ABBA Voyage: New Songs Review After a 40 Years Hiatus

ABBA will go down in history as one of the most successful pop groups ever. On November 5, 2021, the legends are back with a new album titled Voyage.

Even though this might be their last album, Benny Andersson, Frida Lyngstad, Agnetha Fälskog, and Björn Ulvaeus still have enough energy in them for this round-trip titled Voyage.

Back in 2013, Björn asserted ABBA would never again perform together on stage. However, the group will return for a series of shows in the ABBA Arena, a state-of-the-art, 3,000-seat venue in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, with the premiere scheduled for May 27, 2022.

The digital versions of the group members were created after months of technical work and an 850-member team from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic in what is the company's first foray into music.

According to a new statement released in September, the group found a way to return to the stage and still uphold what Björn had declared. ABBA group members will return on stage as avatars for a virtual live performance with a live 10-piece band.

According to the latest news, the Voyage experience will be a residency-like run of shows that will last for at least for years.

One last 'Voyage' 40 Years Later

Everyone will agree that it's foolhardy to wait 40 years between albums. Nevertheless, with this gap of 39 years, 11 months, and seven days, ABBA will land in the Top 25 list of the most extended gaps between albums.

The band talked about the 40-year hiatus as if it was just that and not a split or a disband. Apparently, they paused and "took a break in the spring of 1982," and now they've decided it is time to come out of hiding and end that break.

The idea was to produce a groundbreaking digital concert; however, starting from that initial insight, they composed new tracks and decided to go back to the studio to record an entirely new album.

While we wait, Voyage, the long-awaited follow-up to 1981's The Visitors, hits the stores on November 5 and will also be available on all digital platforms.

Forty years after their last studio release, ABBA has recorded and produced a 10-track album of new songs. The quartet recorded Voyage at Benny's studio, Riksmixningsverket, in Stockholm.

About the New Songs

ABBA hasn't lost its touch, and the opening track "I Still Have Faith in You" has all the prerogatives of a hit ballad. Hence, it was chosen as the lead single and released as a double A-side with "Don't Shut Me Down" on September 2, 2021.

The lead single is an emotional rollercoaster from start to end with outstanding orchestrations that almost immediately reconnect the audience with ABBA's legacy. The lyrics are breathtaking, namely when we reach the chorus and go into the second verse.

The second single, "Don't Shut Me Down," sinks deep into the quartet legacy. Lyric-wise, we notice how the words flow from a seasoned musical entity, as it has the type of wisdom that you only find in a gray-haired mind. The track sounds like ABBA coming full circle.

The new songs are like children, and these musical apples don't fall far from the tree, as they remain faithful to the original sap stemming from the group's ancient roots. We feel the nostalgia as we look into the twilight of these iconic voices.

Concluding Remarks

I was only three years old when the quartet released The Visitors in 1981. Now I'm in my forties, and these iconic voices haven't aged a day.

The idea for an ABBA reunion first saw the light of day back in 2013 when bookies speculated that the pop group would reconvene after singer Agnetha Faltskog came out of retirement to release a solo album called "A,

Faltskog disclosed she was favorable to a reunion of Sweden's most successful band, and ABBA's Fandom became ecstatic.

COVID-struck 2020 goes down in history as one of humanity's darkest years. 2021 will be remembered as the year ABBA was raised from the ashes to cure the world of depression.

'Voyage' Tracklist

01. I Still Have Faith in You

02. When You Danced with Me

03. Little Things Lyrics

04. Don't Shut Me Down

05. Just a Notion 

06. I Can Be That Woman

07. Keep an Eye on Dan

08. Bumblebee Lyrics

09. No Doubt About It Lyrics

10. Ode to Freedom 

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