ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

Cant please all the people all of the time... alas it didn't please me at all... basically a Kiddie Abbatar Promo...

Shame such a wasted opportunity, Id even liked a surgery sweet , stars, angels, reindeers etc cartoon.. but hey ...

I could have a detrimental effect as not Christmassy at all apart from the " outside " scene.. which lead us to believe in something better ....

Its not a video that's going to be played year in year out is it....

ABBA could've done a Christmas Wave .. at the very least...


On another point.. Are we expecting to much ? OK its where the money is and as a business I understand, but everything is leading to The Abbatars, ( we've seen practically nothing, so much secrecy ) am I even thinking that the album is just a marketing tool leading to the show, and was that much effort put into the album ? I'm no musician , but hearing others say about sound quality etc.. was it all a bit of a rush ?
That said, I fall on the positive side of new music etc and enjoy everything that is happening, even the high expectations disappointments..lol.. .. and am realistic that apart from the potential Deluxe version that may come , know that this is it ...

Just a big missed opportunity on this video.. shame... the report would read... " can do better ".....

I've been told that Little Things is a charity single for UNICEF. Just wondering whether anyone else was aware of this? It's a message that should be more clearly advertised, I think.

Update: breifne just sent me this link: www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/celebrity-news/new-abba-single-compete-ed-25604122. I'm really pleased that they are doing this.

Why the " heck" hasnt it been advertised for UNICEF... someone in marketing should be shot !..
Ok its doesnt change my opinion of the video but it does help explain it a little....

Ironically Ken Bruce UK radio 2, has just played "Everywhere" and mentioned for Children in Need... will he do the same for ABBA and Unicef....

It could make all the difference... Ho- Hum....

The photo is from 2017. It gave the date on the back of the “postcard” that is included in the vinyl versions of Voyage. Presumably taken at the time with the intention of promoting I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down.

Thanks Madonnabba - I fully agree - also on the basis on the text before I think we should all fully support Little Things now and in the future. I appreciate people are disappointed that ABBA have not appeared in the video but this is far more important in my opinion.

Proceeds from the new ABBA Christmas song 'Little Things', from the album 'Voyage', will be donated to strengthen UNICEFs Global Child Protection Fund. With ABBA’s support UNICEF can achieve more in terms of protecting girls against violence, and empowering them. ABBA themselves says:

"We think it is impossible to eradicate poverty without the empowerment of women. That is why we support UNICEF in protecting girls from sexual violence and empowering them through the Global Child Protection Fund. We have done so for many years with our song 'Chiquitita' and now we have decided to give UNICEF a Christmas gift in the form of a second song:

'Little Things' from our album 'Voyage'."

Little Things has just been played on UK radio 2....

But no mention of record of the week !!!!!

It’s not a video single CD, it’s just a standard one-track CD. Enhanced CDs with videos on were a 1990s/2000s gimmick.

Mine will be arriving from Amazon today! And if the pessimists are right (johnny), this could be the last we hear from the briefly-reformed ABBA. Little Things would therefore replace Under Attack as ABBA’s last new single.

But I don’t believe that. I’m optimistic and hopeful. What Benny says, and how he says it, depends on his mood that day. A deluxe edition, even with just two additional tracks, is still possible. No pressure on them to promote it, or for it to chart highly, as it’s just a re-issue of an existing album.

This was clearly a mismatched music video... it relied too much on their past music videos, and you have the kids going crazy with Voyage and trying to reenact ABBA for a school project, but the music itself is a quaint kind of Christmas ballad.
I would have preferred a mockup where ABBA are like doing some Bing Crosby special type; solemn, bright, whatever's in it (in the middle of the song they transform into ABBAtars to keep the bean counters and Ludvig Andersson happy), and the family are snug for tonight's special. It seems that ABBA, like Ghostbusters have decided to reconsider their target audience and make it accessible to kids, as they realize that the new audience are getting a hold on it.

At least they're not doing the Fortnite dance!

Hi everyone!

I’m a long-time lurker and only just got around to joining. Been really enjoying all the chat about Voyage so thought I’d finally join in the fun. Early 30s, U.K., feel I’m love with ABBA about 15 or so years ago. Was very emotional when they announced new songs in 2018. I’ll share my overall thoughts on Voyage another time. All I will say is they are very mixed feelings.

So disappointed by the Little Things video. It’s just a 4 minute advert, which actually feels very tacky and cheap. I guess ticket sales aren’t going that well? I don’t personally have any interest in the ABBAtars concert so that may be clouding my judgement. I got nearly halfway through the video before I found it very boring. I skipped through the rest, assuming ABBA would at least appear in one shot at the end, but no. It’s a weak song, and definitely shouldn’t be a single, but a good, nostalgic Christmassy video with ABBA themselves would have helped sell it.

Compare that to what Elton and Ed have released. It’s a really fun, catchy song that I’ll definitely add to my Christmas playlist, unlike LT. The video is also a lot of fun and really captures that nostalgic feel with some tongue in cheek moments. The LT release looks pretty bad in comparison, sadly.

I really really hope that LT isn’t their last single because, for me, it’s a real low note. It’s still shocks me that they didn’t do any kind of video for DSMD which is by far the strongest song. They all performed in body stockings in from of cameras for six weeks, did all the studio recordings, and photo shoots, but couldn’t do a few hours to shoot some scenes for a video? There have been some very odd choices in the Voyage marketing campaign.

Fantastic news! 

You make some very good points and it is interesting to hear the thoughts of someone who is a lot younger than most of the rest of us. I too wondered why after all the effort they put in with the ABBAtars 'performances', they couldn't show their faces in a video or two, especially this one for Christmas. It will be truly awful if LT marks the end of ABBA - I was much much happier with "Under Attack".

It is just this forum with all the black lookers. That is how it goes, here is obviously the place to be for felow sufferers to join. Look around, it is constantly in this forum only that members complain.

Welcome to the forum! Yes, I’ve wondered this. ABBA have apparently visually performed 22 songs in motion-capture outfits, including I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down, to be turned into ABBAtars. They would therefore already have done Don’t Shut Me Down long before the single was actually released.

We can assume that the ABBAtars performance in the video for I Still Have Faith In You is from the show itself. Either the same for Don’t Shut Me Down wasn’t yet fully completed, or they don’t want to reveal too much of the show. It did well enough without a video, but I’d have preferred something for that than Little Things.

I’m assuming that the Little Things UNICEF donation will be similar to Chiquitita’s: every album or single it’s released on will result in a contribution to the charity for ever. If so, then that’s wonderful. 300K sales of Voyage in the UK alone should result in a decent contribution. Or is that not the case, and it just applies to sales/streams of the single and not the album it’s from?

After reading the critical comments about the Little Things Christmas video, then watching it, I can only agree. Perhaps a more uptempo Christmas song from ABBA would,have inspired a better, more apt, festive video, rather than this one.