Here they go again.
ABBA has returned to release new music for the first time in almost 40 years, Variety reports. The Swedish group behind hit songs like "Dancing Queen" will release their new studio album Voyage in November, and they debuted two songs from it on Thursday. This will be their first album since 1981's The Visitors.
Additionally, the group announced a new concert called "ABBA Voyage," in which they'll perform as digital avatars that were designed by George Lucas' visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"ABBA have created the kind of concert they always wanted, performing for their fans at their very best: as digital versions of themselves backed by today's finest musicians," according to the concert's website.
The digital avatars were created after "months of motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members," per the announcement. The group said their "main inspiration" for returning with new music was to create this show, which they dubbed the "strangest and most spectacular concert you could ever dream of."
"We're going to be able to sit back in an audience and watch our digital selves perform our songs on a stage in a custom-built arena in London next spring," they said. "Weird and wonderful!"
ABBA also described the concert as involving them traveling "into the future" with the "help of our younger selves," though they admitted it's "not easy to explain." The new album is set to debut on Nov. 5, while the concert is scheduled to begin in May 2022.
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally' 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
