section_path: Eurovision Song Contest 2025/Reactions to performance and victory
section_name: Reactions to performance and victory
paragraph_text: Reactions to performance and victory
  
  In a Guardian live blog, Martin Belam praised the genre change within the song, predicting a top-three finish and adding that "I’ve also added it to my all-time “Eurovision bangers” playlist... I really want it to win." El Mundo 's Andrea M. Rosa del Pino described JJ's performance as strong due to his "incomparable voice", adding that "at the end of the performance, the euphoric shouts were even louder. There were 37 seconds of noise." El País ' Carlos Marcos praised the performance's choreography and JJ's vocal abilities, but lamented that "he is not accompanied by a better song". The Times 's Bianca Schofield wrote that the song was an "obligatory dull ballad accompanied by mounds of dry ice", comparing the song to entries sent that year by Montenegro, Serbia, and Israel.
  
  In response to the victory, The Independent 's Mark Beaumont stated that with the song being the second consecutive opera-pop victor, "expect future Eurovisions to be awash with tracks resembling rave remixes of Tosca. And for the event to become ever more about optics than earworms." Kurier 's Gert Korentschnig wrote that the song showcased JJ's "versatile personality" and that it was "a worthy successor to Udo Jürgens and Conchita at the ESC". Der Spiegel 's Felix Bayer compared the victory to Nemo 's " The Code ", last year's winner, writing that both songs had "a rapid succession of very different musical parts. This in turn lends itself to telling a story to the music with changing images". Bayer added that the message of love within the song was "a message that can't be the wrong one in these times". Die Weltwoche 's Thomas Renggli praised the performance, writing that JJ "makes it clear what it takes to turn the heads of the jury and audience: big gestures, a good voice, a concise song, and the corresponding story that also captivates the queer clientele".