Standing in front of the mirror at home in Dubai and singing Hannah Montana songs, 13-year-old Johannes Pietsch dreamt of one day becoming a pop star.
“I've always believed that you can never dream too big,” Pietsch, now 24, tells The National. “And that nothing is unreachable.”
Better known by his stage name JJ, he realised that dream two weeks ago when he was crowned the 2025 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. JJ's high-pitched operatic pop number, Wasted Love, had been a bookies' favourite since he was named as Austria's representative in the long-running competition in January.
Twenty-six performers – out of an initial 37 – performed in the finals in Basel, Switzerland. Each performer represented a country from the European Broadcasting Union, and contestants were voted through to the finals by television viewers.
“It was an amazing feeling to win for Austria,” JJ says, still on a high from his win. “It was a really long show and a lot of intense waiting. But when we finally got the points, it was euphoric. I was going through a roller coaster of emotions.”
The son of an Austrian father and Filipina mother, JJ was born in Vienna, but spent 15 formative years in Dubai where his father ran an IT business, before the family moved back to Austria.
“I had a pretty great childhood in Dubai,” says JJ, who went to the German International School. “In Dubai we always had the latest in everything, from toys to gadgets – everything that we saw coming from the States was in Dubai a week later.
“And I remember how much fun we had as kids. It was so diverse, a lot of different cultures meeting at one place. That was really nice.”
It was also in Dubai where JJ's love for music was nurtured.
“We had karaoke parties every weekend at our house and that's where I started singing,” he says with a laugh. “The first song I learnt to sing was Because of You by Kelly Clarkson.
“And my dad was a big fan of classical music, so the next morning we'd be listening to Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and that's when I continued to develop my interest in classical music as well.”
His blend of classical and pop music with operatic flair set JJ apart from the competition at Eurovision, which is known for sparkly outfits and cheesy Europop lyrics.
He says he learnt to sing falsetto at his parents' karaoke parties.
“After going through puberty, I realised that I still had a high singing voice. At first, it was just a cool party trick to imitate a soprano, but as I got better, I continued to work on that and eventually decided that I wanted to pursue a career in opera.”
After moving back to Vienna as a teenager, JJ took part in reality shows including The Voice UK in 2020 and Austrian talent show Starmania in 2021. He also attended the opera school at Vienna State Opera where he now performs.
Last year, JJ and his collaborators wrote Wasted Love, a song about unrequited love that showcases his unique falsetto voice and blends classical music with techno beats. They sent the song to ORF, the Austrian public broadcaster, which selects the country's representative for Eurovision, and JJ was eventually picked following an audition.
At Eurovision, which began on May 13, JJ, along with Sweden's three-man band Kaj, quickly became odds-on favourites to win. But it was during rehearsals for the grand final on May 17, that he began to think he actually had a winning chance.
“My biggest competitors were Sweden, and they came up to me and said they were blown away by my stage performance. The audience was also cheering even louder when I came on stage.
“That's when it started to click. I was like 'oh, so we could actually win', because the people are more hyped for me than they were for Sweden.
“Then I just thought: 'OK, I'll just enjoy it and give my everything and we will see who wins.'
“But I must say, Sweden did an amazing job on their performance. I really respect them so much. They are the loveliest people, the three of them, and we have a great friendship too, so it wasn't really like a competition in that sense.”
JJ is exhausted from the press tour following his win, but grateful for everything. For now, he's looking forward to a holiday in July, before he returns to the studio to make new music. He's also in discussions for a potential tour.
“I want to say thank you so much to everybody for all of their love and support. It's been really overwhelming how much love I've been receiving from every single part of the world,” he says.
“And the entire Filipino community in Dubai, I've been feeling so much love from them, and also the locals in Dubai and all of my friends that I still have there. I can't wait to finally bring new music to all of them and hopefully come for a tour to the Middle East. I would love to come back. That would be amazing.”
