From ensuring your swearwords are in languages other than English to outrageous euphemisms, contestants in the famously camp extravaganza have ways to avoid being toned down …
Each year, the Eurovision Song Contest lights up Europe (and Australia, bizarrely) with a spectacle of sequins, pyrotechnics, and infectious pop music. But beneath the glittery surface and saccharine ballads lies a cheekier tradition — one of risqué lyrics, double entendres, and sly euphemisms. Eurovision, it seems, is no stranger to smut.
From Camp to Kink: A History of Eurovision’s Naughty Side
While the competition is family-friendly in spirit, performers have long pushed the envelope with sexual innuendo and suggestive staging. In the post-wind-machine era, subtlety has often been traded for shock value, but clever wordplay and linguistic loopholes remain the true artform for sneaking adult content past the censors.
Take Germany’s 2024 entry, “Ich komme” (“I’m coming”). On the surface, it’s an anthem about personal liberation and arrival — a journey of self-empowerment, or so the delegation claimed. But native German speakers couldn’t help but giggle. “Ich komme” also means exactly what it sounds like — and the breathy, escalating repetition during the chorus left little room for misinterpretation.
The Fine Line Between Suggestive and Suspicious
Eurovision rules prohibit overtly political or commercial content, but there’s no official rule against innuendo. That means entries often skate the line. Some memorable examples:
- Iceland’s 2019 entry, “Hatrið mun sigra” by Hatari, was a BDSM-fueled industrial techno protest disguised as performance art.
- Lithuania’s 2006 song, “We Are the Winners (of Eurovision)”, was not smutty — just cheeky — but its sarcastic self-congratulation carried a rebellious undertone.
- Romania 2013, Cezar’s falsetto-filled “It’s My Life,” mixed opera with vampire erotica, complete with latex and pelvic thrusts.
And who could forget Poland’s 2014 milkmaids, who churned butter so sensually that even Graham Norton blushed?
Linguistic Loopholes and Dirty Double Meanings
Some entries sneak smut in through native-language lyrics. The 2021 Ukrainian song “Shum” had cryptic pagan references that only Slavic scholars could decode. Meanwhile, French and Italian songs often ooze sensuality simply through delivery — a raised eyebrow, a hip swivel, a well-timed “oh là là.”
In 2022, Serbia’s “In Corpore Sano” sounded like a meditation on health and hygiene — until the repetitive, hypnotic chanting about “healthy hair” took on a curiously erotic tone.
Why Eurovision Loves to Be a Little Naughty
Part of Eurovision’s charm is its subversiveness. Beneath its candy-colored facade, the contest has always been a platform for countries to assert identity, protest norms, and — yes — smuggle in a little smut. After all, Eurovision is camp. It’s queer. It’s absurd. And it knows its audience.
For fans, the smut is part of the fun — an annual reminder that, even amid global tensions and political divides, there’s always room for a wink, a shimmy, and a climactic key change.
So the next time someone yells “Ich komme!” on stage, just smile and remember: they might be talking about self-discovery… or maybe not.
