At the start of this year, broadcaster ORF announced that JJ would be representing Austria at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Wasted Love’.
While Austria qualified for the Grand Final last year with Kaleen‘s ‘We Will Rave’, they placed 24th out of 25 entries so will be hoping the relatively new artist can bring them more success in Basel this year.
Read on to learn all about JJ and his journey to Eurovision!
Who is JJ?
JJ is the stage name of 23-year-old Johannes Pietsch who was born in Vienna to Austrian and Filipino parents before moving to Dubai, where JJ remained until 2016 when the family returned to Austria. He earned the nickname JJ from his classmates who struggled to pronounce Johannes.
From an early age, JJ took part in singing and when his voice broke he realised his singing voice continued to be very high. In fact, JJ is a countertenor which is the highest vocal range for a male singer and is equivalent in range to a female mezzo-soprano or contralto vocal types. JJ’s vocal range is such that he can reach into the high soprano heights, something that is very difficult for many male (and even female) singers to achieve.
JJ is currently training at the Vienna State Opera’s Opera School and is studying classical music at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK).
Career So Far
In 2020, when JJ was just 18, he auditioned for The Voice UK having missed the application deadline for The Voice of Germany. JJ auditioned with the song ‘The Sound of Music’ from the titular musical. Typically performed by a female soprano, JJ’s voice surprised many, including the judges who were expecting to turn their chairs and see a woman! You can watch his blind audition below:
JJ was mentored by will.i.am and made it to the show’s battle rounds before he was eliminated. The following year, he took part in the Austrian singing contest Starmania where he made it to the show’s first final.
Since then, JJ has been performing his craft through focusing on his studies and has performed in many productions as part of the Vienna State Opera including Mozart‘s The Magic Flute.
Eurovision 2025
Since 2017, ORF have internally selected Austria’s Eurovision entries. However, for the first time the broadcaster held a songwriting camp in order to find the best Eurovision songs and artists. The most promising entries were whittled down by a team of music industry professionals as well as eurofans. Ultimately, this led to ‘Wasted Love’ by JJ being selected. The song was co-written by JJ himself, alongside Thomas Turner and half of Austria’s Eurovision 2023 act TEYA. The song blends pop with JJ’s distinctive operatic vocals and lyrically deals with the end of a relationship and all the wasted love the singer has no way of giving. Knowledge of JJ’s vocal capabilities created a buzz around the entry, leading to Austria being in the top 10 of the odds to win before it was even released!
ORF are certainly confident with their entry, with programme director Stefanie Groiss Horowitz saying:
JJ is an exceptional talent! With him, we are sending a unique artist to Basel who brings his own magic to the Eurovision Song Contest stage, with captivating pop and classical singing.
Austria will perform in the first half of the second semi-final on Thursday 15th May. While we’ll have to wait until then to see how JJ will fare, we certainly wish him the best of luck!
You can follow JJ on social media:
Instagram – @johannesjjpietsch
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