Music

ABBA Are Back After 40 Years With Two New Songs And The Internet Is Imploding

"New ABBA music means a new Mamma Mia movie someone call Meryl Streep."

by Joseph Earp  3 September 2021
abba return photo

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After nearly 40 years of silence, ABBA, one of the greatest pop acts of all time, are back.

Yep, it’s the 2021 plot twist that nobody saw coming — the foursome have just released not one but two new singles, and have announced that they will shortly be going on tour.

Not any old tour, mind you. The band will be playing “virtual concerts”, a natural extension of the hologram phenomenon that’s been flying around the music industry for years. Enlisting the help of George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, the group will use motion capture to virtually appear at a concert to be held in London, later this year.

As reported by the ABC, the group call it “the strangest and most spectacular concert you could ever dream of.” Wilder still, the four-piece will be in attendance at the concert, sitting back with the rest of the audience and watching themselves perform.

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As to the two new singles, they’re typical ABBA fare — which, to be honest, makes a lot of sense. Though it would be funny if they dropped an EDM banger, or made a hard pivot into heavy metal, the band have always been known for their determination to stick to the basics. The two singles, ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’ combine epic, baroque balladry with the disco-tinged sounds that made them famous.

There’s more forthcoming too: the band’s new album, Voyage, will be released on November 5 this year.

Anyway, because this is all deliciously confusing, the internet has spent the hours after the release of the singles melting down, sharing nostalgic memories and scratching their heads over the fact that we have new ABBA at all.

Truly we live in the wildest timeline imaginable.