Uproar over "Zorra"

A “slut” song divides Spain ahead of the ESC

Nebulossa is currently dividing Spain with its "Slut" song.

(Bild: Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Every time María Bas and Mark Dasousa take to the stage in Spain at the moment, chants of "Zorra, Zorra" ring out. In Spanish, "Zorra" actually means "vixen", but is usually used pejoratively for "bitch". The uninitiated might think that singer María is not particularly popular. But that's not the case.

"Zorra" is the name of the song with which the artist duo Nebulossa will represent Spain in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, on May 11.

Surprisingly to the Song Contest
María and Mark admit that they were surprised themselves when they received the most votes at the Benidorm Festival of the state broadcaster RTVE in February and thus became Spain's ESC representatives. After all, the two don't really fit in with the youthful, cool image of Eurovision.

María is 56 years old, Mark is 50, they have been married for 20 years and have two children. They run a hairdressing salon in their tranquil Mediterranean town of Ondara on the Costa Blanca. Mark is also a music producer and runs a small recording studio in the community of 7000 inhabitants.

With half-naked dancers on stage
From a musical point of view, the duo was practically unknown until now. Mark, who looks like a cross between Heino and Dieter Bohlen, plays the keyboard on stage. María sings - but not particularly well. The focus of their stage show tends to be the two full-bearded male dancers, who show a lot of bottom in overknee stilettos, latex corsets and glittery thongs.

But their retro-pop song in 80s electro style has a catchy, repetitive rhythm and lyrics and is easy to sing along to. Above all, however, it has a very topical message: it's about strong, emancipated and independent women who don't owe anyone an explanation. And if such women are called "bitches", then they should be proud of it.

Divided opinion on "Zorra"
This was not only well received at the Benidorm Song Festival. "Zorra" quickly became the new anthem of the LGBTIQ scene in Spain and is currently being played on all radio stations and clubs. "We seem to have managed to give the word Zorra a new meaning, and now we want to take this message to Europe," says singer María repeatedly in interviews.

Celebrated by some, criticized by others: Nebulossa from Spain are causing a stir ahead of the Song Contest with their song "Zorra".

(Bild: APA/AFP/TT News Agency/TT/Christine Olsson)

"Zorra" as a verbal feminist liberation? Spain's feminist movements are more than divided. The mere idea that tens of thousands of young girls in Spain and Europe will be told at the ESC final that they should proudly call themselves "sluts" in order to neutralize the term as an insult, gives Jana Bravo from the Madrid Federation for Women's Rights (MFM) a crisis. "The banalization or appropriation of a macho slur cannot be the way to demand women's rights and self-realization," says Jana Bravo in an interview with APA.

Song a "disgrace"
Within a few hours, the MFM collected more than 1500 protest signatures, which were submitted to the Spanish broadcaster RTVE with the request not to send the "Schlampen" song into the ESC race. However, RTVE only had the word "Zorra" translated as "vixen" for Eurovision instead of the actual meaning "bitch". Montserrat Boix has already resigned as gender equality officer at RTVE in protest and apologized to the victims of sexist violence.

The song was "unacceptable", several female parliamentarians have already said. Conservative opposition politicians consider it a "disgrace". Many socialist politicians have also expressed their "outrage", even though their leader, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, recently used the song as an example of how feminism can also be "entertaining".

Hardly any other ESC entry has sparked as much debate and criticism in Spain in recent years as "Zorra". Even the Catholic Church has had its say. Alicante's Bishop José Ignacio Munilla was convinced that it would upset many people with feminist sensibilities if the reaction to the humiliation of women were to be that women accept this humiliation and are proud of it.

Let's see what Europe thinks of the song at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest.