“The future of Abba starts today”, announces the Swedish pop band. It doesn’t promise too much: Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid have recorded new songs.
London – Abba fans got more on Thursday evening than they had dared to hope for: At their global “Abba event”, the Swedish pop band not only announced details of the long-planned multimedia show, as they had hoped, but also presented new music.
The two singles “I Still Have Faith in You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down” with the unmistakable Abba sound were immediately available online. The album “Voyage” is to follow on November 5th with eight more new tracks. And from May 2022, the stars, who are now all over 70 years old, will send digital images onto the stage. The verdict of fans on Twitter: “Abba saved 2021!”
The band had previously announced a “historic livestream” on Twitter, which had caused much speculation. In parallel to the broadcast on YouTube, press conferences were held in Stockholm, Berlin, London, New York, Sydney and Tokyo.
The virtual reality project “Abba Voyage” is set to celebrate its premiere in London on May 27th. The matching music theater with 3000 seats is currently still being built. The virtual images of Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus as well as Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad then sing and dance on stage, accompanied by a ten-person live band. In reality, the four Abba members are now all over 70, but their “Abbatars” were created based on their images from 1979. The tickets for the event should be available from next week.
History of the Swedish pop group
After their international breakthrough in 1974, the couples Agnetha and Björn as well as Benny and Anni-Frid toured the world. The women sang while the men were responsible for the lyrics and melodies of the Abba hits. In Germany, nine of her singles made it to the top of the charts – “Waterloo”, “SOS”, “Mamma Mia”, “Fernando”, “Dancing Queen”, “Money, Money, Money”, “Knowing Me, Knowing You” “,” Super Trouper “and” One Of Us “. According to the Abba Museum, the band sold more than 380 million albums worldwide. But after the two couples separated, the musicians announced the end of their collaboration in 1982.
So now the sensation, after almost 40 years – the four of them were back in the studio. “I can hardly believe that the moment has finally come to share this with the world,” wrote Agnetha in a message to the fans. It was similar to them, as photos of spectators at the mega-event overwhelmed with joy showed. dpa
