ABBA — aka the greatest pop group in recorded history — are back.
In an official statement, posted to Instagram, the band wrote: “The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”
The resulting session has reportedly resulted in two new songs, one of which, I Still Have Fair In You, will be performed, Lil Miquela style, by the digital ABBA in a TV special this December.
“We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good,” they added.
ABBA, of course, first jettisoned into the international consciousness with a Eurovision performance of Waterloo, crowning victory for the Swedish group with the blue flared jodhpurs at the Brighton Dome-held contest in 1974. Despite receiving a big, fat nil point from London on the night, it would prove to be the start of a collective love affair with the band; a ten year Anglo-Swedish relationship that spawned nine UK number ones and a sense that ABBA were, deep down, as much a British sensation as a Scandinavian one.
“There are people who believe that pop culture has less value, than what we might call classical culture,” said Artistic Director Jude Kelly, at the opening of the Southbank Centre’s Super Troupers exhibition earlier this year. “But these are the things we grew up with, things that form the heart and soul of our sentiment. ABBA are absolutely unique in this respect.”
We’re quite excited.