ABBA’s Agnetha & Anni-Frid’s songs on failed marriages hinting they still love exes Bjorn & Benny on 1st album in 40yrs
ABBA sing about their failed marriages on their final ever album, which is their first in 40 years.
The record, titled Voyage, is out Friday and features a string of references to the bittersweet relationships between Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus, who were married from 1971 to 1980, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who wed in 1978 and divorced in 1981.
The landmark album, which many fans never believed would happen, features poignant lyrics about longing for each other, wrongdoings which tore them apart and even child custody.
The band members have all since remarried but reunited for the collection, which was written by Benny, 74, and Bjorn, 76, and is largely sung by Agnetha, 71, and Frida, 75.
On one track titled I Can Be That Woman, the ladies appear to suggest they want the men back.
They sing: “You’re not the man you should’ve been, I let you down somehow.
“I’m not the woman I could’ve been, but I can be that woman now.”
At another point, they continue: “There’s a shimmer of hope in your eyes, you can’t believe it.
“But you’re close to tears. Oh, god, I’m sorry for the wasted years.”
That message is repeated on a song called Keep An Eye On Dan, which is about sharing a child with a former partner.
While Benny and Frida didn’t have children together, Agnetha and Bjorn had daughter Linda and son Peter, but have used a different name in the song.
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Singing from the perspective of a woman leaving her son with her ex, they sing: “My little boy looks so happy. He throws me his ‘go, mummy’ kiss.
“And he loves his dad. And I’ve loved him too.
“Maybe I still do. But, it’s over.”
Another song called When You Danced With Me appears to see them questioning the reasons why Benny and Bjorn wanted to reunite the best-selling group.
In a wistful chorus, they sing: “You’re just here for the music, that’s all. Or could it be, you miss the good old times when you danced with me?”
In the same song, they suggest their reunion was awkward after so many years apart.
They continue: “So is the outside world as you imagined? Was it worth it, severing the ties?
“Happy to see me or a bit embarrassed? There’s a darkness deep in your blue eyes.”
On the song No Doubt About It, the women take the blame for failures in their relationships.
They admit: “I made a mess this time and there’s no doubt about it.
“Hands down, the fault is mine and I’m prepared to shout it out across the rooftops.
“If it makes you happy, oh, yes, I could. So, hey, I take the blame.
“This one’s got my name and there’s no doubt about it.”
The Sun first told in August how the band would be making a shock comeback and in September they released the first two tracks from the album: I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down.
In the first track, there were poignant lyrics about them sharing “a union of heart and mind, the likes of which are rare and oh so hard to find.”
Another hint at the relationships between the band members featured in the second song, which ended with the line: “Love and hope is why I am here now.”
In 1981, just six months after his divorce was granted, Bjorn married music journalist Lena Kallersjo who he has been with ever since, while Benny married Swedish TV presenter Mona Norklit in the same year.
SO IS IT ANY GOOD? YES!
By Ulrika Jonsson, Swede and ABBA fanatic
IT is no exaggeration to say that Abba have been the soundtrack to much of my life.
Most acutely, I guess, to my childhood and adolescence. It’s fair to say I have their music coursing through my veins and I have yet to tire of it. To that end, I will openly acknowledge my bias, my tendency in their favour ad infinitum.
I was not disappointed with their new album. It’s clear the musicality has never left them. Benny and Bjorn’s stunning ability to create music that makes your hips swing, that upbeat optimism and enthusiasm which shines light into the dark corners of your mind, is still very much present.
And in the same breath, they will create beats alone that slow your heart and touch it with overwhelming honesty. Coupled with lyrics (“I’m not the same this time around”) it will send a shiver down your spine and force a retrospection and rawness rarely produced by other groups.
For me, Abba are the original musical anthem producers, with their rousing rhythms, the kind of stuff that gets you on your feet and starts you clapping. But hearing Agnetha’s and Frida’s voices in their angular Swenglish has a purity about it that signals, for me, that my soul is truly home.
I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with this album. For us oldies who remember Abba first time around, this is a piece of genuine nostalgia at the same time as bringing a beautiful, fresh, new clarity about it.
It feels like they’ve never been away. Their waltzy European simplicity and lightness brings joy.
You can’t keep amazing creators down. And I’m glad these four have risen from the ashes and allowed us to share in their Voyage and music once more.
However, while Frida eventually wed Prince Heinrich Ruzzo of Reuss in 1992, she was left heartbroken when he died from lymphoma in 1999.
She is now in a relationship with WH Smith heir Henry Smith, 5th Viscount Hambleden.
Agnetha is the only member who is now believed to be single following a three-year marriage to a surgeon, Tomas Sonnenfeld, which ended in 1993.
Their complicated history and four decades apart make Abba’s return with a brand new record one of the most unlikely pop comebacks of all time.
Abba released eight studio albums from 1973 to 1981 but fell out of fashion towards the end of their career.
However, the group had a huge surge in popularity in the Nineties and are now one of the best-selling acts of all time.
Their greatest hits collection Abba Gold is the second-highest selling album ever in the UK.
Now Voyage is set to become the fastest-selling album in the UK in four years, with an estimated 140,000 copies expected to fly off the shelves in the next seven days.
Last week, Benny insisted it will be their final ever album, although next year they will launch a groundbreaking digital concert residency to bring their music to millions more people.
The show, called Abba Voyage, will launch next May at the purpose-built Abba Arena in East London on the 50th anniversary of the band being formed.
It will feature life-like digital recreations of the band members on stage performing their greatest hits, after they decided they didn’t want to reunite for a money-spinning tour.
They have long insisted they will not perform together again and in 2000, turned down a $1billion offer to reunite for 250 shows.
SO IS IT ANY GOOD? NO!
By Simon Boyle, Executive Showbiz Editor
MAMMA Mia . . . please make it stop again!
Perhaps I’m not the target audience, and I accept Abba have been the architects of some of the most successful pop of all-time, but this one leaves me cold.
While it’s hard to dispute the genius of their classics, little on this record had me humming along to the tune later on.
Having expected indisputably catchy pop hooks, much of this is slow, laboured and needlessly melodramatic lyrically.
Tracks hark back to personal calamities of yesteryear, when all anybody really wants from this is a burst of high-octane fun and vibrancy to take them back to their joyful heyday.
At times this album attempts to modernise – 21st-century production techniques, synth sounds and beats echo contemporary pop – but it’s hard to feel that this will snatch up any new fans.
It’s an exercise in pointless nostalgia for those whose days as a Dancing Queen might feel a fair way back . . . but this record desperately needs a hip replacement.
There’s no shame in becoming a tribute act to yourself once the moment in pop culture has passed – just look at Liam Gallagher, who now cheerfully rattles out Oasis classics for cash at any festival that will have him.
Perhaps the time for a joyful comeback tour is now.
A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TRACK BY TRACK
1. I Still Have Faith in You:
The perfect introduction to Abba after four decades away, it is a powerful anthem which addresses their fears about returning and shows off Agnetha and Frida’s voices.
2. When You Danced with Me:
This is a fun, upbeat song, but not in the way that you know Abba. Backed by strings, it is a jolly folk track - rather than a big pop number - with a memorable, instrumental chorus.
3. Little Things
They have never released a Christmas song before, but they have corrected it with this one. It is a soft and soothing ballad where they coo over children, stockings and gifts, before being joined by a youth choir.
4. Don’t Shut Me Down
One of the closest tracks to their classic Abba sound, this should delight fans of the group. It contains a piano slide just like on Dancing Queen and is a joyful dancefloor tune.
5. Just a Notion
This is the only song on the album which isn’t completely new, as it was originally written for their 1979 album Voulez-Vous. It is a fun slice of the Seventies which the trademark Abba harmonies are in full force on.
6. I Can Be That Woman
In terms of emotion, this is the closest to being a tear-jerker. It is a deeply heartfelt ballad steeped in regret and pain about the breakdown of a relationship, with the simplest instrumentation of the record.
7. Keep an Eye on Dan
They have created a tense sound on this one with a big build to a dramatic chorus. There is even a nostalgic throwback to their hit SOS in the final notes.
8. Bumble Bee
This easy-listening number is slightly saccharine as it is quite literally about bees flying around a garden. But with their voices exposed, their harmonies sound fantastic.
9. No Doubt About It
You won’t be able to stop yourself from tapping your foot to this pacey track which could easily have been a single in their hey-day. Packed with guitars and passionate vocals, it is bound to be a fan favourite.
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10. Ode to Freedom
A delicate ballad, this track is Abba’s swansong. It reflects who they are in 2021 as they look back over everything they have achieved, sweetly sung over a lush backdrop of strings.