Upon the release of ABBA’s much anticipated first studio album in 40 years, we take a look back at how the music and forthcoming stage show ABBA Voyage evolved.

When ABBA decided to ‘take a break’ in 1982 the world and even the band members themselves thought it was probably the end of the road. However, fast-forward forty years and to the delight of fans worldwide, ABBA are back with a 10 track album, ABBA Voyage, featuring all new or previously unreleased songs and a virtual-reality show of the same name to follow next Spring.

Björn Ulvaeus is as amazed as anyone that the reunion has happened: “It is inconceivable to be where we are now. To release an album after 40 years and still be the best of friends, to enjoy each other’s company and have total loyalty and trust. No imagination could dream that up!”

The project was first conceptualised by the entertainment entrepreneur Simon Fuller, who approached ABBA with the idea of producing a hologram tour. All four members were instantly excited by the prospect of the groundbreaking venture to utilise the very latest technology to create a brand new entertainment experience.

In 2016 a press release announced the collaboration between themselves, Simon Fuller and Universal Music – ABBA were to be reborn as their digital selves. 

Speaking about the project at the time Anni-Frid Lyngstad said: “Our fans around the world are always asking us to reform and so I hope this new ABBA creation will excite them as much as it excites me!”

While Björn admitted: “It was the tech side, the possibility of doing something nobody had ever done before that I found so tempting and hard to resist.”

However, the partnership with Simon Fuller faltered when the band realised that the holograms could not be used in a concert environment due to the restrictions on seating and lighting that would be required for the visual effects to be successful. Simon therefore suggested they instead make a TV show or a video, but that was not the immersive live experience that ABBA had envisaged. 

The project was put on hold until Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a London based company founded by Star Wars creator, George Lucas, that had previously produced many of the digital effects for Disney, said that they could create the show that the four wanted.  

“We can recreate ABBA as they were in their prime. We can make digital characters and using motion capture techniques we can animate them, perform them and make them appear perfectly real,” said ILM’s Creative Director, Ben Morris.

A production team of Bailie Walsh (whose previous notable works include Massive Attacks Unfinished Symphony video and a hologram installation of Kate Moss for the fashion designer Alexander McQueen), Svana Gisla (renowned for her production of tours for artists including Bruce Springsteen, Kylie Minogue and Beyoncé) along with Benny’s son, Ludvig, took the reins and the show finally began to take shape.

Perhaps the project’s biggest shift in momentum occurred when ABBA decided to record some new music to accompany the show. 

“Whenever you go on tour it’s nice to have something new to play. All four of us felt that it could be fun to go into a recording studio together again after 35 years, so we did!” Benny explained.

“Of course we didn’t know at the time whether it would work, if the magic would still be there. But when Agnetha and Frida started to sing it felt like time had stood still. It was an extremely joyous experience.”

Björn agreed:  “It was fun. And I think everyone was completely aware that if what we did, was not up to the standard that we all wanted, we would just forget about it. There was no pressure in that respect.”

Although originally just two songs were recorded; I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down, in December 2018, Benny revealed in an exclusive interview with icethesite that a third song was in the pipeline.

In July 2020 Björn confirmed that in fact five new songs were ‘in the can’, but by then the world was in the grip of the COVID 19 pandemic and the opening of the show, along with the release of the new music suffered further setbacks. 

However, while the rest of the world was in lockdown, Sweden was still cautiously open for business and ILM were able to film what Benny affectionately calls ‘the old band’ in Stockholm’s Filmhuset. Day-in, day-out for five weeks,160 cameras recorded ABBA’s every move as they sang and danced their way through dozens of their old hits and new songs alike while wearing bodysuits featuring the motion capture technology.

“They photographed us from all possible angles, they made us grimace in front of cameras, they shaved our beards, painted dots on our faces, they measured our heads,” said Björn. “Apparently a cranium doesn’t change with age even if the rest of your body falls apart!”

Back in London an 850-strong team of ILM animators merged the photographs and hours of video footage with images of the band’s younger selves. Working together with Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor they were then able to create the lifelike ‘Abbatars’ as they have been dubbed by the media. 

By late Summer 2021 the project was ready for launch and the publicity team went into full swing amidst a furore of media attention. The internet and billboards across London began filling with images of the ABBA Voyage logo. No other details were announced but a digital clock counted down the hours until the official reveal. 

On the evening of Thursday 2 September Benny and Björn gave an interview broadcast live on YouTube, to the BBC’s Zoe Ball, from the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a 114.5 metre-high sculpture and observation tower in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

Benny and Björn confirmed the news many had dreamed of…what had begun as just two new songs had become a ten track album, ABBA Voyage, to be released on 5 November 2021. 

The initial two single releases were both played for the first time during the live-stream. I Still Have Faith In You was accompanied by a video showing ABBA in their heyday together with the first glimpse of how the digital images will look. Scenes of fans celebrating the launch in Stockholm, Reykjavik, Vienna, Berlin, New York and Sydney were shown during the premiere of Don’t Shut Me Down.

Benny and Björn explained how they had tried to keep the new music as true to the original ABBA style as possible and just make the songs the best they could be rather than attempt to emulate anything going on in current pop culture. 

“It is a little mixture of everything, like it has been on our records throughout the years. I think it is fairly good but we are not competing with Drake!” Benny said.

They also announced that the long-awaited show, also titled ABBA Voyage, would open in a custom built, 3000 capacity arena in London on 27 May 2022. 

All that has been revealed so far is that it will be a concert-style event of approximately one hundred minutes duration and will feature the digital images performing to original ABBA vocals accompanied by a live ten piece band.

Exactly how the show will be executed is currently being kept under wraps, but the producers have described it as a fully immersive experience, unlike anything a pop or rock band has ever attempted before.

Producer Svana Gisla thinks it will be a game-changing event for pop music: 

“When the show opens, everyone else is going to try and jump on the bandwagon and do the same. But this only works because ABBA themselves are so involved,” she said.

There will be seven performances per week including two weekend matinees, with both standing or seated ticket options. And while the current lease on the site is only for five years, Benny says that he hopes the concert will have the lifespan of a West End show. Tickets are currently available up until December 2022.

The ABBA Arena has been designed to be transportable so there is the option to take it apart and rebuild it in another city after its run in London.

Within days of the media event 80,000 pre-orders for the album in the UK alone broke the record for the biggest pre-ordered album for Universal Music Group UK. Demand for Voyage concert tickets was such that the ticketing website crashed under the pressure and the first two singles returned ABBA to the upper echelons of charts around the world. Don’t Shut Me Down became the first ABBA release to top the Swedish singles chart since Summer Night City in 1978 and ABBA’s first UK Top Ten single since One of Us in 1981.

Voyage tracklist:

1. I Still Have Faith In You
2. When You Danced With Me
3. Little Things
4. Don’t Shut Me Down
5. Just A Notion
6. I Can Be That Woman
7. Keep An Eye On Dan
8. Bumble Bee
9. No Doubt About It
10. Ode To Freedom

A third song, Just A Notion, a previously unreleased ABBA track that was first recorded in 1978, was released with original vocals, as a gesture of thanks to the fans, in October 2021 and a fourth single from the album, Little Things is expected to be released for Christmas.

The album has divided opinion among both critics and fans but when all is said and done, the fact that ABBA had more to say and do together is absolutely wonderful.

There’s more…

ABBA Voyage music, merchandise and concert tickets can be purchased now at abbavoyage.com
ABBA photo by Billie Walsh.