The Austrian singer JJ won the Eurovision Songfestival in Basel on Saturday night with his Popopperalied ‘Wasted Love’. He got 436 points. Israel came in second with 357 points. The Dutch participant Claude finished in twelfth place, with 175 points.
The classically trained countertenor defeated 25 other participants during the final of the 69th edition of the festival in the Swiss city. A total of 37 countries took part in the event, eleven of them dropped out on Tuesday and Thursday at two semi -finals.
The 24-year-old JJ was one of the favorites in advance and also came out as the winner after the count of the points of the 37 national juries. In addition, he received 258 points and host country Switzerland was second with 214 points. Claude finished fifth in that classification, with 133 points.
Viennese State Opera
JJ, artist name for Johannes Pietsch, sings with the Viennese state opera. Pop, opera and techno are mixed in ‘Wasted Love’. He sings the couplets with a regular popfals set the chorus with his powerful opera mem.
The Israeli singer Yuval Raphael scored at the audience’s point count with her power ballad ‘New Day Will Rise’, making her a big leap in the final classification. Raphael is a survivor of the terror attack of Hamas of 7 October 2023 at the Nova Festival is Israel.
During the final, a confrontation arose between Pro-Palestinian demonstrators and the local police on Saturday evening. The demonstrators oppose the participation of Israel in the Songfestival. The police would have deployed rubber bullets and tear gas, among other things.
JJ responded delighted to his victory. “” This surpasses my wildest dreams, it is amazing, “he said when he receives the trophy. It is the third time that Austria has won the Songfestival. In 1966 Udo Jürgens won with ‘Merci, Chérie’. In 2014, the Bearded Drag Queen Conix ‘.
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