JJ rocks the charts: After ESC victory, the vertebrae comes around Israel!

JJ rocks the charts: After ESC victory, the vertebrae comes around Israel!

The 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which took place on May 17, 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, caused excitement with its winner, JJ from Austria. JJ convinced the audience with his powerful song "Wasted Love" and scored a total of 436 points, which he took first place. Millions of spectators: Interior worldwide followed the event, which once again demonstrated its importance as a traditional music event. The competition, which was first held in 1956, remains a central TV event in Europe and enjoyed a global viewer interest of around 170 million this year, which is an increase compared to the previous year.

JJ’s victory did not come without controversy. In an interview, he expressed resentment that Israel continued to participate in the competition and expressed hope that the contest could take place in Vienna next year without Israel. This statement caused excitement and discussions, since Israel competed with the song "New Day Will Rise" by Yuval Raphael and received 297 points in the audience vote, while JJ got 178 points. However, the national juries awarded 258 points to "Wasted Love", which ultimately became the overall winner. The conflict about the methods of coordination and the advertising campaigns that initiated some countries in favor of their artists led to protests from several European broadcasters.

controversial coordination and protests

The discussion about the methods of voting was reinforced when broadcasters from Spain, Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland demanded that the results to be checked for possible manipulations. It is critically noted that spectators can vote up to 20 times, which contradicts fair competition. Despite these concerns, Martin Green, the director of Eurovision, defended the integrity of the voting system. In addition, the independent factual test platform of the EBU, Spotlight, made it clear that Israeli advertising campaigns do not violate the competition rules, although they are criticized.

This incident shows that the ESC is not only a musical event, but also a platform for political and social discussions. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez even called for a general ban for Israel, which further fueled the tensions about the country's participation. Despite all the controversy, JJ from Yuval Raphael received praise for his performance, which is encouraging for the artistic community.

jj’s come and go

After his triumphal victory, JJ experienced another success the following week: he reached number 1 on the Austria Top 40 with "Wasted Love", which can now record more than 10 million YouTube clicks. After the ESC, JJ took part in promo appearances in Germany, France, Finland and Great Britain. On June 7th he will appear live on Orf2 at the "Starnacht am Neusiedlersee", where other well -known artists such as Howard Carpendale and Aura Dione are expected.

While JJ is in focus of the public, the musicians and fans look forward to the upcoming events. The Frequency Festival, at which Tommy Cash will occur on August 15, as well as the appearances of Abor & Tynna in Vienna Flex and at the Diversity Ball in Vienna promise exciting highlights. It remains to be seen whether the political debate about Israel will continue to influence the cultural event next year.

Developments in the follow -up reporting of the ESC take a decisive look at the interactions between music, public and political statements, which should only increase the fascination for this competition in the future.

Current charts:

For more information and detailed reporting on the events related to the Eurovision Song Contest, including JJ’s controversies and successes, take a look at the reports from OE24 href = "https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-855019"> JPOST and Statista .