LIVE: The 2nd Song Contest Semifinal with JJ for Austria
Austria's candidate Johannes Pietsch, alias JJ, is competing on Thursday in the 2nd Song Contest semifinal for a spot in the final round of the music event in Basel. Starting at 9 PM, it gets serious for the 24-year-old in the St. Jakobshalle, who enters the race with his emotional ballad "Wasted Love" in starting position 6.
Song Contest 2025: LIVE Ticker for the 2nd Semifinal with Austria
The betting offices see the countertenor as a sure candidate for advancement to the Song Contest final on Saturday - JJ is considered one of the top favorites for the overall victory. But of course, you never know. After all, on Tuesday, the presumed biggest competitor of the local entry, the Swedish fun party KAJ with their sauna parody "Bara Bada Bastu," confidently advanced to the final round.
We report live from the ESC semifinal with Austria in the ticker and keep you updated with the performances and results starting at 8:30 PM.
All Eyes on ESC Candidate from Israel
But even aside from JJ's performance, the semifinal evening remains exciting. The decision over victory or defeat is made solely by the international audience - the expert juries are only involved in the final on Saturday. The greatest attention will be on the performance of Yuval Raphael from Israel with "New Day Will Rise" - a survivor of the Hamas massacre of October 2023. As in the previous year, numerous voices have called for the exclusion of the country involved in the Gaza war from the competition.
Apart from the political implications, it gets quite suggestive when Australia's candidate Go-Jo ambiguously sings about himself as the "Milkshake Man." Not two-, but very clearly, Finland's Erika Vikman (nomen est omen) takes it on, who has chosen the German title "Ich komme" for her otherwise Finnish-sung, harder electronic number about female desire and self-determination. The microphone also takes on phallic tasks in the cool number.
The Running Order for the 2nd ESC Semifinal 2025
Norway, Albania, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal, and Ukraine - these ten countries qualified in the first Song Contest Semifinal on May 13 for the show on Saturday. Today, 16 more countries, including Austria with starting number 6, are competing for entry into the ESC final:
01 - Australia: Go-Jo, "Milkshake Man"
02 - Montenegro: Nina Žižić, "Dobrodošli"
03 - Ireland: EMMY, "Laika Party"
04 - Latvia: Tautumeitas, "Bur Man Laimi"
05 - Armenia: PARG, "SURVIVOR"
06 - Austria: JJ, "Wasted Love"
07 - Greece: Klavdia, "Asteromáta"
08 - Lithuania: Katarsis, "Tavo Akys"
09 - Malta: Miriana Conte, "SERVING"
10 - Georgia: Mariam Shengelia, "Freedom"
11 - Denmark: Sissal, "Hallucination"
12 - Czech Republic: ADONXS, "Kiss Kiss Goodbye"
13 - Luxembourg: Laura Thorn, "La Poupée Monte Le Son"
14 - Israel: Yuval Raphael, "New Day Will Rise"
15 - Serbia: Princ, "Mila"
16 - Finland: Erika Vikman, "ICH KOMME"
Viewers in Austria can cast their vote by calling 0901 050 25 and the attached two-digit starting number (50 cents per call or SMS). Votes cannot be cast for Austria's artist JJ.
ORF broadcasts 2nd ESC Semifinal with Austria live
From 9 PM, as in the 1st semifinal on Tuesday, ESC veteran Andi Knoll will guide ORF 1 television viewers through the broadcast from the St. Jakobshalle.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.