — which left 1,200 dead and hundreds kidnapped — drew both applause and boos amid the broader controversy over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
Outside the venue, protests erupted over Israel’s inclusion in the contest. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and smoke bombs, calling for Israel’s expulsion from Eurovision, as Russia was in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.
Adding to the evening’s drama, Switzerland, a top contender, shocked the audience when it received no public votes. Gasps filled the arena, underscoring just how unpredictable Eurovision can be.
Elsewhere in the competition, Sweden’s entry from Finnish group KAJ brought Nordic humor with the quirky “Bara Bada Bastu,” a sauna-themed dance number featuring towel-clad dancers and a stage built like a steaming bathhouse. Despite being an audience favorite, the act failed to take home the win.
The night also delivered several unforgettable performances, including:
Norway’s Kyle Alessandro, 19, who opened the show in chainmail for his fiery performance of “Lighter”
Finland’s Erika Vikman, whose sultry “Ich Komme” ended with her suspended mid-air on a spark-emitting mic stand
Poland’s Justyna Steczkowska, returning to Eurovision 30 years later with a Game of Thrones-style spectacle complete with CGI dragons and aerial lifts
This year’s competition marked a return to Switzerland, where Eurovision first began in 1956 with only seven countries. Now a global TV event watched by hundreds of millions — more than the Super Bowl — Eurovision continues to unite nations through music and glitzy showmanship.
A total of 163 million viewers tuned in to last year’s final and semifinals. While numbers for 2025 aren’t yet confirmed, the buzz surrounding “Wasted Love” and its powerful performance all but guarantees that JJ’s victory will send the song skyrocketing on European charts.
Eurovision has launched the global careers of superstars like ABBA and Celine Dion, and with his standout performance, JJ might just follow in their footsteps. While most contestants won’t reach that level, many leave with legions of new fans.
For Britain’s group Remember Monday, who didn’t win, the journey was still priceless. As band member Holly-Anne Hull said in an earlier interview, “We aren’t even doing it for the live show. We’re doing it for the fact that we can live in this band every single day up until that moment.”
Whether victorious or not, Eurovision remains a dream-making machine — and in 2025, that dream belonged to Austria’s JJ.
