Picture Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Each day Beast/Getty
It’s 7:45 p.m. on a Thursday and I’m about to see ABBA stay on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. Properly, not precisely—in reality, the band hasn’t carried out within the U.Okay. capital in over 40 years. Moderately, I’ll be seeing hologram-style figures, cleverly dubbed “ABBAtars,” of the Swedish supergroup as a part of ABBA Voyage, a present that had bought lots of of hundreds of tickets earlier than it even debuted final Could.
Almost a full 12 months after the present premiered, ABBA Voyage continues to be pulling in large crowds—I needed to get tickets months upfront—attracting followers of all ages from all around the world. It’s been so profitable that there have been current talks to take the ABBAtars on tour. The 90-minute present—which options 3D-style footage of the Swedish pop stars, modeled of their likeness from 1977, performing their best hits—isn’t the one ABBA attraction making waves. Within the U.S., there are all types of ABBA-themed events (I swear there’s no less than one a month the place I stay in Washington, D.C). It begs the query: What makes this band’s music so beloved greater than 4 a long time after their debut?
First, somewhat background on our Swedish superstars: ABBA was fashioned in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the band will get its identify from the primary letters of every member’s identify). However the band actually “made it” once they received the 1974 Eurovision Music Contest, singing their hit single “Waterloo.” ABBA stayed energetic for about 10 years, releasing eight studio albums, however ultimately broke up in December 1982.
Abba received the Eurovision Music Contest in England with "Waterloo" in 1974.
Olle Lindeborg/AFP through Getty Photographs
To be taught a bit extra in regards to the notion of the group over time, I spoke to ABBA historian Carl Magnus Palm, who remembers being surrounded by their music whereas rising up in Sweden. “It wasn’t like you could possibly escape ABBA for those who have been in Sweden,” he instructed me. Throughout the first leg of ABBA’s profession within the Nineteen Seventies, they obtained combined critiques—one critic famously wrote, “Now we have met the enemy, and it's them.” As Palm explains, the angle towards them on the time was that they made good pop music, nevertheless it wasn’t taken as critically as it will be these days.
Palm began chronicling the band in 1992, proper round when “the ABBA revival” started, bolstered by the discharge of the best hits compilation ABBA Gold. When he first began writing a guide in regards to the group, individuals instructed him he needed to get it out quickly or else it wouldn’t be related. “However for the reason that late ’90s, nobody has mentioned that anymore. They understand ABBA is right here to remain.”
When requested why he thinks ABBA’s music has managed to stay round and keep related, Palm had a number of concepts. For one, the manufacturing worth sounds surprisingly trendy. “It’s not too far faraway from the music of immediately,” he says. He additionally factors out how listeners have a robust inclination towards melodies you may hum together with—and ABBA’s music actually has its share of catchy tunes, from “Dancing Queen” to “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).”
“The music is upbeat, it makes me really feel glad, it’s straightforward to bop to,” Charlie Smith, a 23-year previous ABBA fan, reiterated to me. “You may sing alongside to it within the automotive. You may play it at a marriage and everybody goes to comprehend it. It’s some extent of connection for individuals.”
Nate Sloan, an assistant professor of musicology on the College of Southern California, supplied a deeper evaluation. He emphasised the distinctive juxtaposition of ABBA’s two lead singers (Anni-Frid and Agnetha) as a key element of their sound. “If the 2 vocalists are singing the identical be aware, it provides this actually cool coloration to have their totally different vocals, giving every of their very own interpretation,” he says.
Sloan additionally pointed to the band’s uniquely immersive “maximalist pop” sound. “There may be a lot occurring in ABBA songs,” he explains. “It’s very orchestral. ‘Mamma Mia’ is a superb instance of this. You hear a marimba on the very starting of the tune, however then you definitely even have synthesizers. It’s this mixture of custom, orchestral, symphonic, after which very new synthesis, digital.”
Additionally integral to ABBA’s longevity is the worldwide attraction of their discography. Palm and Sloan attribute this to a variety of elements, together with the group’s efforts to translate their music into Spanish, and each emphasize how the music is worldwide in and of itself, taking affect from the U.S., U.Okay., and Europe.
“This music isn’t actually linked to a sure time or place,” Sloan says. “It doesn’t sound historically Swedish. It doesn’t fairly sound like pop music of the Nineteen Seventies or ’80s. It has components of disco, soul, classical, and bubblegum pop, nevertheless it’s a novel melange of all these items. There’s somewhat one thing for everybody in that sense.”
Past the music itself, there are quite a lot of explanation why ABBA has stayed within the public consciousness—chief amongst them, Mamma Mia! The jukebox musical first opened on the West Finish in 1999, that includes numerous songs composed by ABBA and members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. A star-studded, deliciously campy movie adaptation was launched in 2008, adopted by a success sequel in 2018.
Mamma Mia! is a key issue that performs into the band’s relevance—these days, it’s the best way many youthful followers, together with myself, are launched to the music of ABBA.
Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA attend the primary efficiency of ABBA "Voyage" in London.
Dave J Hogan/Getty
“It’s divorced from ABBA themselves as a result of the songs have been put in a brand new context and imply one thing else once they’re in Mamma Mia! carried out by these different singers,” Palm says. “However it’s one in every of many issues that’s continually happening to maintain ABBA’s music and the ABBA phenomenon within the highlight.”
TikTok has additionally breathed new life into the band’s legacy. Whether or not it’s the “Chiquitita” riff, an “Angel Eyes” lip-sync or a gaggle recreating the enduring “Lay All Your Love On Me” efficiency from Mamma Mia!, ABBA songs are all around the video-sharing app. More often than not, the content material doesn’t have something to do with ABBA or Mamma Mia! in any respect, as a substitute hinging on the music itself.
“There are catchy hooks, that are excellent for TikTok dances,” Smith explains. “The lyrics are theatrical and ideal for TikToks.”
And ABBA themselves have wholeheartedly leaned into their TikTok virality—the band joined the app in August 2021, utilizing it to advertise their newest album, 2021’s Grammy-nominated Voyage, over the following months. They’re nonetheless energetic to today, boasting greater than 3 million followers.
Again on the ABBA Voyage present in London, the band’s generational and world attraction by no means appeared extra apparent; as I regarded across the room, it was clear there was no dominant demographic of the rapturous attendees. There have been millennial couples. There was a teenage boy belting the lyrics to “Dancing Queen.” There was a person in about his fifties singing alongside to virtually each tune, already sporting an ABBA Voyage sweatshirt. There have been girls of their sixties, dressed up like ABBA, shaming the remainder of us for not moving into the spirit with our personal glittery costumes. There have been numerous moms and daughters, embracing one another throughout “Thank You for the Music.”
The ABBA magic is certainly alive and nicely in 2023—and there’s no signal of this specific voyage ending anytime quickly.