After much speculation that Austria would be revealing it’s act today, ORF have now confirmed that Johannes Pietsch, under his stage name JJ, will represent the Alpine nation the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in its neighbouring Switzerland.
Another internal for Austria
A decision to remain with an internal selection continues Austria’s streak of doing so; with Kaleen having been the eighth internal in a row for Austria. The last time an Austrian national final took place was in 2016, when Zoë won the right to represent her country with ‘Loin d’ici‘ at Wer singt für Österreich?. The announcement of JJ as Austria’s act came after great speculation in Austrian media over who would go to Basel. Among the names floated were Dominic Muhrer, Kayla Krystin, Nnoa, Philip Piller, as well as Paul Pizzera.
A familiar face in the songwriting team
TEYA, who represented Austria alongside Salena at Eurovision 2023 has been named the songwriter of JJ’s Eurovision entry, which will be released at the beginning of March, as per ÖRF.
Who is JJ?
23-year-old Johannes Pietsch was born in Vienna in 2001 to a family of mixed Austrian-Filipino heritage, and largely up in Dubai.
He rose to fame on talent shows The Voice UK in 2020 and Austria’s Starmania in 2021. He currently performs at the Vienna State Opera and is a student of classical music at Music and Art Private University of Vienna in his homeland.
Austria’s Eurovision Journey
In 1957, Austria made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest, where Bob Martin represented the landlocked nation with the song “Wohin, kleines Pony?”. At the close of voting, it managed to place 10th overall. Since their debut, Austria has participated 56 times (being in the final 49 times), and have won the competition on two occasions in 1966 and 2014.
For 2024, Kaleen was internally selected to represent Austria with their song “We Will Rave”. In Malmö, Kaleen qualified for the final, where she went on to finish in 24th place with 24 points. Of these, 5 points came from the televote and another 19 came from the juries.
Are you happy with XX representing Austria? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2025!
Source: ORF
Image credit: Thomas Wunderlich / Hitradio Ö3
Giwrgos Oiko 
Samantha