Austria Welcomes JJ Back Home With Cheers, Hugs And Roses After He Wins The Eurovision Song Contest

“Austria welcomes JJ back home with cheers, hugs and roses after he wins the Eurovision Song Contest”

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian followers enthusiastically welcomed classically educated singer JJ again residence at Vienna airport on Sunday after he received the 69th Eurovision Tune Contest with “Wasted Love.”

As JJ walked via the gate, a whole bunch of followers cheered, some performed his tune and others surrounded the brand new star, hugging him and asking for autographs.

The 24-year-old countertenor, whose successful tune combines operatic, multi-octave vocals with a techno twist, and who additionally sings on the Vienna State Opera, held up his trophy in a single hand and a giant bouquet of roses within the different. He smiled, wiped away tears and instructed the gang “that victory is for you.”

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.

“This is beyond my wildest dreams. It’s crazy,” mentioned the singer when being handed the microphone-shaped glass Eurovision trophy after his win within the Swiss metropolis of Basel on Saturday evening.

On Sunday evening, JJ instructed reporters in Vienna that “I don’t think you’ll realize that you did it at all until you’re on your deathbed.”

‘All of Austria is happy’

Austria’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 have 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 mentioned he hoped that Vienna would get the subsequent ESC which he would like to host collectively along with his mentor, Conchita Wurst.

A nail-biting remaining

Israeli singer Yuval Raphael got here second at an exuberant celebration of music and unity that was shadowed by the Gaza warfare and rattled by discord over Israel’s participation.

JJ received after a nail-biting remaining that noticed Raphael scoop up a large 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 warfare in opposition to Hamas in Gaza.

At a post-victory press convention, JJ mentioned the message of his tune about unrequited romance was that “love is the strongest force on planet Earth, and love persevered.

“Let’s spread love, guys,” mentioned 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 remaining in Basel that supplied pounding electropop, quirky rock and outrageous divas.

Acts from 26 nations — trimmed from 37 entrants via 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 thousands and thousands of viewers who, together with nationwide juries of music professionals, picked the winner.

Estonia’s Tommy Money got here third along with his jokey mock-Italian dance tune “Espresso Macchiato.” Swedish entry KAJ, which had been favourite to win with jaunty sauna ode “Bara Bada Bastu,” got here fourth.

The present was a celebration of Europe’s eclectic, and generally baffling, musical tastes.

The warfare 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 warfare — was met by a mixture of cheers and boos as she sang.

Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR mentioned a person and lady have been stopped as they tried to climb over a barrier to the stage on the finish of her tune. It mentioned a crew member was hit by paint thrown by the pair. Raphael’s workforce mentioned she was left “shaken and upset.”

The Oct. 7 cross-border assaults by Hamas militants killed 1,200 folks, and roughly 250 have been taken hostage into Gaza. Greater than 52,800 folks in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, based on the territory’s well being ministry.

Professional-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests each occurred in Basel, although on a a lot smaller scale than ultimately yr’s occasion in Sweden.