JJ secures the ESC final ticket for Austria: All winners in the 2nd Semi-Final 2025

The warm-up round has been successfully completed: Austria's ESC candidate JJ managed to enter the final round of the world's largest music competition on Thursday evening in the 2nd semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel. The 24-year-old, with his counter-ballad "Wasted Love," is among the ten candidates out of the 16-member field who secured a ticket for the ESC final on Saturday. Thus, JJ has confirmed his co-favorite status of the past weeks.

69th Eurovision Song Contest: Austria is in the Final

After all, the young singer and thus Austria have been in 2nd place according to the betting offices for a long time - in the final, mind you. On Saturday, it will get serious for JJ in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel when he has to compete against 25 other countries, aiming for another red-white-red Song Contest triumph after Conchita's victory in 2014.

The Winners in the 2nd ESC Semi-Final 2025

Song Contest in Basel: These Countries Are Out

Austria's top favorite at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel has made it: The countertenor JJ secured his ticket for the grand final on Saturday with his popera anthem "Wasted Love" during the 2nd semi-final of the mega event on Thursday evening. Thus, Austria was one of a total of ten countries that managed to prevail in the 16-member field and is now fighting for victory in the final round of the 69th ESC.

Eurovision Song Contest: Everything Is Now Possible

JJ, who entered the race with starting position 6, has long been seen as one of the top favorites for the ESC crown. The betting offices rank the state opera-experienced artist in 2nd place - behind Sweden's fun group KAJ with their sauna number "Bara Bada Bastu," which especially delighted the humor-loving ESC fan base in advance. However, since not only the fan bubble votes in the final, everything seems possible on Saturday - also and not least for Austria, which impresses with monumental monochrome.

In Basel, it is becoming apparent that after the scandal contest in Malmö last year with large demonstrations and disruptions in the hall against the Israeli entry, the ESC entourage is shifting back to a party atmosphere. Nevertheless, there were also disruptions with whistles and Palestinian flags during the performance of this year's Israeli candidate Yuval Raphael - a survivor of the Hamas massacre of October 2023 - with "New Day Will Rise." Despite this, the singer qualified for the final.

Sex Before Politics

Besides these political aspects, one topic dominated the second semi-final: sex. This was already evident in the opening number, Australia's candidate Go-Jo, who presented himself so lasciviously as the "Milkshake Man" that it raises the question of which milk is being referred to here. However, there is no longer an answer to this, as Australia surprisingly had to exit the competition.

Instead, there was a final ticket for Malta's candidate Miriana Conte. She originally wanted to enter the race with the song title "Kant" - a word that means "song" in Maltese, makes German speakers think of the philosopher, but reminds English speakers of the unequivocal "Cunt." The European Broadcasting Union protested, and so Conte secured her final ticket under the title "Serving" - with an erotic performance nonetheless.

However, Conte was overshadowed in lasciviousness by her Finnish colleague Erika Vikman (which has no suggestive meaning in Finnish), who chose the German title "Ich komme" for her perfectly constructed, harder electronic number about female desire. The song is exactly about what it says on the tin - earning a clear final ticket and a co-favorite role. A truly hot number, in the literal sense, where you might want to briefly send the kids out of the room during family evening, and which is slowly becoming a dark horse favorite.

Also Surprising Climbers

Otherwise, Luxembourg's pop princess Laura Thorn ("La Poupée Monte Le Son"), Lithuania's young grunge band Katarsis with "Tavo Akys," or the Latvian Enya-like Tautumeitas ("Bur Man Laimi") also advanced to the final round. Here, Greece's Klavdia with "Asteromáta" can also continue, while Sissal from Denmark surprisingly can now have "Hallucination" in the final. And finally, Armenia's shirtless Parg, choreographed by Austria's last year's candidate Kaleen, can continue to celebrate as a "Survivor."

Czech Republic's Adonxs, behind whom stood, among others, Austria's third-place finisher from 2018, Cesár Sampson, must, however, return home, as was the case for Ireland's Emmy with a helium-increased voice. And Serbia's Princ will no longer become an ESC king.

It will be exciting for JJ in the final, not least because, unlike in the semi-finals, both the international audience and the expert juries will vote here. And they are likely to favor the number "Wasted Love," written by JJ, Thomas Turner, and Austria's ESC candidate from Liverpool, Teya, over the Swedish fun number. From 9 PM, Andi Knoll will accompany the domestic viewers through the ESC final evening on ORF 1, which is likely to be more exciting for Austria than it has been in years.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.