If hell froze over when The Eagles got back together in 1994 after a 14-year long breakup, it’s a sustained Arctic blast down there these days. ABBA, the Swedish supergroup, who have repeatedly rejected offers to reunite, have shocked fans with the announcement they have written and recorded new music together.
In an Instagram post, the group said it had recorded two new songs. The first, “I Still Have Faith In You” will debut in December in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC.
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The ABBA avatar tour mentioned in that post was revealed last week by band member Björn Ulvaeus. That two-hour program will feature computer-generated avatars of the band performing together. (Members have been scanned and “de-aged” to look like they did in 1979.) The avatars are then set to launch a global tour.
ABBA was one of the biggest groups of the 1970s and has proven to be the most enduring. Their 1992 compilation album Abba Gold has sold 30 million copies. And the musical play based on their songs, Mama Mia, has reportedly been seen by 60 million people in 440 cities. It was adapted into a movie in 2008, making $615 million worldwide, giving birth to a sequel that will be released in June.
There has been considerable demand for the group to take a chance and reform, but Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Frida Lyngstad have steadfastly refused, even when the money, money, money was staggering.
In 2014, the group turned down a $1 billion offer to get back together. But, at the time, Lyngstad did drop what now sounds like a cryptic hint about the future.
“No amount of money would change our minds. Maybe we sometimes say it would be good to do a song together again, just a recording and nothing else, but I don’t know if that will happen—so don’t say that we will!”
No word on when the second song will drop, but when all is said and done, it’s a safe bet fans will clamor for that one as well.