Maybe not a hot take, idk, I wasn’t here on tumblr dot com for the release of voyage, but abbas last album just wasn’t it for me. It felt like a vanity project and money grab. I remember looking at the site and seeing all of the duplicate album covers and vinyl colors and getting more of a “collect them all” feeling of the release rather than a joyful comeback that was made for love of the game. Maybe it was for them- but it felt weird to me being on the receiving end of an ad campaign and merch push. It really rubbed me the wrong way.
I also didn’t like how exclusive it felt,, like. The show is only available to folks that are already in western Europe or can afford to travel there. I understood why they did what they did, but it coupled with exclusive launch parties across the world and the building of an entire stadium felt odd. There was so much hype for an album that just didn’t embody the vitality and passion we know abba for.
The music was mediocre. It was still technically well done but it didn’t have the personality or spark that their old albums did. I listened to the album when it came out but I haven’t revisited it the way I have always revisited their original work. It just doesn’t have ~it. The depth and vibrancy is gone. Maybe Benny and Bjorn’s lyric styles just don’t mesh the same with their current musical sensibilities than it did with their style of the late 70s and early 80s. Their renditions were still informed by the musical trends of the era- but their releases were, album after album, continually more refined and substantial than that of most of their contemporaries. IMO those albums are still some of the most brilliant releases in pop of all time. Even their duds were better than some people’s entire albums are.
Maybe the voyage songs weren’t written from the same emotional well, the same cultural zeitgeist, idk. The album just didn’t feel like the abba I expected. I don’t think it would have caused the hype or made the money it did if it had come from anyone else. There was nothing wrong with it. But there was also nothing compelling about it, either. I’m glad that they as people have gotten back together in good spirits and as friends. They have given me immeasurable joy since childhood. Their art is a blessing to my life personally. But I don’t feel good abt voyage as a project or as a product. It’s simultaneously so romantic and so disappointing for one of the most glorious powerhouses of modern music to come back with more material- but for the material to feel so lackluster and soulless in comparison. Romantic inclinations never live up to their realities. The disappointment always wins out in the end.
