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ABBA fans react as band teases new project after nearly four decades apart

Are the Swedish group releasing a new album next week?

Jacob Stolworthy
Thursday 26 August 2021 09:07 BST
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ABBA celebrate 40 years

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The wait for the ABBA reunion might almost be over.

On Thursday (26 August), a new website surfaced online, teasing a project called ABBA Voyage. It urges fans to “register your interest to be the first in line to hear more” on 2 September.

The website also has its own Twitter page.

Fans are hoping this mystery project heralds the announcement of new music, which was originally set to be released in 2020.

The Swedish band were forced to delay these plans due to the pandemic, but said they would release five songs at some stage in 2021.

According to Geoff Lloyd, co-host of the Reasons To Be Cheerful podcast: “I got to spend an hour […] with Björn Ulvaeus from Abba via Zoom. He’s quarantining – he’s got an island in the Stockholm archipelago.

“They’ve recorded five new songs. They should have been out at the end of last year… Because of technical difficulties and the pandemic, it’s delayed things. But he promised me that the new Abba music will be out in 2021.”

ABBA have teased a new project
ABBA have teased a new project (Twitter)

Many fans believe “Voyage” to be the name of a new album, with one writing: “ABBA’s releasing a new album in autumn and I’m already so overwhelmed.”

Another fan added: “NEW ABBA ALBUM ANNOUNCED; THERE IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD.”

Abba’s last studio album was released in 1981, while three unreleased songs were made public a decade later in 1993 and 1994.

The band, consisting of Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog, shot to international fame in 1974 after winning the Eurovision Song Contest with the track “Waterloo”.

At the peak of their fame, ABBA consisted of two married couples, but both relationships broke down during their time as a group.

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Speaking about getting the four of them back together in May 2020, Ulvaes said: “It took half a minute and somehow we were back in time like we had been there yesterday as well.

“It was so strange. That feeling between us was extraordinary.”

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