The Austrian song was revealed on March 6th with the song and video release on the Eurovision official youtube channels. Earlier in the year, ORF (the Austrian broadcaster) announced their singer had been chosen but the song would be not be revealed until March. Going to Basel is JJ with the song "Wasted Love"
Johannes Pietsch - aka JJ - was born to an Austrian father and Filipino mother. He was born in Vienna, grew up in Dubai but the family then returned to Vienna in 2016. As well as German he speaks Tagalog, French and English. He auditioned for the successful talent show "Starmania" getting to the final 12 and in 2020 he was a contestant on The Voice UK getting to the knockouts round. Currently, he attends the Music and Arts University in Vienna Although he has an operatic education and background, he enjoys mixing this with pop, especially as he is a countertenor and has wider upper range. This entry is his first single release proper.
The song starts almost immediately with a rather long verse then short pre chorus. This is sung in his pop voice which is still quite high. The short chorus that follows tunes into his operatic voice, which sounds extremely impressive, and in addition his diction is clear and audible. We then return with a verse and chorus but this time the verse is short and the chorus is much longer. The music video is rather moody; although not shot in black and white, the lighting and colour palette might suggest otherwise As the lyrics suggest, there is a lot of water based imagery from rain storms to puddles to full blown lakes. I like the way the use of the paper boat alludes scale and size. The song itself hints are unrequited and unreciprocated love and his vocal tone suggests longing, despair, frustration and resignation. Just after the two minute mark JJ repeats the title of the song several times before a very string dance beat comes in under the singing and his voice starts to cut in and out. At this point in the video he is no longer drowning in the water but floating above people in a grand theatre.
This has a strong audio identity with nothing else leading up to this point feeling quite like this. The song seems to peak at the chorus which, although technically brilliant, are lyrically repetitive. The last 40 seconds or so are captivating although I wonder how this will go down on stage. I imagine the interrupted sound bite would be on the backing tape and JJ singing some other high jinks as another layer on top. The visual is also strong in the video and I can imagine with wind machines, some decent video projections (below & above) and maybe even some pulleys and winches, the video's feel could be replicated in the hall. This all said, there is something about this song that gets memory holed for me. I wish the verses were more memorable because I certainly cannot sing along with the chorus and the verses are too plain to remember. My hope for this entry is that as well as pulling this off vocally, the team also has an innovative or interesting staging to bring out the best of this song.
ARTIST - JJ
SONG - Wasted Love
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Johannes Pietsch, Teodora Špirić, Thomas Thurner
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