Austria wins Eurovision, and Israel comes in second thanks to the public vote

BarcelonaBookmakers predicted Sweden had a 40% chance of winning Eurovision, but in reality, the Scandinavian country was left without the long-awaited victory after being beaten by the second favorite of the night, Austria. JJ – the stage name of Johannes Pietsch – thrilled Eurofans with Wasted love, a very lyrical song that allowed him to demonstrate his qualities as a countertenor. At the end of the night, the duel was between Austria and Israel, who finished in second place thanks to the audience vote.

Austria, who performed in ninth place, broke the dark myth that claims that appearing during the first half of the gala brings bad luck. The audience responded enthusiastically to the drama of his performance, reinforced by a play of lights that made everything look in black and white. Wasted loveJJ was pretending to be on a boat that had to ride out a storm. This is the third time Austria has won the festival.

The elephant in the room at Eurovision is Israel's participation, which the festival organizers continue to defend despite calls from various organizations and institutions to ban its presence due to the Gaza war. The televote, which gave Israel 297 votes and propelled it to second place in the ranking, seems to go against international pressure to prevent the country from continuing to participate in the festival. In fact, the Israeli song was the most voted for by audiences in countries such as Spain. where Pedro Sánchez's government maintains open diplomatic conflicts with Israel.

Eurovision, which is sponsored by Moroccan Oil, an Israeli company, has sought to minimize criticism or protests against Israel. A good example of this was the threat to fine RTVE if commentators Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela mentioned the Palestinian deaths again, as they did in the second semifinal before Yuval Raphael's performance. RTVE responded by showing a message of support for Palestine just before the start of the gala and both commentators gave a particularly neutral introduction. to the Israeli representative, who when she came on stage was greeted with fewer whistles than expected (or at least they were not heard during the broadcast).

The big loser of the night, Sweden, was made to wait until almost the end of the gala, when the producers placed them in 23rd place out of 26. Kaj, the first representatives from Sweden to sing in Swedish since 1998, made the audience at the Basel stadium join in their frenzy for the sauna, an essential element of the culture of the Nordic countries. The trio, who are originally from Finland and are part of the Swedish-speaking minority in that country, specialize in writing humorous songs that deal with Finnish and Swedish folklore.

Melody, the Spanish representative, appeared on stage in sixth place and, showing the dedication she has shown throughout the pre-festival, gave a very epic performance, asserting her diva character, the conceptual driving force of the song. The Sevillian stunned the St. Jakobshalle crowd by completing her moment of glory with her signature "helicopter gesture": that is, grabbing her long hair and twirling it around like the blades of a helicopter. Despite Melody's passion, the crowd didn't appreciate her efforts and only awarded her 10 points. Adding the votes from the jury and the audience, Spain finished third from bottom with 37 points.

If Melody has shown her emotion by making the helicopter, the representative of the Netherlands, Claude, has done so by shedding a few tears when he finished the performance of That's life, with less punch than on previous occasions.

Baroque always makes an appearance at Eurovision, and this year the person in charge of mixing fire, tribal sounds, and acrobatics was the Polish singer Justyna Steczkowska with the song Gaja, inspired by the earth as a symbol of divinity, strength and love. As if it were a character from Game of Thunder, Steczkowska soared above the stage while a dragon flew menacingly on the screen. Other countries paid tribute to their musical tradition, such as Germany, which presented a song heavily influenced by the techno and electronic music that was a hit in Berlin in the 1990s. Also in the genre of dance Denmark has moved.

Céline Dion, the great absentee of the night

One of the night's biggest unknowns was whether Céline Dion, who won Eurovision representing Switzerland in 1998, would make a special appearance at the Basel stadium. Throughout the week, festival director Martin Green kept Eurofans' hopes alive, though he consistently stated that the Canadian singer's possible performance depended on her health; in the first semi-final, the singer opted to send a recorded message. Ultimately, the dream didn't come true, and despite many rumors, Dion didn't make an appearance at the gala. One of the highlights of this event was the joint performance by Croatian singer Baby Lasagna, who finished second at Eurovision 2024, and Kaarija, runner-up at Eurovision 202.