Robyn has delivered a scathing assessment of the Eurovision Song Contest, describing the competition as “just shit” and “embarrassing”.
The Swedish singer made the comments during an appearance on Amy Poehler‘s Good Hang podcast, which was released on Tuesday (November 10).
Towards the end of their conversation, Poehler asked Robyn about the importance of Eurovision to European audiences, prompting the singer to laugh before giving her unfiltered opinion.
“We don’t have ABBA anymore, so I don’t really watch Eurovision,” she began. “They were one of the first people to win the whole thing for us, with ‘Waterloo’. Hard to beat.
“Then we had Carola; both me and Zara [Larsson] grew up listening to her. Amazing artist. Now, it’s just shit, I would say.”
Robyn continued: “I have American friends that I watch it with. My friend Bart has a blanket that he pulls up over his eyes while we’re watching ’cause it’s so embarrassing, and it really is embarrassing.
“And after I watched it, I feel really just overstimulated, and in a bad way. I was looking for words I’m not gonna say. But yeah, I don’t like it.”
Sweden has a particularly successful history at Eurovision, having won the contest seven times. ABBA’s victory with ‘Waterloo’ in 1974 helped launch their international career, while Carola Häggkvist claimed the trophy in 1991 with ‘Fångad av en stormvind’.
More recently, Loreen won the competition in 2012 with ‘Euphoria’ and again in 2023 with ‘Tattoo’, becoming only the second performer to win Eurovision twice.
Robyn’s remarks come amid continued controversy surrounding Eurovision and Israel’s participation in the competition.
In January 2024, she was among more than 1,000 Swedish artists who signed an open letter calling for Israel to be excluded from that year’s contest in Malmö, alongside Fever Ray, First Aid Kit and Viagra Boys.
The letter argued that allowing Israel to participate amid the war in Gaza undermined the competition’s values. Organisers ultimately rejected calls to exclude the country.
Israel’s continued participation has since prompted further protests and boycotts, with Ireland and the Netherlands announcing that they will not participate in the 2027 competition.
Meanwhile, Robyn released her ninth studio album ‘Sexistential’ in March, marking her first full-length record since 2018’s ‘Honey’.
The album received a five-star review from NME, which described it as “a joyride that’s both serious and silly”, adding: “Post-‘Honey’, Robyn is looser, more limber; this is an album about feeling everything all at once.”
She subsequently embarked on her biggest headline tour to date, including a show at London’s O2 Arena in July that earned another five-star review from NME.
Robyn also recently teamed up with Zara Larsson for a new version of ‘Talk To Me’, titled ‘Talk To Me, Zara’.
