50 years ABBA & of Sweden Pop
Right on time for the ESC 2024 in Sweden, one of the most legendary pop songs celebrates its golden jubilee: "Waterloo." A song that laid the groundwork for the global career of a band, forever changed the Eurovision Song Contest – and established a phenomenon that continues to shape the music world to this day: Swedish Pop! With their victory at Eurovision in 1974 in Brighton, ABBA began their ascent to become one of the greatest pop bands in history. At the same time, ABBA planted a seed from which world hits continue to emerge – often unbeknownst to us! Swedish-made pop music has been as successful over the past fifty years as hardly any other in the world. Beyond famous Swedish artists like ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, or AVICII, Sweden pulls the strings behind the scenes of the music world! Swedish producers tailor hits for international megastars: from the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears to Coldplay and Katy Perry, and from The Weeknd to Taylor Swift. "50 Years of Waterloo - ABBA and the Birth of Swedish Pop" shows what's behind it all: What is the secret of Swedish Pop? How can the gigantic success of Swedish music talents be explained? And to what extent do ABBA and "Waterloo" always stand behind and above everything else?
The documentary takes the viewer on an entertaining and surprising journey into the past – and shows how relevant ABBA and the phenomenon of Swedish Pop still are today. Both the "ABBAs" themselves and family, friends, companions, and fans of all generations have their say, as well as Swedish stars and music producers, scene experts, and music professionals. For the first time in a German television documentary, two "ABBA children" speak: Peter Grönvall (*1963) and Ludvig Andersson (*1982), the sons of Benny! With their firsthand accounts, they span the arc from ABBA in the 1970s to the hypermodern "Abbatars" of today. ABBA's studio guitarist Janne Schaffer plays the guitar he used to record "Waterloo" and firsthand recounts his work with ABBA and the studio tricks of the songwriting legends: How was the unique sound of "Dancing Queen" or "Gimme Gimme Gimme" created? German author and ABBA expert Jürgen Winzer provides entertaining expertise, complemented by Jan Gradvall: The Swedish journalist is considered the best expert on the Swedish music scene and has personal contacts with ABBA and hit producer Max Martin. Ulf Ekberg, the mastermind of Ace of Base, demonstrates how Swedish Pop cleverly generated hits between Eurodance and Pop in the 1990s – and why sometimes even a silly coincidence lays the foundation for world careers. With Marie Dimberg, longtime confidant of Roxette and now the most important woman in the Swedish music industry, insider information is provided. And with Andreas Carlsson, one of Sweden's most successful music producers and hitmakers for Britney Spears and Katy Perry, the secret of the creators of modern Swedish Pop is revealed during a visit to the legendary former "Cheiron" studios in Stockholm: Is there a kind of IKEA manual for pop success? What is the Swedish "Hit Kraka" - and why does all of this have to do with ABBA?
"50 Years of Waterloo – ABBA and the Birth of Swedish Pop" provides 180 minutes of top-quality Saturday evening entertainment with substance, offering points of connection for many fond memories of youth and bridging to today's chart hits. From ABBA to AVICII, and beyond, the film showcases the lines of continuity from 1974 to the present, demonstrating why "Waterloo" is the beginning of the success concept of Swedish Pop – and why it still concerns all of us in some way. After all, doesn't everyone have a favorite song that directly or indirectly comes from Sweden? And in the end, it always somehow relates back to Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid…
27.04.2024, 20.15 Uhr & 28.04.2024, 12:50 Uhr on VOX