ABBA are almost definitely releasing new music in 2020
The Swedish pop stars first announced their reunion back in 2018. It would end a 37-year ABBA drought.
ABBA’s music has never more ubiquitous. Its unflagging appeal gave rise to the film Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. They were both enormous box office successes, reaching a transgenerational audience.
It’s not uncommon to hear the Swedish foursome’s repertoire of hit singles blasting, unironically from radio speakers and backyard parties. But despite their staying power, it’s been 37 long years since ABBA released any new music.
But there’ve been strong indications this drought would soon end for a few years now. In 2016, ABBA’s four original members performed together at private event in Stockholm. The event marked the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between songwriters Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson.
Some even more exciting news came in early 2018. Ulvaeus, Andersson and singers Agnetha Fältskog and Frida Lyngstad issued a press release announcing they’d recorded two new songs. The songs even had titles: “I Still Have Faith in You’ and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’.
They were tied up with a proposed ABBA avatar tour project, conceived by Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. “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,” said the band’s statement.
2018 came and went, however, and no new ABBA songs surfaced. But in a new clip posted byABBAtalk, Andersson addresses the long-delayed new songs.
“They’re coming,” he says. “They’re coming this year. I’m guessing after the [European] summer. But I can only guess, because I’m not really sure. But I would think so.”
As for just when, Andersson can’t provide a release date but gives a rough estimate. “If I were to decide myself, it would be September,” he says. “I can’t make that decision alone. But that’s what we’re aiming for.”
