Sweden won Eurovision seven times. Robyn says she stopped watching once ABBA left, as the contest takes its brand to Asia tonight

One of the most respected pop artists Sweden has produced has turned on the contest that made Sweden a pop superpower.

Asked by Amy Poehler what Eurovision means to Europeans, Robyn said she no longer really watches. “It really is embarrassing,” she said, adding that watching it leaves her overstimulated. She did not name a song, act or year she disliked. She was warmer about the past, praising ABBA’s Waterloo, which won for Sweden in 1974, and Carola, who won in 1991 and whom Robyn grew up listening to.

The podcast was released on Tuesday 10 November, and her remarks were picked up across European and American music media in the days since.

Why does it matter when Robyn says it?

Because Sweden is Eurovision’s most successful modern nation. It has won seven times, most recently with Loreen in 2023, and the Swedish song factory that grew from ABBA’s win supplies writers and producers to many other countries’ entries. Robyn came out of the same pop scene: her career began in the 1990s, and her ninth album, Sexistential, released in March, is her first full-length record since 2018.

Criticism from inside that tradition carries a weight a passing complaint does not.

Is this really about the music?

Robyn did not link her comments to politics. But the contest has spent two years in a fight over Israel’s participation, linked to the war in Gaza. Robyn signed the 2024 letter calling for Israel to be excluded. Organisers kept Israel in, and five broadcasters, from Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia, stayed away from the 2026 contest in Vienna. Ireland and the Netherlands have said they will not compete in 2027 either, when the contest goes to Burgas in Bulgaria on 15 May.

What is happening in Bangkok tonight?

The contest’s first Asian edition goes live from the One Bangkok Forum, with acts from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Bhutan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Korea, Nepal and Malaysia, singing in 10 local languages and English. The winner is decided half by public vote and half by professional juries. Hosts are Woody Milintachinda and Cindy Bishop.

Australia, which has competed in the European contest since 2015, has no act on stage, though the idea of an Asian edition was first floated with Australian involvement nearly a decade ago.