Robyn has suggested Eurovision isn’t the same without ABBA, branding the long-running song contest “s***” and admitting she rarely watches it.
The Swedish pop star, whose hits include Dancing On My Own and With Every Heartbeat, shared her blunt views on the competition during an appearance on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast.
Sweden might be one of Eurovision’s most successful nations, but Robyn admitted she has little interest in the annual spectacle and suggested the contest’s appeal has diminished since ABBA’s involvement.
She said: “We don’t have ABBA any more so I don’t really watch Eurovision. Now it’s just s***, I would say.”
ABBA famously won Eurovision for Sweden with Waterloo in 1974 before going on to become one of the most successful pop groups in music history.
Sweden has continued to enjoy major success in the competition, winning three times since 2012. Loreen secured two of those victories, with Euphoria in 2012 and Tattoo in 2023, while Måns Zelmerlöw won in 2015 with Heroes. Those victories have taken Sweden’s total number of Eurovision wins to seven.
However, Robyn made it clear she is not a fan of what Eurovision has become, so it’s unlikely you will catch her signing up to represent her country.
The singer admitted she occasionally watches the contest with friends but often finds herself cringing at what unfolds on screen.
She said: “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.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the 47-year-old musician reflected on how attitudes towards embarrassment have changed and argued that people have become too concerned with being labelled “cringe”.
Robyn suggested society has become less tolerant of spontaneity and silliness, leaving people reluctant to show their true selves.
She said: “I find myself in this new space now where it’s like, I’m the embarrassing mum.
“I just want to say, it’s very narrow now, what is cringe and just being human and being silly.
“Being unfiltered is not as easy as it used to be, and I think that’s bad for the world.”