Agnetha Fältskog has confirmed what ABBA fans already knew, but didn’t want to hear — the legendary Swedish pop band will never reunite.
In an interview which aired Sunday night in Australia, Fältskog shut the door on an ABBA comeback.
When asked if the foursome would ever back together, Fältskog shook her head, and said: “I don’t think so. No. And we’ve had a lot of offers but we have our own life now since many years back and we don’t understand why we should do it. Because we’ve had our time and I think we should let ABBA rest and just listen to the music.”
It wasn’t a definitive, “snowball’s chance in hell” type of response. But it sure didn’t give any flexibility for a chance of ABBA reforming.
The ABBA question will always be asked, and it would seem Fältskog doesn’t mind responding to it. But on this occasion Fältskog’s rare appearance on TV in this part of the world is all part of her own comeback trail. She’s much too busy to dwell on the past.
Back in March, the blonde Swedish pop legend dropped a new single, “When You Really Loved Someone.” It’s the first taster from the upcoming album, “A,” her first set of new music in almost a decade. Universal Music Group will release the album May 13.
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Fältskog appeared relaxed in the interview, which was aired on the Seven Network’s “Sunday Night” program. At one point, she sung-back the lyrics of “SOS” to her interviewer, Rahni Sadler. Fältskog also dispelled those whispers that she’d become a hermit since the band split in 1983. Shy, yes. But not a recluse. Just out of the spotlight by design.
“We had had too much of everything,” she explained. “So there were some years that I wanted to be just by myself and have a rest and build me up again. And then it’s easily done that these rumors start…’she’s like Greta Garbo’… and ‘she doesn’t want to meet anyone. She’s a mysterious lady’. It’s strange to read bad things about yourself when it’s not like that at all. (I) just want to have a quiet life.”
The quiet life was a world away from where ABBA had arrived in the late ’70s and early ’80s. “It was (intense). Even if there were very funny times, there were periods where we were very irritated as well. Because we were very tired. We were tired of travelling so much, living in hotels. You don’t have time for other things.”
ABBA collaborator and former husband Björn Ulvaeus also appeared for the program, though he sat for a separate interview. He traced the turning points in the band’s career – the decision to reshape their “embarrassing” act Festfolk into an originals group, the 1974 Eurovision win, and the strategy over the following years to focus on the songs. In the lull that came after Eurovision, they chose to focus on “such a production of the songs. And then send it to them, and see what happens.”
And what does Fältskog hope for her new album? “I hope it will be a big success.” And is she worried about reaching the apex of fame, again? “Not so very much. I think I’ve got used to it by now.”