#swedish pop

[astralbondpro]

ABBA // Dancing Queen

[leoronyx]

obsessed with side bangs sooo bad

[freshlyblaked]

[chasingawakenings]

10 years of I Never Learn 🖤

[severustenenbaum]

Zara Larsson snapshots by me this weekend.

[fira54funko]

Agnetha Fältskog- ABBA

As I was growing up, my father was always obsessed with ABBA... I always enjoyed listening with him. With ABBA, there is a ton of catchy pop tunes like "Take A Chance", "Waterloo", but they also had a rock side. This album was from the ABBA movie and it is INCREDIBLE, especially the first 2 songs which are "Eagle" and "Hole In Your Soul". There's a reason why a ton of metal dudes, including Tobias Forge love this band, it's simply because they can fucking rock! Songs are added and Popped my favorite of the band, Agnetha Fältskog.

[squeezemylemon]

"Gimme Gimme Gimme" - ABBA

"Miss Squeeze's ABC February" Day 7/28

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Spotify Wrapped is here hunties!

[weaversweek]

9 "Take a chance on me" - ABBA

writers Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvæus

A toe-tapping tune, a simple, sing-a-long lyric. Short and direct. That is the ABBA sound.

Part of the UncoolTwo50 project, marking the best singles from 1977-99.

ABBA at their most energetic, forceful, and ubiquitous. "Take a chance on me" came out in early 1978, and followed "The name of the game" and "Knowing me, knowing you" to the top spot.

The rhythm is at a pace like someone jogging, which is good because it was inspired by Björn's keep fit regime. 107 bpm is a good cadence for a serious jogger, and the "tsh-tsh-tsh" of trainers on damp city streets quickly became "take a chance, take a chance".

Production is immaculate, even by ABBA's standards. The lads created a wall of sound: polytracked vocals, guitar bass and drums, all layered to get in your ear and stay there. And the film clip, of the various members of the group flirting with each other in a split-screen.

Although the group was evolving, growing up, maturing, there was still a place to be playful. There was still a market for catchy and upbeat love songs, as the Grease soundtrack would prove later in the year. They were massively popular - could have filled the Albert Hall 300 times over

Because it's such an insistent and happy song, it became a staple on radio, and the obvious target of Erasure's affections on their 1992 "Abba-esque" ep (on my longlist of 500, redundant to the originals). The song has a disposable part in the musical Mamma Mia!, sung by comedy sidekick Rosie as she seeks some company. It's been covered by The Chipmunks, James Last, Awolnation, and many many more.

It's the song construction that wins me over. Benny and Björn compose and arrange their songs at the same time, they bear comparison to Burt Bacharach and Irving Berlin. The songs are like those really expensive analogue watches: sure, you can dismantle an ABBA song, but it only works again if you put it together in the same way.

[omar-rudeberg]

Simon’s Song (English Version) – Omar Rudberg + LILI

A reimagining of Omar Rudberg's "Simon’s Song” from Young Royals Season 2, translated from Swedish to English.

(Translation sourced from here, I simply made it rhyme.)

Lyrics under the cut:

Days behind us and years gone by They tell me wounds always heal with time I was hurt; struggling to find myself But you led me to the light

What we had, and how we cared We’ll never lose this time we shared If you ask what I know for sure It’s that our memories will endure

We have battled; we’ve lived a war But what we were? It was worth fighting for Now you and I, we’ll go our separate ways But I’ll remember you for all my days

What we had, and how we cared We’ll never lose this time we shared If there’s one thing that’s for sure It’s that Hillerska will endure 

If you saw me here today Saw how I long for brighter days Like these memories that remain Proud and strong

Yes, if I saw you here today I’d ask if you still feel the same We will always have this place Where we belong

[pamyuite]

Gay Christmas has come early this year. Happy Spotify Wrapped! Thank you to all the artists who defined my year💚

[astralbondpro]

Fever Ray // When I Grow Up

[elsavendella]

My new Swedish song "Nostalgi Dödar </3" is out! Cover art by me <3

[freshlyblaked]

[swedeandsour]

Morabeza Tobacco - Shadow of the Cherry

A group whose synergies radiate more from the studio than on the stage, Morabeza Tobacco is a Swedish lo-fi duo comprised of Vanilla Stillefors and Gustav Jennefors. Coming off their latest album “Shadow of the Cherry” released last November, recent effort “Saturnus” is a sly, disco-revivalist number. Underlined by the slap of its staccato bass lines and percussion flows, the track oozes with Vanilla’s silken glide as the track’s beat-driven sentiments are offset by the slowness of its placating tempo.  

If one where to compare previous tracks, its evident that Morabeza simply can’t be pinned down to a singular aesthetic. Surely there’s “Teachers in the Mood” a which analogously plays among its themes of lost connections and growing distant. Here with calm, sedating and dreamy notions, “Teachers in the Mood” permeates against the rusty grind of distant guitars and nostalgic memory. We also see on “Shadow of the Cherry” the anachronistic swash of textures that also features “Touch You” featuring the surfy chillwave frost of its delaying sustain and Italo-revival vocal gleam. To add to their diverse palate, “Temperature” flairs with punky riffs and falsetto-tipped sweetness that chirps along to beaming synths and euphoric feeling.

You can check out tracks from Morabeza Tobacco’s “Shadow of the Cherry Below”:

“Temperature”

“Touch You”

“Teachers in the Mood”

Morabeza Tobacco · Teacher's In The Mood

[severustenenbaum]

Zara snapshots by me.