The absence was long, very long.
And the miraculous return.
After 40 years of silence, ABBA officially released a streaming single this Thursday night.
At 7 pm, 225,000 Internet users were connected to YouTube to listen to “I Still Have Faith In You”, a walk sung and performed by Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid (Frida).
After a video showing fans of the Swedish group around the world, the song paraded, full of nostalgia.
The photos of young artists, their recording moments, more intimate images of their couples, and then the four of them, now over 70 years old.
A big touching gap, between youth and wrinkles.
This track and a second, "Don't Shut Me Down", are available digitally, pending the release on November 5 of a new album, "Voyage", the first since 1981.
We expected a few minutes of presentation, but no.
ABBA is going big and announcing a hologram tour, which will begin on May 27, 2022 at a concert hall in London, created especially for him.
A short report shows how their four avatars or rather “ABBAtar” were designed, with 150 sensors on the bodies of each artist, to record facial expressions and emotions, so that their virtual doubles really resemble them.
We see them singing, dancing, young, in sequined outfits.
The digital versions of ABBA were created by a team of 850 people from Industrial Light & Magic, a company founded by George Lucas, the father of the “Star Wars” saga.
This exceptional digital tour will also be carried by 10 musicians.
"We wanted to do it before we died!"
"We've been thinking about this project for four or five years," Björn says during the interview live from London. But we didn't think it would be possible. "Benny continues, laughing:" We wanted to do it before we died! The two artists are interviewed by a journalist from the top of a London hotel overlooking the auditorium where the letters ABBA shine. Why London precisely for these concerts? "Because it's the best city, the one to be in," Benny answers without hesitation. It has everything to have fun, talents, infrastructure, ecology. We often come here. "
Despite its forty years of absence, the legend had not died out during these decades. On the contrary ! ABBA is 10 years of career, 8 albums, 27 compilations and 380 million records sold. The emblematic group of the disco wave of the 70s is celebrated by two films in 1994, "Muriel" and "Priscillia mad of the desert". Five years later the musical “Mamma Mia! », Which attracts more than 50 million spectators around the world. The film adaptation, released in 2008, followed by a second installment in 2018, continued to bring the repertoire to life.
The teenagers of today listen to ABBA in their playlist, take again the tubes on TikTok including “Waterloo” which allowed the group to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. After this first victory, the quartet triumphs in the world with its tubes “ Mamma Mia ”,“ Fernando ”,“ Dancing Queen ”. ABBA turns into a company. The musicians invest in the production company that gave them birth, Polar Music AB. They also built the Polar Music Studios, their own recording location, in an old disused cinema in Stockholm. The company invests in assembly plants, restaurant chains, cinemas, an art gallery and even an oil company, Poloil.
Then Agnetha and Björn divorced in 1979, Anni-Frid and Benny two years later. The pleasure of working and singing together fades. The album "The Visitors" is the last, in 1981. Until today and this "Voyage" which will begin on November 5th. Tickets for concerts will be available from Sunday on the group's website.
