The Swedish pop group have been in the studio making new music, and it’s been announced that they’ll be making their return to the big screen as virtual avatars – or ‘ABBAtars’.
Using hi-tech imaging equipment, the four members will be de-aged to appear as they did in 1979. Their virtual selves will imitate the members, replicating their dance moves from archive video footage. Member Björn Ulvaeus revealed, at a keynote in Brussels, that the group have planned to make “a global television moment” via a two-hour show, set to be broadcasted by the BBC in December. Furthermore, a world tour is planned for 2019 or 2020.
“These ABBAtars will sing one of Benny’s and my songs. You’ll hear the voices of ABBA coming out of the mouths of the ABBAtars. Lip synch. And you won’t be able to see that they’re not human beings. It’ll be spooky, I assure you,” said Ulvaeus. “But great fun and no one has done it before. There is an existential dimension to explore as well. What would it be like to be young again. The wisdom that we hopefully possess now in combination with the youth of the ABBAtars.”
On the process of making the avatars, Ulvaeus told broadcasting executives, “They photographed us from all possible angles, they made us grimace in front of cameras, they painted dots on our faces, they measured our heads. Apparently, a cranium doesn’t change with age the way the rest of your body falls apart.”
Furthermore, the project has led to the creation of new material. Via an online statement, the group said, “The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did.”
They added, “It resulted in two new songs and one of them, I Still Have Faith In You will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December.”
See the group’s announcement below, and watch Ulvaeus’ speech via the player above.
Read Crack Magazine’s feature: 6 Artists on Their Favourite ABBA Songs.
(via The Times)