Any naive illusions you had that all Swedish people automatically love Eurovision have been shattered forever by Robyn, who has revealed that, actually, she can’t stand it.
The 47-year-old singer guested on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast and, amongst other things, was asked for her opinions on the annual sequined camp fest. “We don’t have ABBA any more so I don’t really watch Eurovision,” she replied before trying to name the other acts that have won the contest for Sweden: “Now it’s just shit, I would say.”
ABBA’s victory in 1974 is the most famous moment in Eurovision history, but Sweden has taken home the prize another six times – twice by the same artist. Loreen won in both 2012, with Euphoria, and then with Tattoo 11 years later.
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Like many of us, Robyn admitted that she has seen the contest but tends to cringe at what it has become. “I have American friends I watch it with, and my friend Bert has a blanket he pulls up over his eyes when we’re watching it because it’s so embarrassing. It really is embarrassing.
“After I’ve watched it, I feel really overstimulated and in a bad way. I was looking for words – I’m not going to say – but I don’t like it.”
Quite a few supposedly ‘credible’ pop artists have taken part in the contest down the years – Sebastien Tellier for France, T.A.T.u for Russia (when they were still allowed in it) and James Newman, Bonnie Tyler and Blue for the UK. But it’s safe to say that whoever decides Sweden’s entries has now crossed Robyn off their list of possibles.
Robyn released her ninth album, Sexistential, earlier this year. Incredible as it may sound, she has been an active artist for more than thirty years now – her first album, Robyn Is Here, came out in 1995, and her first UK hit, Do You Know (What It Takes), broke into the Top 30 in 1997.
In recent weeks she’s confirmed a number of festival dates for next year: she’ll be at Coachella in April and then Barcelona’s Primavera Sound and the Mighty Hoopla in London in June.
While you’re waiting for those, you can check out her new Tiny Desk concert, which landed this week.
