“Wasted Love”: The Austrian entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest by Johannes Pietsch

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Johannes Pietsch, an Austro-Filipino singer, aka JJ represents Austria at the Song Contest. The song is called “Wasted Love”. It was presented to the public on Thursday, 7 March 2025.

The Austrian entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest by Johannes Pietsch aka JJ was presented to the public on Thursday morning – as usual on Ö3-Wecker.

The song is called “Wasted Love” and sounds, and it stands out. Quite a bit. That’s certainly no disadvantage in the Song Contest, where the shrill, garish, loud, unconventional and queer like to score points.

The song mainly stands out because Johannes Pietsch earns his living as a countertenor. In other words, he can sing so high that you get the feeling he’s whistling – and it immediately shatters your eardrums, or at least the window panes in his immediate vicinity. Fortunately, all the glasses and window panes fortunately remained intact at the presentation, which was fittingly held in the Vienna State Opera.

JJ was also naturally relieved about this, as he is a regular guest at the State Opera and can be seen there in various productions: He attended an opera performance here for the first time at the age of 11 with his grandparents. He then taught himself to sing using YouTube videos. Today, he studies classical music at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK).

Back to “Wasted Love”: the song begins quietly, is reminiscent of a classical opera aria, and (apart from JJ’s vocal range) seems completely harmless, but it has not been produced using any pop template suitable for the masses. Plucked strings and flattering melodies can be heard in the background. After 30 seconds, you’re already looking forward to the chorus. And it comes. Vocally, it goes at least one level higher. The eardrums hold, and there are still no cracks in the windows.

It’s hard to understand what the 23-year-old is saying in a shrill tone (sounds a bit like tinnitus). But it’s not because it’s English and the sung frequencies are perhaps no longer in the audible range, but because words are sung over several bars (as is often the case in opera). You can only say this much: JJ is suffering. “You left me in the deep end / I’m drowning in my feelings / How do you not see that?” So it’s not a happy number. And the lyrics could easily fit on a folded handkerchief.

A handkerchief might also come in handy. After JJ sang “Wasted Love” about 30 times, things got pretty dramatic and wild in the last 20 seconds, which felt like half an eternity. At the end there’s something like a high C. A cry for help. Ouch. It’s upsetting, confusing. The only thing you can say so soon after the song is that you definitely don’t want to listen to it again immediately. What is bad for a pop career can work at the Song Contest, because Austria will surely attract attention.

Incidentally, JJ got help with the songwriting from Thomas Turner and Teya (Teodora Špirić), who herself took part in the ESC for Austria two years ago – together with Salena and the song “Who The Hell Is Edgar?”. The two made it to 15th place in Liverpool with their song. However, this year’s ESC entry from Austria is an aria and a complete contrast to “We Will Rave”, with which Kaleen competed in Malmö in 2024 and came 24th.

Song Contest: Viennese duo in the semi-finals of the German preliminary round
JJ will have to fight for his final ticket for the final round on 15 May. The chances of him succeeding are currently good. In the ESC betting odds, Austria is currently in 5th place, tied with Estonia (as of Wednesday morning), so before the official presentation of the song. Let’s see where Austria will be afterwards.