Austria have chosen JJ to represent the country at Eurovision 2025. It is ten years since the country hosted Eurovision 2015 in Vienna and they have their sights set on another victory.
With his song “Wasted Love,” JJ discusses the unique kind of heartbreak associated with unrequited love.
Scroll down to read the “Wasted Love” lyrics
Austria at Eurovision 2025: JJ with “Wasted Love”
JJ — real name Johannes Pietsch — was internally selected to represent Austria at Eurovision 2025 with the song “Wasted Love”. The song starts off contemplative, with operatic notes, building up into a dynamic operatic chorus. Surprisingly, the song switches gear in its closing stages, trading the opera house for an underground rave, perfectly marrying multiple genres for a unique experience.
JJ is in good hands. Eurovision 2023 star Teya — of “Who the Hell Is Edgar?” fame — is one of the co-writers of “Wasted Love”.
The music video’s director, Marek Vesely, states that it “is intended to be a visual journey into the deep abyss of unrequited love, underscored by dramatic elements. It is structured in five acts and plays with the opera vibe as its underlying mood.”
What do the “Wasted Love” lyrics mean?
“Wasted Love” explores the emotions of unrequited love. JJ starts by singing “I”m an ocean of love and you’re scared of water”, underscoring both his capacity for love and the fact that it isn’t reciprocated. He says that “you don’t want to go under, so you let me go under”, emphasising the one-sided nature of these emotions.
In the chorus, JJ reveals that “now you are gone, all I have is wasted love”, demonstrating the strong emotions he is feeling and the fact that those emotions are all in vain. He notes that he “can’t fill my heart with wasted love”, indicating that the emotions he is left with are of no use.
JJ also sings “when you let me go, I barely stayed afloat”, sharing his experience of how he felt when he found out those emotions weren’t reciprocated.
In a press release, the singer states:
“There’s a unique kind of heartbreak in having so much love to give but nowhere for it to land. It feels like being adrift at sea on a fragile paper boat — grasping at any sliver of hope, only to watch it dissolve beneath you. And yet, there’s something undeniably beautiful in that naïve devotion. Because, in the end, simply being able to love — no matter how wasted — is a beautiful thing in itself.”
“Wasted Love” lyrics — JJ (Austria Eurovision 2025)
Songwriters: Johannes Pietsch, Teodora Špirić, Thomas Thurner
I’m an ocean of love
And you’re scared of water
You don’t want to go under
So you let me go under
I reach out my hand
But you watch me grow distant
Drift out to the sea and
Far away in an instant
You left me in the deep end
I’m drowning in my feelings
How do you not see that?
Now that you’re gone
All I have
Is wasted love
This wasted love
Now that you’re gone
Can’t fill my heart
With wasted love
This wasted love
When you let me go
I barely stayed afloat
I’m floating all alone
Still I’m holding on to hope
Now that you’re gone
All I have
Is wasted love
This wasted love
Now that you’re gone
Can’t fill my heart
With wasted love
This wasted love
Wasted love
This wasted love
Wasted, wasted, wasted, wasted
Wasted, wasted, wasted, wasted
Wasted, wasted, wasted, wasted
Wаѕted love
What do you think of the “Wasted Love” lyrics? Let us know in the comments below.
Imo it’s better than The Code.
Comparing Wasted Love to The Code is ridiculous.
A tomato is not a copy of a tennis ball, just because it has some similarities. Also, Wasted Love is actually GOOD and not annoying like TheCode.
His Eurovision In Concert performance, despite the many acoustic issues, sealed the deal for me. I already loved his incredible opera sequences, the electronic part simply fits perfectly (that’s what happens when Teya composes your song) and it will make for an absolutely climatic and peak experience in Basel. Honestly, I’d say JJ should be performing around 23rd & 25th, supposedly he gets the chance to perform in the second half of the grand final. His song is a winner and so is he.
one’s definitely grown on me the past couple of weeks, even though I wasn’t crazy about it at first. It’s still not my fave (it feels a bit try-hard and kinda like last year’s winner at times), but I get why people love it. Honestly, it’d probably be a better winner than Finland or Sweden, though I’d still rather see A l b a n i a take the top spot.
* This one’s, sorry for the typo
You people really enjoy this squeaking?
Not buying it.
Hugely gifted vocally, but the shrill higher registers will be uncomfortable for quite a few potential voters, as will the crash gear change at the end which feels tacked on. Will go close, but possibly miss out.
Good points, but I remember thinking more or less the same about The Code this time last year
I love how suddenly everyone becomes a lyrics expert on a contest with some of the worst lyrics of all time. Case and point, we have lyrics this year about Saunas, coffee beverages, milk and serving… all contenders for the Literature Nobel Prize.
You forgot “Tavo” being repeated 93 times
Bc this one ain’t that deep and–unlike most of those you mentioned, it takes itself too seriously
not gonna lie, i’m genuinely curious to see the stating, this has such an IMMENSE potential, specially the final moments of the performance…
It’s not hard to find similar lyrics:
song: Ocean of love by Nancy Wilson
Somewhere on the sand by the ocean
Lays my mind floating by the sea
Try to save my thoughts from drowning
There’s only one way
That’s for you to stay here with me
The way some people doing propaganda for their fav by putting down the others uselessly…
The aim? I still don’t get it.
Tell me about it. Swede here.
He used too many water metaphors which makes it a bit cheap for me. I’m an ocean of love and your scared of water that’s cheesy. And he repeats the word wasted about 20 times which is not really necessary. It’s a very vague song. He’s floating in water and then there suddenly is a huge paper boat, maybe to give him a nice staging element, but I don’t get the story of the song, why wasted love? who caused it? What caused it? I don’t feel sincere emotions, does he even know what he’s singing about?
Austria is overwll so special and refreshing this year! Alongside other pretty ballads, mainly Switerland. Especially needed in a weak year, such that another so-talked about song is about People parading in white towels singing simplistic-repetitive melody about Sauna… Actually “all very new” considering the 2024 Eurovision 2nd semi-interval (just 6 months before “Bara bada bla” came out), about how Sweden loves to win then showing how the interval would have looked like if the 2024 contest was held in Finland after a “Cha-cha-cha” deserved win instead of jury-overatted Sweden in 2023. To all those who accuse Austria of “copying”… Read more »
I’m not Swedish but I love that song I will vote for it sorry.
Of course, great for you and as I said, I also find Sweden enjoyable to some degree and understand it’s appeal to others. You have nothing to be sorry about, in this regard. I talked only about dissing others – from blatantly trashing others and combatively completely cancell them as “lack of any” originality and “lack” of authentic personal story, on many articles, how juries should vote differently… and involving and twisting politics – and much of these recently in the context of putting Sweden on high pedestal while trying to down-talk so many other competitors in comparison. Don’t have… Read more »
Breathe!
Well… You’re the one most panickly hysterical to post on every article at least 10 comments about how your Sweden should win and is like the best, also if it was about previous years and also if Mans would represent Sweden, like in any scenerio… while diminishing others, especially Austria as the most foreseen to win the juries and high televotes. I’m calmly and rationally pointing this out, after I saw your dissing comments by the dozens and irretional notes about how the juries should switch their taste to humor – for several weeks. Held back from responding, while I… Read more »
The way you wrote almost looked like there were no breaths in between. I gave a long and calm reply to you. But it didn’t get through.. As usual. So quick, I can speak objectively many times. But people see what they want. Never said anything about JJ’s looks! Not the only only one to think like that with juries and fun entries. I wonder about the nitpicking, what country usually gets that every year.. it’s not Austria.
We didn’t mutually speak in length before. You may confuse with someone else. I wrote to you some detailed comments about Yuval&Israel and about Sweden choosings, after you wrote a 1-liner about “choosing” as a reply for me complementing Yuval’s participation and abilities. But as usual, me and others didn’t get through to your understanding. For breathes – I rarely use “-” to continue an idea and a say at 1 sentence, but besides that, use many dots and separate paragraphs as I write calmly. I wrote that someone said that you look “as if your life depends on Sweden… Read more »
He is a contender, the song is epic, he is fan favorite, a bookies fav too, the operatic parts make the song really powerful, JJ voice is something, now my only issue is this abrupt switch to techno at the end that I still don’t understand, it breaks the mood of the song but it’s only me, other people must not feel the same.
I’m an ocean of love and you’re scared of water is very poetic, I like these lyrics.
To me it feels flowing as a second-chorus layer, to the final conservative-common chorus arrangement, to climax the song at the very end with like “indefinite rising and rising” instead of a calm finish as most songs do, especially ballads. Also as his voice gets higher-thinner at this final part while the beat gets quicker and techno as you mentioned, it feels to me as a balance between making the vocal more gentle while making the instrumental, rhythm and backing operatic vocals more aggressive. This is to share how I see it, while I understand therefore why it also feels… Read more »
They tried to create a winning song , with a copy paste of last year’s successes, Europapa drop, Nemo, vocals… but it feels too forced, not very genuine.
It is obviously very Eurovision coded so it doesn’t feel misplaced for Eurovision imo, I am nobody to say if it’s the right thing to do or not but if it works to bring Austria a good result or a win I wouldn’t be surprised.
The main issue in this fandom and among some wiwi readers is the lack of fairplay definetely…and we enter the period of the year when it will become the worst…I’m still not ready…
the ending part is pretty amazing and saves the song, but i don’t like the operatic gimmick and the cheap lyrics
Water and love.. Not really new.
Swim up to get some air instead of these sink attitude, breathe!
I truly believe this is by far the best package of Eurovision 2025. If the performance justifies it, JJ should win.
listen to that acoustic performance of Zjerm, recently uploaded by the official eurovision channel
Shkodra Elektronike are also very much in contention for the win
i think A.lbania, Austria, Sweden and Israel are the contenders, with Finland as a dangerous outsider, could also see Germany worming themselves into the mix as well
quite a competitive year, do see lots of love for Zjerm, from most of the balkan countries which is remarkable
JJ is a great artist who genuinely embraces the Eurovision experience. Austria‘s best ESC result since 2018 incoming – and well deserved.