Voyage studio album by ABBA

Voyage is the ninth and final studio album by Swedish group ABBA, released on 5 November 2021. It is the group's first album of new material in 40 years following The Visitors (1981), and contains 10 songs all composed by ABBA's songwriters, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

The album was supported by a double A-sided single release, "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", released alongside the album announcement on 2 September 2021. A digital concert residency, also called ABBA Voyage, will take place in London beginning May of 2022.

Background

ABBA unofficially split up in 1982 following the release of their eighth studio album, The Visitors, on 30 November 1981. Renewed interest in the band grew from the 1990s onwards following the worldwide success of their greatest hits album ABBA Gold, the ABBA-based musical Mamma Mia! and the subsequent film of the same name, and the use of their songs in some other film soundtracks such as Muriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

However, the members steadfastly refused to reunite. In 2000, they reportedly turned down an offer of $1 billion to perform again. In July 2008, Björn Ulvaeus categorically stated to The Sunday Telegraph, "We will never appear on stage again. There is simply no motivation to re-group." Ulvaeus reiterated this in a 2014 interview while promoting the publication of ABBA: The Official Photo Book.

On 6 June 2016, however, ABBA did informally reunite, singing "The Way Old Friends Do" at a private party in Stockholm. This led to a more formal reunion. Two years later, in April 2018, they announced they had recorded two new songs, "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down".

The new songs initially were intended to support both a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC and the ABBA Voyage tour which the TV special itself supported. However, this project was later cancelled in favour of the "ABBAtar" tour announced months prior.

One of the album's tracks, "Just a Notion", was previously partially included in a demo version as part of the medley "ABBA Undeleted" from the 1994 Thank You for the Music box set. The song was released as a single two weeks before the album, on 22 October 2021. However, instrumentation was (at least partly) re-recorded for this song.

Promotion and announcement

Promotion for Voyage began with the website, abbavoyage.com, going live on 26 August 2021. Billboards were erected in London, and social media accounts titled "ABBA Voyage" were also set up. The band announced during a 2 September 2021 YouTube live stream that Voyage would be released on 5 November 2021. The two songs first announced in 2018, "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", were confirmed as the double-sided lead single from Voyage during the September 2021 live stream.

Tour

During the album announcement live stream, ABBA also announced that a concert residency, known as ABBA Voyage, is scheduled to begin in May 2022 and last until December 2022 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

ABBA first announced they were preparing digital avatars in September 2017. Dubbed the "ABBAtars", they will appear during the ABBA Voyage concerts in place of the four actual band members. To animate the avatars, the ABBA band members wore motion capture suits and were filmed using 160 cameras, with graphics later added by Industrial Light & Magic.

The ABBAtar tour was originally set for 2019,[32] but was delayed due to technical issues. Eventually, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the band to push the tour back to 2022, and at least the tour's initial stage turned into an eight-month residency in London.

Commercial performance

The album recorded 40,000 UK pre-orders in the first 24 hours following the announcement of its release. Three days after the album was announced, it had received over 80,000 pre-orders in the UK alone. This broke the record for the biggest pre-ordered album for Universal Music Group UK, previously held by Progress (2010) by Take That. 

By October 2021, the album had recorded 111,000 pre-orders.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

Voyage track listing
1."I Still Have Faith in You"  5:09
2."When You Danced with Me" 2:50
3."Little Things" 3:08
4."Don't Shut Me Down" 3:56
5."Just a Notion" 3:31
6."I Can Be That Woman" 4:01
7."Keep an Eye on Dan" 4:05
8."Bumblebee" 3:57
9."No Doubt About It" 2:56
10." Ode to Freedom" 3:32

Personnel

ABBA

• Agnetha Fältskog - vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus - vocals
• Benny Andersson - vocals, piano, synthesizer
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad - vocals

Vocalists

• International School of Stockholm Choir

Instrumentalist

• Jan Bengtson - baritone saxophone, flute
• Mats Englund - bass (6)
• Pär Grebacken - clarinet, recorder, tenor saxophone
• Per Lindvall - drums, percussion
• Lasse Jonsson - guitar
• Lasse Wellander - guitar
• Margareta Bengtson - harp

Crew

• Benny Andersson - arrangements, mixing, producer
• Björn Ulvaeus - co-producer
• Görel Hanser - coordinator
• Baillie Walsh - design
• Bernard Löhr - engineer, programming, mixing
• Linn Fijal - engineer
• Vilma Colling - engineer
• Björn Engelmann - mastering
• Kimberly Akester - music director
• Anneli Thompson - musical assistance