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Fans react to ABBA’s return after 40 years: “Thank you ABBA for saving 2021”

ABBA fans have been reacting to the news that the Swedish pop giants have returned with two new songs – both of which will feature on a new album – and a “revolutionary” concert experience.

Earlier this evening (September 2), the band announced ‘ABBA: Voyage’ – a full new album and their first new music in over 40 years which will be released on November 5 on Universal Music.

To accompany the news, ABBA – comprising Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad – unveiled two new songs: ‘I Still Have The Faith In You’ and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’.

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They also shared details of a new concert experience that shares the same name as their upcoming ninth studio album – which will see a “digital” version of ABBA (not holograms) perform alongside a 10-piece live band at a  purpose-built 3,000-capacity ABBA Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, at a run of shows from May 27, 2022.

Excited fans all around the world have been reacting to the news, which was delivered by Andersson and Ulvaeus during a live-streamed event filmed in London and hosted by Zoe Ball.

Drag queen singer-songwriter Trixie Mattel tweeted: “With ABBA VOYAGE, my unclockable Swedish accent will become America’s finest export.”

“Babe,….BABE….wake up. Babe wake up. new Abba album.” said musician and comedian Grace Spelman, while music producer and script supervisor Edward Russell shared a video of him and another fan listening to the band’s new song while crying tears of joy.

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Elsewhere, some fans noted the similarity between ABBA’s neon avatar images and the costumes used in the movie Tron: Legacy – which was scored by Daft Punk.

“Since Daft Punk is no more, we need an ABBA scored Tron film,” one Twitter user wrote. Another shared a photograph of Jeff Bridges’ character Kevin Flynn, with the caption: “Björn is ready for tonight’s press conference.”

A third fan likened the avatar look to that of the Power Rangers. “The rangers that we’ve all been waiting for to save us,” they captioned a picture of the band in their full motion capture attire.

Other fans flooded Twitter to share their thoughts on the band’s comeback after 40 years. “There’s something special about hearing ABBA’s 2021 voices in a song it’s so surreal,” one person tweeted.

“Thank you ABBA for saving 2021,” another wrote.

One user tweeted: “abba has never lost their touch and my soul is liberated thank lord for their new music hallelujah amen praised be.”

See more reactions to ABBA’s return below:

The news comes after ABBA recently joined TikTok, and their greatest hits album ‘ABBA: GOLD’ became the first album to spend 1,000 weeks in the UK charts.