Thank You For The Music

I’m a huge music fan, I work with music every single day. So, can you guess the question I’ve been asked most this past week?

What do you think of ABBA’s new songs?

In a week where Drake and Kayne West have both released floods of music, that’s quite an achievement for the 50-year-old group.

ABBA has been trending on Twitter and dominating the music download charts. They are the most requested artist on some of our services this week. In their home country of Sweden, they have 10 songs on the streaming charts, most of them over 40 years old. Their album has 4 times as many sales in the UK as Kanye’s has and it’s not even out for another two months!

What is it that this group of people in their seventies has got that the young guns don’t?

ABBA have a special place in my musical heart. One of my earliest memories is listening to their Greatest Hits album on repeat on my dad’s snazzy music centre.

I think nostalgia is a big reason why they’re so popular. Everyone loves a reminder of when times were simpler. ABBA have double-nostalgia on their side. Some people identify with the ABBA when they were active in the 1970s, others with the 1990s ABBA Gold album and films such as Muriel’s Wedding.

Scarcity is another possibility. This is ABBA’s first new music in 40 years and the members of the group don’t document their every move on social media. They have an old-school air of showbiz mystery about them.

But there’s a good few musical groups who were big last century and wouldn’t create such a storm now. For me, the answer comes down to the songs. From the catchy-as-anything music to the clear as a bell vocals, there’s a signature ABBA sound. Their songs are about falling in love and having fun, so they still resonate today.

What do I think of ABBA’s new songs? That’s not relevant, I just love it when people get excited about music and boy, are some people excited about this.

Written by Euan McMorrow, Content Director for AVC Immedia.

You can listen to some of the new tracks released by ABBA below.