The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 37 competing songs in Eurovision 2025. Next we review Austria, who have chosen JJ with “Wasted Love”.
Did we find it a waste of time, or immediately fall in love? Read on to find out!
JJ – “Wasted Love” (Austria Eurovision 2025)
Review: JJ – “Wasted Love”
Antranig: This is the obvious winner of Eurovision 2025 and there’s simply no competition. Right? I’ve never been more convinced by a Eurovision entry in my life. JJ is an absolute star and “Wasted Love” is incredibly beautiful lyrically and musically, and it is completely elevated by his ridiculously brilliant vocals. I wouldn’t expect anything less when the musical genius that is TEYA is involved, but JJ makes this his own. I’ve heard the song hundreds of times and that transition from opera theatre to nightclub still gives me goosebumps every single time. If Eurovision were a museum, this is the Mona Lisa.
Score: 10
Deban: Despite the tugging emotional complexities found in “Wasted Love”, Austria’s 2025 entry remains a fascinating listen, especially when transitioning from the ballroom to the club. Subtle in delivery, but at the same time poetically powerful, JJ bares his pain and soul throughout whilst using his voice as a master instrument. His voice provides comfort, and yet feels so vulnerable. Holding fort as a remarkable entry, and standing out during the all-songs recap, this package ticks all the right boxes.
Score: 8
Tomas: Now this is a wonderful example of what a Eurovision winning song should sound like. We have angelic JJ’s voice that keeps you captivated for the full length of the song. The enticing and growing energy builds into a climax of techno burst, which will surprise a lot. Why does JJ and “Wasted Love” have the winning potential? It’s not just a ballad, it has a life of its own and bursts into an impressive finish. All we need now is an explosive performance to bring this energy onto stage.
Score: 6.5
Simon: Popera perfection from JJ – almost. Of course this diva can sing (and I mean diva lovingly), but when I say ‘almost’ it’s because of the techno break at the end. It has been pre-recorded vocals at the live performances, but why not let JJ’s abilities shine even more? It’s understandable from a staging point of view, but it could have been more organic to have the song climax with a powerful orchestral part or something like that. It is still a contender for the victory and one of my personal favourites of the year.
Score: 9
Austria Eurovision 2025 ranking
In the Eurovision 2025 Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only have room for four reviews. The remaining scores are below:
|
Andreas: 9.5 Bernardo: 8 Burak: 8.5 Cinan: 7.5 Jonathan: 6.5 Jordi: 7.5 Lucy: 9 |
Pablo: 8 Ruxandra: 8 Scarlett: 7 Suzanne: 4 Tom: 7 William: 8 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a high of 10 and a low of 4.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.87/10
What do you think of Austria’s Eurovision 2025 entry? Share your own score and review for JJ’s “Wasted Love” below!
More like waste of time, do people really thing this is good?
I can’t lie and say he isn’t a talented vocalist.
However the vocals actually hurt my ears. The high notes are extremely annoying and painful.
Sorry, not for me……no doubt it will win.
It’s not what I’m used to listen and hardly anyone would listen something like this outside the Eurovision bubble. But it has the potential and all the ingredients to make an impact on both the jury and the televote. They need to find the perfect staging and camera work. If that is on point I don’t really see any other alternative as the level this year is very low. Kaj shouldn’t receive much votes from the jury and the televote shouldn’t be enough either. Especially if we take into account that the jury has decided recent winners. 1. Lithuania (7.75) 2. Austria… Read more »
Excellent song; way better than Sweden’s joke entry.
Queen Suzanne
Can someone explain me the hype about this, cause I don’t get it
The vocal talents of the performer.
It’s a SONG contest, not a vocal contest…
I know, but that is not important in terms of HYPE
wow I don’t think anyone has ever told you, and it’s about time you knew, SONGS HAVE VOCALS, and one of the criteria for juries is VOCAL CAPACITY.
Mostly posturing.
I don’t see people spinning this outside of the ESC bubble…much like Memo’s dreadful song last year.
beautiful melody, impactful vocals, plot twist at the end! Perfection
Sorry, but I can´t stand it – 2,5/12
we feel sorry for u
Great song, cool performer, he is a contender imo, my only critique is JJ should open more his eyes to convey the emotions of the song, if not it’s hard to connect with him as a performer, he needs to tell the story of the song with his eyes, that being said he will do great on the scoreboard in 16 days.
16, omg you’re right.
AUSTRIA – For the last two years, Eurovision winner has mostly been decided by the jury, and they have their taste – a slick pop song in English with a great vocal performance and an elaborate stageing. This year, Austria creates a buzz to be Loreen’s and Nemo’s successor. While certain components are there – technical polish, high notes, elegant atmosphere – I would argue that Wasted Love is riskier than The Code. It’s leaning way more into its operatic aspects (which The Code did only sparsely, despite of being famous for them) and the vocals go higher in the… Read more »
Probably an unpopular opinion, but this song almost feels like a parody to me. It feels like every eurovision cliché crammed into a three minute song. It’s trying so hard to be a deeply emotional song, it ends up feeling very empty. It’s produced well, but the whole package just screams trying too hard imo.
For me it’s the same the song doesn’t seem to come from within, and that’s why I don’t believe him, his happy outbursts in the pre’s confirm this for me, it’s too polished.
well, the strategy worked for last year’s winner
But last year winner was a very personal statement in every aspect. This is not the case.
it was the most formulaic eurovision song ever written
Completely agree. It was created with all the “elements” of winning songs but won’t come close to any of the actual ones.
this is not Malta post
Based what we know the staging seems to be promising. So far it’s my winner.
Wannabe Krassimir Avramov ain’t winning.
Krassimir Avramov was awful ??
The live performance was unfortunately not great, but Illusion is one of the best songs from 2009, and I still listen to the studio version to this day.
This is mediocre at best. I appreciate the attempt at trying to create a song what would win Eurovision, but this feels extremely manufactured and insincere. Lackluster for me. All the comments are proving the taste in music for an average Joe is dropping and reaching bad circus-like level.
ridiculous comment.
this is a great workout song
I’m sorry but anything less than an 8 for this is insanity. This is the clear winner of eurovision 25 as long as he pulls of the vocal. Guaranteed jury winner, and the public will love it too – has a bit for older and younger audiences.
My daughters 12/13 don’t agree with you, they love Vaeb. Don’t ask.
Agree with Simon, why lace the climax of the song with a vocal effect which cannot be reproduced in a live setting? I feel the same about Germany and, to a lesser extent, Iceland.
Unfortunately some people don’t even hear it’s pre-recorded, but the jury’s have to in an ideal world.
I love this song
He’s a very talented vocalist. Although personally I find his voice uncomfortable to my ear and this opera-lite esque style is not really my go to style of music. I do like the modern elements but I’m not sure how he will recreate those electronic vocal effects live. I guess he’ll be relying on pre-recorded sections to elevate the song live which kinda goes against my grain for a live music competition. However, this is worthy of a top 5 finish in my book.
Good luck Austria.
2nd place: Austria: This song is magnificent in my opinion. The first half masterfully mixes opera with pop and the final upbeat part seems smoothly integrated with the rest of the song without feeling out of place. JJ of course has amazing vocals and the song’s production is great giving it depth and epicness. If the staging is good, I am sensing a sure high place in the juries and a solid televoting score, given the wow factor of the song to first time listeners. As a result this is certainly a worthy contender for the victory!
Somehow I always loose interest along the way and I never listen through the whole song. Its somehow too calculated. I also think there is live problem here, where JJs operatic voice does not flow natural in the non-opera parts. Reminds me of Malena Ernams La voix, where the opera parts where magic, and ”singing” parts were not.
I still think staging can make JJ a contender.
I still think this is the best package of Eurovision 2025, if the performance will be on point. It’s a risky entry that could go many different ways, on stage and on the scoreboard but personally, I am happy that a real talent who can actually sing and co-wrote his own song got the ticket to the contest, especially after last year’s obvious nepotism. Wherever it ends up, this is finally a risk worth taking. I wasn’t sure I would, but I did end up listening to the song at times. The only part I found admittedly grating was the… Read more »
A nice club song, but far from original, she struggles with her vocals, so it could be the Mia and Dion of 2025. But a surprise is of course always possible.
My, and there I was thinking this was a guy.
so… the song is great but he made it straight for Eurovision. It’s giving “I want to win” rather than “I want to show myself”. Nemo part 2…
He also kinda disappointed on pre parries when it comes to charisma and presence on stage. Also voice was very shaky and idk…
Wish him well but I think this year Justyna is the only one of the rational winners, she also sings so hight etc.
It’s not nemo at all. Jj is an opera singer while nemo only did a few opera notes. Also did nemo invent opera notes? Don’t think so
It’s only a year after people have their performance still in mind, you can’t blame them for it.
Also his voice wasn’t shaky at all…. poland isn’t a winner either
In Amsterdam he struggled with the lower parts of the song in Madrid he missed some crucial high notes, London was good.
Without the high notes it’s a below average song, but I think they will offer us some tricks on stage to make it more impactful, he was off key in Madrid and shaky in Amsterdam, if that happens again it will cost him the victory, you love it or you hate it. 5/10
He wasn’t off key at all what did you hear??
The final note and the one before that were not on key unfortunately.
It’s all the opposite for me, I like the song but I don’t like that she turns to “opera singing” that early in the song.
I would have kept only the last high note.
Great song, but still not a winning song for me.
Agreed. He will do well, but for me it’s not a sure victory.
Austria – I’m usually quite fond of operatic entries, but I’ve only ever managed to listen to this song once the whole way through. I like JJ’s regular voice but when the opera comes in, it’s absolutely overwhelming for me. I know it’s a personal problem for me but unlike entries like Estonia 2018, it scratches my brain in a not-so good way… and then there’s the techno end which completely throws me off. I know it’s in contention for the win, but for me personally it’s just a bit too overpowering. 5/10
Austria is my number 2. This song is impressive, divisive and technically bordering on impossible all at the same time. When music finds this combination and makes it work, it equals “wow”. The only reason Austria is not my number 1 for 2025 is because of Louane (see my France review to explain why). “Wasted Love” uses a C-sharp melodic minor key to evoke introspection and mystery. This key is also stratospherically high to sing for most singers. On paper, this song is impossible to perform live unless it has a once-in-a-generation vocalist. “Wasted Love” is therefore literally in deep… Read more »
I wasn’t a fan of Nemo but his live performance was so convincing he had me on board… and JJ is likely to bring a boat, so maybe… but probably not.
I love this comment by Antranig: ‘if Eurovision were a museum, this is the Mona Lisa”
So, while still very good there are thousands of other pictures and artpieces, but this one has a cult so yaaay it’s the best one evaaah
Made me chuckle…
I tried but I don’t think I ever finished this one. Squeeking, squeeking and more squeeking. And it sounds totally AI.
If this atrocity wins, after what we’ve been through last year, I swear…
5. Austria – JJ – Wasted Love – 9/10 – the most epic of entries this year, it starts with an achingly sad melody, soars into top notch opera before finishing with a banging techno beat. This is a musical spectacle in every sense and if they can make it a visual spectacle as well, it is going to be very hard to beat.
Wait a second how does this have a lower score than MALTA? c’mon this is to laugh at
Because Miriana is a great singer too and Malta’s song is more complex and interesting than Austria’s. That’s why.
More interesting? It’s just a basic pop song and she couldn’t do what jj can vocally. It’s nowhere near as good as wasted love..
It doesn’t make sense to compare the vocals because Miriana is not a trained opera singer. It’s better to compare the songs.
That is suprising…