Nebulossa: How offensive is Zorra? (What Really Happened at Eurovision? Episode 6)

We’re just hours away from crowning the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. But one of the more controversial acts in its home country is not a firebrand pop princess but a middle aged couple singing under the moniker 'Nebulossa'. Their electro-pop anthem 'Zorra' has caused a stir in Spain as it attempts to reclaim the word ‘Vixen,’ often used as a slur to mean something like ‘bitch’ or ‘slut.’ "'Zorra' is partly autobiographical; it reflects women’s experiences of feeling marginalized and underestimated. Nebulossa’s María "Mery" Bas told Wiwibloggs, 'We decided to craft this song as a form of therapy.' 

The use of the word though (47 times throughout the 3-minute song), has even divided Spain’s feminist movement, with some arguing it’s a powerful reclamation of the word, while others say it's derogatory.

'The problem is that this song is going to represent the country, and it's going to say, Europe, hey, guys came to Spain because there is plenty of sex. And this sex is related to prostitution, wherein many women are being exploited,' Eva Neila Ausín of Spain’s Feminist Movement of Madrid Group explained to the What Really Happened podcast. The Feminist Movement of Madrid caused controversy in Spain following a public row with Spain's main feminist movement, the 8M Commission, over its support for trans rights legislation. 

With regards to Zorra, the debate has become so intense that even Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez weighed in. 'It seems to me that feminism is not only fair but also fun; this type of provocation necessarily has to come from culture,' he told Spain’s La Sexta.

 It hasn’t fazed the band much. ‘The criticism has been minimal compared to the overwhelming positive reception we’ve received. Nebulossa’s Mark Dasousa told us. 

In this episode of “What Really Happened at Eurovision?” We delve into the story of how a middle aged couple from coastal Spain exposed an existential fracture in Spain’s feminist movement and what it says about where the country is culturally today.