“We are no longer in the disco”, but the titles remain “rhythmic”, with texts “rather adults” compared to previous ABBA productions, described Friday November 5 on franceinfo Jean-Marie Potiez, official biographer of the group for French-speaking countries, who listened to ABBA’s new album, Trip, released Friday, almost forty years after the separation of the group, at the end of 1982.
The four iconic Swedish musicians will return to the stage virtually, from May 27, 2022, for several concerts in London where their holograms will be projected on stage. By computer, they will be represented 45 years younger, before their separation.
franceinfo: How would you qualify this new album?
Jean-Marie Potiez: It is a good vintage in the purest ABBA style. It’s a varied album, with rather adult lyrics compared to the past, where it was sometimes quite light. Although there have been songs like The Winner Takes It All, who talks about divorce. We also find the folks influences of Benny, a little Irish, in one of the new titles. There is also a very nice song that ends the album, which in my opinion could become a hymn to freedom. It is a very beautiful text. Overall, we are no longer in the disco, but we are in rhythmic titles. There are also ballads and a rock song.
Time has passed for the four members of the group. They are between 71 and 76 years old. We feel that this is a mature album. The theme of regret is present …
Yes, the regrets of a couple who broke up. These are more mature texts. And then, this album is a real surprise. ABBA members weren’t planning on doing one. When in 2017, they entered the studio, it was to record two unreleased tracks, for their hologram concert project. In fact, they take such pleasure in being together, that they said to themselves: we are going to do a little more. And they did ten titles. It is pure pleasure. It’s not for the money at all. The four of them are already very rich.
The 2022 hologram concert project in London is working very well. The presales are huge. The band members explain that if they had taken the stage as they are today, it would have been a bit pathetic, hence the holograms … What can we expect?
George Lucas’ company, ILM, is behind this project. We can expect 3D holograms.
“In 2020, the four members of ABBA walked into a studio for five weeks. They were put on suits riddled with sensors.”
Jean-Marie Potiez, official ABBA biographerto franceinfo
They were filmed by 160 cameras, and they replayed a concert, spread over five weeks of course, but as in the past. We really have their gestures, their movements. Simply, computers transform them as they were in 1977-79. They will sing old songs, big hits, but also lesser-known songs. And then, the two new titles that were unveiled in early September, Don’t shut me down and I Still Have Faith In You.