New Songs for 2023 ?

I'll take the new songs whenever they appear. If they hold off until next year to release them, might they risk having to deal with people thinking they're from another new album? If they don't come out soon as bonus tracks on a deluxe Voyage, then the next most logical place for them (IMO) is as bonus cuts on a new compilation.

My personal preference would be for the songs to come later this year with an expanded Voyage.

So it looks like no new songs not even the two that were left over from Voyage. I can understand Benny not wanting to release anything that he is not happy with. As it has been said by others on this site as fans we always want more. I think that if they had been top notch songs they would have been on Voyage and we would have had a 12 track album. I just hope there is more we can all dream.

You are a cynic Alan. Made me laugh though 😂😂

I don't understand why people don't like Little Things. When the album was about to come out I was hearing talk will there be a Christmas song, Well we got one but it looks like for most people it's not the right Christmas song so Abba can't win. I for one love the song I played the album last night and don't skip LT and we are in July.

^^^ The Matt pop mix of Little Things is brilliant, would’ve been a bigger hit
Ditto re the Album, apart from DSMD, I haven’t heard the album for weeks.....

I think there's a slight, tentative hope from some of us that there will be more from ABBA simply because, as welshboy says, those two songs for the Voyage project got added to for an album; and so we hope it will happen again, one last time. But of course such a hope entails not really believing it when Benny says 'this is it'.

It actually went from two songs to five songs and then finally a whole album. It is likely that by early 2019 there were five songs, with the other five possibly all recorded/completed in 2021. I seem to recall an interview with Benny during that period where he pretty much asked (in his usual aloof manner) why anyone would think there would be an album.

He’s perhaps a bit of a control freak and doesn’t want anyone to believe or even think it until it’s announced. I can’t really understand the logic of keeping two “quite good” ABBA songs unfinished.

That’s hilarious. He obviously thinks people will believe anything. ABBA collectively created a new legal entity, 1221 AB, in order to release Voyage and hold the rights to the master tapes.

What's the status of a new pop song? I suggest that it's primarily for entertainment in the present. Is the song effective, does it work, in the here and now? Whether or not it will come to be generally regarded as any good or a 'classic' only time will tell. So I find all this debate and uncertainty about a couple of songs already regarded by the composer as "quite good"- will they, won't they, be released? - difficult to understand. Get them out there while you can! If they're not liked by everyone, so be it. Little Things certainly isn't. There are surely a number of such songs in any artist's catalogue. And in any case, artists have been known to change their minds - as listeners do - for and against - about released tracks, including Benny and Bjorn.
I know it's a different era and genre, and he was a prolific genius, but Schubert - who died aged 31 - perhaps had a very different attitude to that prevalent in the modern commercial pop music era: he just kept on writing songs, and ended up with over 600 of them - along with 9 symphonies and numerous other works. Puts things in a bit of perspective, I think.
I hope you're right, welshboy, and that we'll get more from ABBA before it really is too late.

Lycka, I don't find anything 'uncalmed' about our discussions regarding ABBA releasing new material. As for 'leaving at the top' that's not an idea that interests me when it comes to music - more appropriate for sport, imo. If older musicians feel themselves capable of making music, and want to to do so, I think that's great!
But of course some listeners may decide that they want - out of a high regard - those musicians to call it a day - at least in public. I can understand that.

My 'calm down' reference was half in earnest and half in jest. I'm one who wants JLT released so I can see the contradiction in my own argument. I appreciate the point about still recording more if they are up for it. However I don't want something inferior released which will impact badly upon the artistic legacy of the band, which seems to be at an all time high and cemented by the generally good reviews of the Voyage album - or if you want to be picky, the best reviews any Abba album has had at the time of release.

So I am not crying out for more...but if any new songs were added to a deluxe version of Voyage then I would be more than happy. Add JLT and I'll run down the street naked 😀

I love that they’ve come together in their latter years. I just wish that they wouldn’t hide behind this animated facade though. As wonderful as the ISHFIY video is, with the charming old footage, I think it would have been really authentic, and backed-up the song more powerfully, had they featured in the video as they are now. They don’t need to be ashamed of being in their 70’s: they look great as an older incarnation.

B&B always carried (unreleased) ideas across to the next album so these two songs could be that stepping-stone. Also, when they recorded Voyage there was a lot of COVID BS going on and getting people together (especially older ones) must have really dragged the creativity through the grass. Maybe another run at new songs could be a lot more fluid creatively next time. Perhaps Frida could get a nice Air B&B in Sweden and the four of them could sort something out quite quickly like the old days.