ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

Yes, I completely agree with bennybjorn. The purpose of singles these days isn’t necessarily to chart. If they do, it’s a bonus (I never expected the first two singles to do as well as they did). As HOMETIME said, they’re more “buzz tracks” (or focus tracks as I’ve seen written in the past).

As the album campaign extends into December, there will almost certainly be a fourth single - the likes of Radio 2 need them to be classed as singles in order to play them. We need to move away from this mindset of thinking that singles are released for chart action and little else, as that is not the case. A single is not a failure if it doesn’t make the top 40. If it gets airplay and helps promote the album, it’s a success.

I understand too the notion of "buzz" singles. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that Just a Notion has resulted in more pre-orders.

The nearer you get to release day, the more interest you have - regardless of whether a single is released or not.

I see no point in further singles once the album is released. If people like particular songs they can still chart via Streaming. Unlike say in 1977, the release of Knowing Me Knowing You transformed the fortunes of Arrival in the UK, this won't happen again with new singles. In the age of Streaming people can hear the whole album from day one - so the novelty of future singles doesn't exist.


I hope ABBA - and I mean all four members will do TV promotion. Newspaper interviews or a YouTube event with just Benny and Bjorn won't cut it.

This is ABBA's first studio album in 40 years - and last ever. All four could make a bit of an effort for the next 2 weeks - then relax after that, forever.

Completely wrong here. New singles that receive generous airplay completely revive albums that have sunk low in the charts. There are tons of examples.
Songs on the radio are the perfect form of advertising for an album. 
Although a few hundred thousand people worldwide will buy the album within the first two weeks, there are hundreds of thousands more who will be sitting on the fence, and who will jump off the fence and buy the album further down the line if they hear more singles (that they like) on the radio.
That's the reason some albums (other than greatest hits) linger in the charts for so long.
Radio stations remain ridiculously powerful in this day and age.

I guess we'll all have different feelings on the subject. From what I can hear, JAN is probably getting as much, if not slightly more play on BBC Radio 2 than even DSMD (I've have the radio tuned there, mostly, since early September). And, yes, I realise that that is just my personal observation. The chart positions for the track - albeit diminishing by the day - are still a pleasant surprise to me. The overall mood of negativity here when the single was first released had me thinking that it would be an absolute disaster of a release. On the contrary, it seems to be pretty well received.

I'm out of touch with sources of information on the numbers for advance orders, so I'm not sure what anyone would accept as evidence that the single has or hasn't enhanced the numbers. But if the bulk of the preorders happened in the first week of September, awareness of the comeback would naturally have simmered down a great deal by the start of this month. So while the single might not (for argument's sake) have improved the preorder numbers, it would at least have boosted awareness, served as a little reminder. A free, well-rotated radio ad, if you will.

Personally, I'm not subscribing to the idea that the first three tracks we've heard are the strongest or best. I'm expecting (naively or otherwise) a number of songs that are just as strong. Stronger, even. Working on nothing but hunches, we've talked ourselves into knots about possible comedy tracks and the possibility of other rehashes. Our evidence is titles, any of which could be total misdirections. Personally, on the basis of its title, I could not have imagined that Don't Shut Me Down would have been the great pop banger we all love. So who really knows what's in store for us?

I'm still smiling at what's ahead of us, given the litany of refusals and impossibilities we were fed for decades. 

I saw that Telegraph article today but it was behind a paywall. So thanks for showing the Yahoo version.

Very unfair and inaccurate. The first two singles were very good. Their chart success was okay - considering how difficult it is for older acts.

Of course this album was always going to be their last. No shock.

Where the writer does have valid criticism is in the expensive ABBATars show. Is it really going to be shown on a flat screen. Not what we were lead to believe. I'm sure it is 3D, right?

I am more interested in the new music than gimmicky Avatars.

Btw,Elton John is pathetic with his new music colloborations with young artists. His voice has gone too. I wouldn't pay to hear him live.

Telegraph? How many people read it? I did not even know it was still operational. One critic's opinion matters not. Probably does not like Abba but he clearly does not know Abba and their motivation for their final album. Did he/she mention the record advance sales of Voyage. As for Elton, collaborations with younger stars was the only way he would stream well today. And as for Adele, likeable personality but give up music please or give us something different.

What a tacky, mean-spirited piece of clickbait that article is. I got the sense early on that the biggest gripe is that the interview was with a rival paper. Has the Telegraph ever been known as a hit maker? Don't think so. Did Ed Power seriously imagine that the ABBA comeback was going to continue into their 80s? If ABBA had announced plans for another album, would he have mocked an inability to know when to call it a day? Does Ed Power fancy himself as an arbiter of taste, someone with a finger on the pop pulse of a nation? Probably! Has he an understanding of the ageist industry he's part of, and how it affects heritage acts? Clearly not.

Bottom line: paper doesn't refuse ink. Wrap fish and chips in it. Better yet, line your cat's litter tray with it.

Are we playing into their hands by dignifying this article by discussing it? They're relying on our clicks to heighten its profile and to have algorithms push this and other Torygraph articles into our social media feeds - "most read" or "most popular" on their website pages. They might even be hoping that some fan outrage will make it go viral.

Clearly Ed Power was given the brief to write something as negative as they could about ABBA, and that’s what they’ve done. Nothing to get into a flap about, so I won’t.

As far as ABBA were concerned wasn't the option always to use the chosen singles to promote the albums, as their was far more profit in album sales compared to singles back then? Sadly, 'Just A Notion' was a terrible choice for third single. For a 1978 vocal it falls well below par of the tracks recorded around the same time (The King Has Lost His Crown, Angelyes, Lovers (Live A Little Longer) Etc. The associations with past vocals has prompted some people to question how much the women do actually sing on the new material and also to wonder, from recent comments from Benny, how much of 'Voyage' will be rehashes of old work they 'didn't know what to do with' at the time. I  Really hope the production is much more of the quality of 'I Still Have Faith In You' rather than the 'Just A Notion' backing track, which sounds like it was too poor to put in a Mamma Mia movie. 

Personally I've found BAO's releases more convincing than 'Just A Notion'. This one is simply a huge blott on ABBA's spectacular singles discography.  At least the last chart failures of their original 10 Years at least had some originality. I'm really pretty sad and shocked how this whole thing has plummted following 'I Still Have Faith In You' and the 'no show' of the ladies at the premiere announcement - yeah I know, it was agreed they'd only need to sing and wouldnt have to do the promo stuff! With 50% of ABBA you're only going to get 50% the result. Surely a zoom link up for 10 minutes wouldnt have been too stressful! Who acually decided on this promotional drive? Couldn't Ludvig afford the lecky bill to switch the ABBAtars on to perform the new single and give the live show a bit of a lift? Sorry but this is all getting as limp as a lettuce left out of the fridge on  a blazing hot day. 

Abba have got all three singles (including Just a Notion) on the Radio 2 A-list - it's the most popular station in Europe so this counts for a lot even if not many others are playing it. Radio 2 airplay alone can get songs into the airplay top 20. It's the best form of advertising for a new album.
However, people that are massively keen on a group (i.e. like most of us lot when it comes top Abba) will buy the new album regardless of pretty much anything.
The new album will probably sell between 3/4 and 1.5 million worldwide in the first couple of weeks - all those that really want to hear it.
But here's a slightly tricky concept, there are tons of people out there who only quite like Abba or who are not convinced about buying a new album. These are the ones who will buy it after the first few weeks, when they hear more singles to convince them, or when they hear the new songs at the Abbatar concerts, or if/when they hear the album doing well in the end of year polls (a big if).
All these people are floating voters and there are potentially many times more than those who snap it up in the first fortnight.
These people would never dream of pre-ordering. The floating voters are influenced loads by radio airplay. They need the guarantee of knowing there are several songs on the album that they already like. So, Just a Notion being played on the radio is not going to result in a surge of pre-orders. The pre-order people are the rabid fans who are keen to snap it up whatever the reviews say.
But there are tons more people out there who are quite lukewarm about Abba and just might buy the album further down the line if convinced by what they hear. Hard for us rabid fans to understand all this, but it's the non-fans (who are influenced by the drip-drip of new songs on the radio and other factors) who ensure an album's sales remain strong in the months beyond its release, if indeed it does.
 

Livingstoneeagle - I agree Frida and Agnetha should be part of promotions.

It is the first album in 40 years - and their last. Just a couple of weeks TV promotion. That's it.

First I’ve heard of rumours of recycled material. Certainly nothing doing the rounds on PopJustice or anything like that. Thankfully we only have a week to wait now, so the speculation will end then.

In answer to gamleman’s question, definitely the English way for “Voyage”. Initially I read it the French way but that put that song by Desireless in my head. I’m still glad the titles design matches that of the 2001 CD re-issues (which themselves were based on the 1976-81 designs). Plastic box or not, at least it will relate back to the eight albums that preceded it.