The “popra”, the karaoke, fellow in Wurst and the coming out: who is JJ, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025

Triumphed atEurovision Song Contest 2025both among the popular and televoting juries. AND Johannes Petschbetter known with the JJ art nameAustrian of Philippine origins, who from the beginning was one of the favorites (it was the second most listed by bookmakers, after Sweden) with the piece between Techno and Opera Wasted Love: if you happened to look at the final on Rai Uno, He was the boy who sang very high notes alternating with very low on a boat shaved by the waves, attached to the treedevastated by a tormented love, while the coffers exploded a pounding rhythm. In short: not exactly something you could not notice.

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The “Mix” family

But who is JJ? Biographies say that Johannes was born in Vienna on April 29, 2001 by Austrian father, computer technician, and by Filipino mother, cook (yesterday present in Basel and long embraced, in tears, by the singer). He would have visited in Dubai until 2016, and then returned to Austria and then enrolled in the University in Vienna, Muk, a private university of music and art. Talk German, English, French and Tagalog. On Radio Bocconi, a few days ago, he told how he received the news that he had been taken at the Eurovision 2025: “I was going to the university in the center of Vienna, when they called me and said I would go to the Eurovision. I started crying in the middle of the road and I couldn’t believe it».

JJ smiles during an Austrian radio interview Orf in Vienna

Joe Klamar/Getty Images

From the “Poper” to Conchita Wurst

Johannes from an early age he loved music, with The father who started it to classical musicand sing, al Karaoke organized by the mother at homeand it was the grandmother who encouraged him to study music and singing, noting that the nephew managed to achieve the highest notes, from against tenor, and the lower ones: a vocal extension that had to be grown.

Conchita Wurst to Beatrice he shows in Berlin in April 2025
Conchita Wurst to Beatrice he shows in Berlin, in April 2025Adam Berry/Getty Images

“My varied origins helped me to have an open mind,” Pregevision had declared in the interviews. “AND The “popra”, the mix between pop music and work, has always fascinated me». He attended Vienna’s lyrical school.
JJ is not a new face for the Austrian and European public: in 2020 he participated in The Voice UK, reaching the final stages. In 2021 he took part in the Austrian talent show Stormiareaching the semifinal. Also, he collaborated with Conchita Wurstthe drag icon that we met at Eurovision 2014, who had won with the song Rise Like in Phoenix: A month ago a version with JJ came out.

Coming Out and the invitation: “Let’s love each other”

A month ago JJ did his own coming outfor which it has also become an artist symbol of pride and representation for the LGBTQIA+community. The site Gay.it reports the singer’s words to the Austrian portal Queer: «I too I am part of the Queer community And I am proud to be able to represent and give it a voice. At this moment I feel I am a point of reference for the Queer community in Austria, but also for all the people who recognize themselves in my path. The message I want to transmit is simple: Let’s love each other, because love is what the most beautiful exists, while hatred is the most destructive there is. If we learn to support each other, everything can really improve ».

The meaning of Wasted Love

In his song Wasted Loveexpresses a connected concept: It doesn’t matter if love should be wasted, “Wasted”, the important thing is to love. He said to The Independent: “This song perfectly captures my experience of unrequited love … there is a type of suffering in having so much love to give but not finding a place to donate it. It is like being at sea at sea on a fragile paper boatclinging to any glimmer of hope just to see him dissolve under you, yet there is something undeniably beautiful in that naive devotion. Because, after all, the simple fact of knowing how to love, no matter how wasted, is a wonderful thing in itself ».

JJ on the Eurovision stage sings Wasted Love
JJ on the Eurovision stage sings Wasted LovePicture Alliance/Getty Images


Source: Vanity Fair

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