It finally happened: ABBA announced they’re reuniting for the first time in 40 years, with a new album and a digital concert on the way. If the pair of singles they’ve released prove anything, it’s that they’ve been bottling up disco-pop lightning for years. They picked the perfect time, too: We could all use some of that glittery Swedish energy to get us through the darkness right now.
In honor of the group returning, let’s revisit their breakthrough at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, where they took home first place for “Waterloo.” Following their introduction, where each member — Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus — pose within the leaves of a large plant, the video turns to the contest.
Producer Sven-Olof Walldoff appears dressed as Napoleon (a logical choice, given that the song’s title comes from the 1815 Battle of Waterloo). Walldoff conducts the orchestra as the band appears onstage, kicking off the track in flamboyant outfits. Lyngstad and Fältskog trade vocals, with the latter decked out in royal blue velour and a matching crochet beanie.
“Waterloo” marked the first time the band charted in the U.S. The song hit Number Six on the Billboard Hot 100, while its B side, “Honey, Honey,” landed at Number 27 later that fall. Following its success, the group became influenced by glam rock. “If you look at the singles we released straight after ‘Waterloo,’ we were trying to be more like the Sweet, a semi-glam rock group,” Ulvaeus told The Guardian in 2014. “Which was stupid because we were always a pop group.”
ABBA’s upcoming album, Voyage, marks their first new album since 1981’s The Visitors, and in the past four decades they’ve come in and out of the pop culture orbit, most recently with 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Cher’s subsequent tribute album. Hopefully, this reunion will give them the full resurgence they deserve.
“The music of ABBA is not that happy,” Ulvaeus said. “It might sound happy, in some strange way, but deep within it’s not happy music. It has that Nordic melancholic feeling to it. What fools you is the girls’ voices. You know, I do think that is one of the secrets about ABBA. Even when we were really quite sad, we always sounded jubilant.”
VIDEOS
Kanye West has been lauded as a creative genius for often going against the grain and finding ways to make fans relate to his music and visuals, even if it is done through unconventional methods. His new music video for “530” accurately displays that ability, depicting common human experiences via puppets and people wearing masks.
The 47-year-old artist shared the lengthy visual via Instagram, supporting the record which appeared on his August 2024 collaborative LP with Ty Dolla $ign titled Vultures 2. Initially, “530” made headlines for the Chicago producer taking shots at his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and name-dropping Drake. However, the video took things in a different direction.
Puppets are used in the visual to represent women getting lip injections, looking at themselves in the mirror, styling their hair, or running errands. Male puppets also appeared in the video, seemingly carrying on with their everyday activities without paying too much attention to the women around them unless they have been enhanced by surgery. There is also a noticeable difference between some visually frightening puppets wearing masks and others who are much better put together. Watch the “530” video below.
“You a fake bi**h, you don’t really love Ye bi**h, go listen to Drake bi**h,” Kanye West rapped on the record. As for Kim Kardashian, he seemingly reflected on how difficult it was to lose her with the lines “Pray your soulmate got a soul when you meet her/ The crystal ball couldn’t tell me if they’d leave again / Problems too extra large to share it with a medium.” He also addressed how tough it was to co-parent, rapping, “The past year been a strange time/ Visitations on Facetime/ And who gon’ break who’s heart first? Always just breaks mine.”
Ye and Kim K officially got divorced in November 2022 and it was a difficult road afterward, as she soon began dating Pete Davidson. West quickly moved on as well, marrying Bianca Censori in January 2023. As for his on-and-off rivalry with the Toronto superstar, it is safe to believe he may never move on.
When Kendrick Lamar fired the first shot on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” the 24-time Grammy winner jumped in and revealed that he was on the “Like That” remix. He also spoke with Justin LaBoy and revealed that he enthusiastically linked up with Lamar, Future, Boomin, Rick Ross, The Weeknd, and A$AP Rocky to aid in the “elimination of Drake.” Listen to the “Like That” remix below.
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