ESC United Mod Team
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Austria AUSTRIA 2025 - JJ - Wasted Love
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Jupiter
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There is a Person saying the jury vote needs to go because it's completely political, while the public vote was completely based on the music. Seriously, what do your say to that....
marty
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Never believe in sentences starting with "I was told that...."
Lindon
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Thank you for calling me a liar.
GermanBango
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Uhm sir, just look at some Insta posts and scroll a bit. They are all over there raving about how "Europe is obviously with Israel" and how "Yuval was robbed and she's the real winner". but mind you, the contest is not political.
shameless
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Oh I didn't know that Felicia Lu, two times contestant in the German NF, is his social media manager. Was that known to you people?
sigi
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aef
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Very interesting and in my eyes in some points shocking interview from one of the jurors about the jury work:
https://www.derstandard.at/story/30...oesterreichs-zwoelf-esc-punkte-fuer-ich-komme
STANDARD: There's a stir on social media because Austria's jury rated the Finnish entry "Ich komme am besten" (I Come) the best. Do you understand the arguments?
Duran: Many say they don't understand the decision. I'll accept that if the average Ö3 listener or the married couple sitting at home watching the Finnish entry and thinking it's terrible wonders why we like the song. But on various social media channels, people are complaining about how incompetent we are as a jury, who chose us, and that our decision is sexist. Then there are people who go into detail and say she sings badly, the song is bad, the show is bad and obscene, the word "porn" is used frequently, and there have been much better songs – and the latter is certainly true, but it's our job, and we had to sign off on it, to evaluate vocal quality, song composition, visuals, show, entertainment, the overall commercial package. It's important to remember that the Song Contest is an entertainment show, and not all of the winners have become global stars in recent years. It's what you make of it that counts. As a jury, we have to judge whether something can be a commercial hit, not whether a song is beautiful or an artist is well-dressed.
STANDARD: And that's why "I'm Coming" did so well for you?
Duran: Finland was great. So was Malta, which is a mix of Nicki Minaj and Lil' Kim. If you look at the international charts and music videos, Finland is harmless. Malta, in particular, was visually so perfectly staged. Miriana Conte isn't the best singer either, but the song "Serving" was awesome, and I remember the melody, and it was a spectacle. You could just as easily perform it at a show in LA. We were all surprised that Malta did quite poorly.
STANDARD: How did the jury discussion go? Was there a lot of discussion, or did everyone vote for themselves, and then we see the results at the end?
Duran: We spent two evenings in a private room with a notary. There are confidentiality clauses, and we weren't allowed to discuss anything with each other. I still don't know how my colleagues voted. I was surprised myself that Finland came first, because I voted for England with "What the Hell Just Happened?", which I thought was the best overall package. Apparently, the other jury members rated Denmark and Hallucination very highly, but I didn't. I don't think we all voted Finland first either; it was probably the case that everyone liked Finland, so it got the most points on average.
STANDARD: How did you rate it? Did you sit down with a checklist of criteria and a weighting key before the broadcast? Or did you spontaneously quantify your overall impression?
Duran: I meticulously wrote down every detail for each song, quickly re-evaluating the points, for example, if someone was singing off-key. If someone has a good composition like Portugal with Deslocado, a superbly beautiful ballad, superbly produced, but boring, then it's not entertaining enough for the Song Contest, and something's missing. I also didn't understand the hype surrounding Sweden's Bara Bada Bastu. These are Finns singing a song that sounds Russian, for the country of Sweden. Sweden, in particular, is known for great pop music. I expected more. Or even great rock, but that wasn't the case. There was a lot of electronic music, a lot of showmanship, and some surprisingly bad vocal performances. The biggest surprise for me was that Australia didn't make it to the final with Milkshake Man. I thought it was great and entertaining; I sang along to the song after hearing it once.
STANDARD: Some people don't think the Finnish entry, which calls itself feminist, is feminist.
Duran: Because of the accusation of sexism, it's important for me to say that we were two men and three women on the jury, and the women thought Finland was brilliant, and Malta too. So I don't accept that accusation. A woman sang the song, brilliantly packaged with comedy, everyone laughed and sang along to the song. None of us are anti-feminist or sexist. All of us jurors come from different parts of the industry, we are of different ages, we know our stuff, and we professionally evaluate the show, the effort, the dance, the movement, whether someone made an effort, the recognition factor. And the overall package was good for Finland.
STANDARD: We were the only country to award Finland twelve points. But around ten came from Estonia and Latvia, eight from Norway, and six from Sweden and Denmark. For example, the audience gave ten points from Sweden and Australia. With a total of 88 points from the jury and 108 from the audience, Finland finished eleventh. According to the betting, it would have placed fourth. Did betting odds influence your assessment?
Duran: Of course, we looked at the odds, but as I said, Sweden was the favorite, and we weren't thrilled about the song. We were allowed to discuss this beforehand: We all said there's no politics or cronyism here; we judge the music.
STANDARD: This year, the jury vote and the audience vote are quite different in some cases. JJ would have finished fourth with the audience alone, but Switzerland, a jury favorite, was left empty-handed. How do you explain that?
Duran: It would be incredibly interesting to know how many people voted, but that's top secret and never made public. But how many people actually call for 50 cents? I don't know anyone personally who voted; most people just watch the voting. I think a relatively small audience voted. Zero points for England from the audience, that blew me away. That stage show, a great song, all three sang perfectly...
STANDARD: If the jury and the audience are so far apart, is the jury right or the audience? As a juror, do you also question your own professional musical taste?
Duran: No, I don't question it, because I've been working as a music producer and composer for 30 years and play every instrument. I claim to be truly knowledgeable about the subject matter. I don't have a favorite style; I've played and listened to everything in the studio, from jazz to hard rock to pop and techno. At 25, I think I was the first Austrian to co-produce three top-ten hits in England. I've also worked in the studio several times on songs for the Song Contest that were subsequently re-selected by the ORF in the final selection. So I claim that it's not just about my taste when I say something is good. Personal taste has no place on the jury either. I don't listen to the Finnish song every day at home, either. If the public says England was a disaster, then I say the public is wrong. But I don't think the public as a whole thinks England is bad; I think they have some other reason to give the points to someone else.
STANDARD: The national juries made very different decisions – how do you explain this when they are all experts?
Duran: I don't know the other juries. I assume that in some countries only the quality of the music is evaluated, while in others completely different things, such as politics or the neighboring country, count.
STANDARD: Is it even possible that five jurors have as much weight as all the callers from a country? Is that fair?
Duran: The word "fair" is difficult to connect with this. I would be in favor of more people on the jury, because with five, it's possible that two or three know each other and discuss things during a pee break, and that has a major impact on the jury's score. But I think it's okay that the jury votes are worth as much as the audience's, because you never know what the audience will think, and something like that deserves to be judged professionally.
STANDARD: How often have you been on the jury?
Duran: It was my first time. I don't know if you can be on the jury for several years.
STANDARD: How did you get on the jury? How is the jury composed?
Duran: ORF asked if I would participate. But the jury folder states, among other things, that the jury is selected based on a mix of ages, different industries, and gender. That was the case with us; we ranged in age from 24 to about 50, from different sectors of the industry, and each of us a professional in our own right. I didn't know everyone before, but that doesn't mean they aren't professionals. Not everyone knows me either. My prime time was with DJ Ötzi and EAV. Now I do completely different things; I'm also a DJ, do various music commissions, and work slowly but surely with AI. My name isn't exactly famous, but I still have an Amadeus Music Award at home as Producer of the Year in 2001 for "Hey Baby" by DJ Ötzi.
STANDARD: How many points would you have given JJ, if you had been allowed to?
Duran: Some people were upset that we didn't give any points to Germany, which was also represented by the two Austrians Abor & Tynna. To that I say quite clearly, no, the German act wasn't good, in my opinion. Visually, they were nothing special, vocally flat, the song is quite nice. But Germany was completely justified in giving us twelve points. If we could have voted for Austria, we would all have given Austria twelve points too, because JJ had the best song and the best performance. Because the audience often decides so differently than the jury, I think Austria's win is twice as great; the overall quality was really assessed, and the jury and audience were fairly balanced.
jurors about the jury work:https://www.derstandard.at/story/30...oesterreichs-zwoelf-esc-punkte-fuer-ich-komme
STANDARD: There's a stir on social media because Austria's jury rated the Finnish entry "Ich komme am besten" (I Come) the best. Do you understand the arguments?
Duran: Many say they don't understand the decision. I'll accept that if the average Ö3 listener or the married couple sitting at home watching the Finnish entry and thinking it's terrible wonders why we like the song. But on various social media channels, people are complaining about how incompetent we are as a jury, who chose us, and that our decision is sexist. Then there are people who go into detail and say she sings badly, the song is bad, the show is bad and obscene, the word "porn" is used frequently, and there have been much better songs – and the latter is certainly true, but it's our job, and we had to sign off on it, to evaluate vocal quality, song composition, visuals, show, entertainment, the overall commercial package. It's important to remember that the Song Contest is an entertainment show, and not all of the winners have become global stars in recent years. It's what you make of it that counts. As a jury, we have to judge whether something can be a commercial hit, not whether a song is beautiful or an artist is well-dressed.
STANDARD: And that's why "I'm Coming" did so well for you?
Duran: Finland was great. So was Malta, which is a mix of Nicki Minaj and Lil' Kim. If you look at the international charts and music videos, Finland is harmless. Malta, in particular, was visually so perfectly staged. Miriana Conte isn't the best singer either, but the song "Serving" was awesome, and I remember the melody, and it was a spectacle. You could just as easily perform it at a show in LA. We were all surprised that Malta did quite poorly.
STANDARD: How did the jury discussion go? Was there a lot of discussion, or did everyone vote for themselves, and then we see the results at the end?
Duran: We spent two evenings in a private room with a notary. There are confidentiality clauses, and we weren't allowed to discuss anything with each other. I still don't know how my colleagues voted. I was surprised myself that Finland came first, because I voted for England with "What the Hell Just Happened?", which I thought was the best overall package. Apparently, the other jury members rated Denmark and Hallucination very highly, but I didn't. I don't think we all voted Finland first either; it was probably the case that everyone liked Finland, so it got the most points on average.
STANDARD: How did you rate it? Did you sit down with a checklist of criteria and a weighting key before the broadcast? Or did you spontaneously quantify your overall impression?
Duran: I meticulously wrote down every detail for each song, quickly re-evaluating the points, for example, if someone was singing off-key. If someone has a good composition like Portugal with Deslocado, a superbly beautiful ballad, superbly produced, but boring, then it's not entertaining enough for the Song Contest, and something's missing. I also didn't understand the hype surrounding Sweden's Bara Bada Bastu. These are Finns singing a song that sounds Russian, for the country of Sweden. Sweden, in particular, is known for great pop music. I expected more. Or even great rock, but that wasn't the case. There was a lot of electronic music, a lot of showmanship, and some surprisingly bad vocal performances. The biggest surprise for me was that Australia didn't make it to the final with Milkshake Man. I thought it was great and entertaining; I sang along to the song after hearing it once.
STANDARD: Some people don't think the Finnish entry, which calls itself feminist, is feminist.
Duran: Because of the accusation of sexism, it's important for me to say that we were two men and three women on the jury, and the women thought Finland was brilliant, and Malta too. So I don't accept that accusation. A woman sang the song, brilliantly packaged with comedy, everyone laughed and sang along to the song. None of us are anti-feminist or sexist. All of us jurors come from different parts of the industry, we are of different ages, we know our stuff, and we professionally evaluate the show, the effort, the dance, the movement, whether someone made an effort, the recognition factor. And the overall package was good for Finland.
STANDARD: We were the only country to award Finland twelve points. But around ten came from Estonia and Latvia, eight from Norway, and six from Sweden and Denmark. For example, the audience gave ten points from Sweden and Australia. With a total of 88 points from the jury and 108 from the audience, Finland finished eleventh. According to the betting, it would have placed fourth. Did betting odds influence your assessment?
Duran: Of course, we looked at the odds, but as I said, Sweden was the favorite, and we weren't thrilled about the song. We were allowed to discuss this beforehand: We all said there's no politics or cronyism here; we judge the music.
STANDARD: This year, the jury vote and the audience vote are quite different in some cases. JJ would have finished fourth with the audience alone, but Switzerland, a jury favorite, was left empty-handed. How do you explain that?
Duran: It would be incredibly interesting to know how many people voted, but that's top secret and never made public. But how many people actually call for 50 cents? I don't know anyone personally who voted; most people just watch the voting. I think a relatively small audience voted. Zero points for England from the audience, that blew me away. That stage show, a great song, all three sang perfectly...
STANDARD: If the jury and the audience are so far apart, is the jury right or the audience? As a juror, do you also question your own professional musical taste?
Duran: No, I don't question it, because I've been working as a music producer and composer for 30 years and play every instrument. I claim to be truly knowledgeable about the subject matter. I don't have a favorite style; I've played and listened to everything in the studio, from jazz to hard rock to pop and techno. At 25, I think I was the first Austrian to co-produce three top-ten hits in England. I've also worked in the studio several times on songs for the Song Contest that were subsequently re-selected by the ORF in the final selection. So I claim that it's not just about my taste when I say something is good. Personal taste has no place on the jury either. I don't listen to the Finnish song every day at home, either. If the public says England was a disaster, then I say the public is wrong. But I don't think the public as a whole thinks England is bad; I think they have some other reason to give the points to someone else.
STANDARD: The national juries made very different decisions – how do you explain this when they are all experts?
Duran: I don't know the other juries. I assume that in some countries only the quality of the music is evaluated, while in others completely different things, such as politics or the neighboring country, count.
STANDARD: Is it even possible that five jurors have as much weight as all the callers from a country? Is that fair?
Duran: The word "fair" is difficult to connect with this. I would be in favor of more people on the jury, because with five, it's possible that two or three know each other and discuss things during a pee break, and that has a major impact on the jury's score. But I think it's okay that the jury votes are worth as much as the audience's, because you never know what the audience will think, and something like that deserves to be judged professionally.
STANDARD: How often have you been on the jury?
Duran: It was my first time. I don't know if you can be on the jury for several years.
STANDARD: How did you get on the jury? How is the jury composed?
Duran: ORF asked if I would participate. But the jury folder states, among other things, that the jury is selected based on a mix of ages, different industries, and gender. That was the case with us; we ranged in age from 24 to about 50, from different sectors of the industry, and each of us a professional in our own right. I didn't know everyone before, but that doesn't mean they aren't professionals. Not everyone knows me either. My prime time was with DJ Ötzi and EAV. Now I do completely different things; I'm also a DJ, do various music commissions, and work slowly but surely with AI. My name isn't exactly famous, but I still have an Amadeus Music Award at home as Producer of the Year in 2001 for "Hey Baby" by DJ Ötzi.
STANDARD: How many points would you have given JJ, if you had been allowed to?
Duran: Some people were upset that we didn't give any points to Germany, which was also represented by the two Austrians Abor & Tynna. To that I say quite clearly, no, the German act wasn't good, in my opinion. Visually, they were nothing special, vocally flat, the song is quite nice. But Germany was completely justified in giving us twelve points. If we could have voted for Austria, we would all have given Austria twelve points too, because JJ had the best song and the best performance. Because the audience often decides so differently than the jury, I think Austria's win is twice as great; the overall quality was really assessed, and the jury and audience were fairly balanced.
Lindon
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Four Austrian cities are strong contenders to host the Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, and the Linz-Wels partnership.
Vienna, the capital, has the largest venue capacity and valuable hosting experience from 2015.
Graz offers a vibrant cultural scene and has shown great enthusiasm to host the event.
Innsbruck provides a stunning alpine backdrop and a modern arena with a history of international events.
Linz, in cooperation with Wels, proposes a brand-new venue currently under construction in Wels, combining Linz's infrastructure with Wels’ event facilities.
Each bid highlights unique strengths—ranging from experience and scenery to innovation and regional collaboration—making the selection highly competitive.
Vienna, the capital, has the largest venue capacity and valuable hosting experience from 2015.
Graz offers a vibrant cultural scene and has shown great enthusiasm to host the event.
Innsbruck provides a stunning alpine backdrop and a modern arena with a history of international events.
Linz, in cooperation with Wels, proposes a brand-new venue currently under construction in Wels, combining Linz's infrastructure with Wels’ event facilities.
Each bid highlights unique strengths—ranging from experience and scenery to innovation and regional collaboration—making the selection highly competitive.
Lindon
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JJ would continue to focus on opera if opera houses were bolder in their artistic choices.
Too often, productions rely on odd or arbitrary reinterpretations—setting classic operas in different eras with strange costumes.
But true innovation would be, for example, staging Tosca with a countertenor in the lead role, preserving a historical aesthetic while reimagining the story as a love affair between men.
That kind of boldness could bring fresh meaning and emotional depth to the work, rather than just surface-level updates.
Certainly NOT! True innovation would be staging NEW works by contemporary, young or less well known composers. But most people, including here on the forum, probably doesn't even know that contemporary classical composers even exist, let alone care.
Sammy
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- February 1, 2014
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in principle - I agree.
But Tosca is probably not a good example. He looks way to young for that role. And the storyline with Scarpia would require a major rewriting to fit into a gay scenario.
deletingpoint
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Thought there might be some Elina Nechajeva lovers here