(courtesy Eurovision.tv)
We’re off to Austria!
The superbly passionate and gloriously operatic performance by Austria’s JJ aka Johannes Pietsch, a singer at the Vienna State Opera, garnered 258 points from the international jury vote, which was allocated first by the traditional appearance of representatives from all 37 competing countries, and 178 points from the popular public vote to win the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
It was looking for a good long while like Israel might take out this year’s contest with the current controversial actions of its government making it an unpopular choice for many fans of the event, which celebrate love, community and inclusion and which began in 1956 in Switzerland as an antidote to the violence and division of World War Two which had ended just over a decade before.
Under the new voting allocation method intended to generate tension for what can be a tediously drawn out voting process at times, Israel, which only attracted 60 votes from the juries, placing it fifteen out of the 26 countries that made it into the grand final (which was hosted in Basel, Switzerland, this year’s host country by Hazel Brugger, Michelle Hunziker and Sandra Studer), was given 297 votes from the public voting rocketing it up to first place overall.
Countries that had been predicted to win the event such as Sweden with its catchy “Bara Bada Bastu” by KAJ and France which pulled heavy on the heartstrings just one week after Mother’s Day with the soulful “Maman” by Louane, failed to dislodge Israel’s lead and it was only at the very last minute that Austria secured the 176 votes to add to its jury total of 258 and raced to a commanding lead of 436 points.
It was definitely tongue-in-mouth territory and the odd shifts in the voting patterns for Israel have lead to a request by a number of countries, led by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, for an urgent review of the televoting system used for Eurovision.
Whatever the controversies around the voting, JJ’s win was, in the end, a definitive and highly popular one with the artist arriving back home to great acclaim at the airport and by Austria’s Chancellor, Christian Stocker.
Vienna and Innsbruck have already indicated an interest in hosting the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest’s 70th anniversary event, which will no doubt benefit from being a landmark moment in the long and mostly storied of a contest which has grown to be one of the world’s largest and most enduringly popular.
The race has already started for the right to represent various countries at next year’s contest with the Netherlands already opening calls for songs from Dutch artists, eager to represent the country.
While some believe the contest is at a crossroads, and that it must undergo reform to remain viable and attractive to all of Europe, there’s no doubt that Eurovision remains immensely popular with some 200 million viewers worldwide including, for the grand final alone, 6.7 million in the UK, 450,000 in Australia (despite the country’s charismatically fun entrant, Go-Jo, failing to make the grand final with his song “Milkshake Man”) and the highest viewing figures in Germany since 2016.
While the voting might have stimulated great debate, and there will be no doubt be robust discussions about the future of the event in the months ago, the fact remains that the semi-finals and the grand final were heavily watched and the Eurovision Song Contest is still a darling of the international music set and a huge favourite of those who like their music contests epic, glittery, camp and more than a little quirky.
See you all in Austria in 2026!