STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s legendary disco group ABBA announced on Friday that they have reunited to record two new songs 35 years after their last single, sparking joy and surprise among fans.
“We all felt that, after 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did,” the group said in a statement after repeatedly vowing that they would never reunite.The new songs I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Downwere recorded last summer, the band’s manager Gorel Hanser told TT news agency.
The quartet split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like Waterloo, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia and Super Trouper. “It was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!” members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson added. Bjorn, 73, was married to Agnetha, 68, and Benny, 71, was married to Anni-Frid, 72.
The group, who sold more than 400 million albums, have not sung together publicly since 1986. The stunning announcement came as Sweden was mourning the death of another of its music sensations, Avicii, one of the world’s most successful DJs. He was found dead a week ago in Oman where he had been on holiday with friends.
Come of age
Computerised avatars are to perform I Still Have Faith In You in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC to be broadcast in December, the group said.
The group dominated the 1970s disco scene with their glitzy costumes, kitsch dance routines and catchy melodies. They first found global fame after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with Waterloo.
While they have appeared in public together on rare occasions, they have never reunited to perform as a group and vowed that won’t ever happen. “There is simply no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were,” Ulvaeus said in a 2008 interview. He was not immediately available for comment on Friday’s announcement.
Richard Skold, a 46-year-old ABBA fan who works at a Stockholm bookstore, jumped up with surprise after hearing the news. “This is the craziest thing I’ve heard! I never thought this would happen. And the fact that they’re all still alive is fantastic!” he said.
“BREAKING: ABBA have reformed. This may be bigger than Korea,” British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan tweeted, referring to Friday’s historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in.
“The same wonderful chemistry”
The group’s manager Gorel Hanser said that hearing them record the two new songs was just like in the ABBA days. “It was the same wonderful chemistry. It was as if time had stood still,” she said. “Everyone got into their role and sang, and sang and sang.”
ABBA’s popularity has continued to grow over the years, with the 1999 hit musical Mamma Mia and the 2008 film of the same name starring Meryl Streep bringing their music to a whole new generation of fans. The music also featured prominently in two cult Australian films, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding, both released in 1994.
In 2013, the world’s first museum dedicated to ABBA opened in Stockholm, offering visitors a chance to get up close and personal with the foursome with a little help from modern technology.