Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To think it's depressing that ABBA are making their avatars look like their younger selves

122 replies

Godwitz · 03/09/2021 08:11

I may have completely misunderstood in which case I will be happy to be corrected.

Abba have written and recorded new music for the first time in decades. They won't be performing live instead avatars which will resemble their younger selves will be performing. No doubt it will be brilliantly done but would it really be so repulsive to watch people in their 70s perform pop songs?

Why can't the avatars resemble Agnetha and Annifrid as the 70 somethings they are now?

OP posts:

Novacancy3 · 03/09/2021 08:15

I was thinking the same thing.

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 03/09/2021 08:15

They don’t want to tour despite being offered £billion to do so. They are trying to catch the joy and energy of their young days of touring for the abbatars for a new generation 🤷‍♀️

HavelockVetinari · 03/09/2021 08:16

Because the music industry is harsh. ABBA's songs go with energetic dance moves - I can't imagine the music industry sanctioning a concert with 4 'geriatrics' leaping about like 20-somethings.

There's also the fact that the artists themselves don't want comparisons made between now and then, you'd need a pretty thick skin to cope with all the trash talk on social media (how very dare they get old!).

SionnachRua · 03/09/2021 08:17

Maybe they're not in enough physical health to tour? Touring can be exhausting.

Mind you I wouldn't go see the abbatars, I don't see the point. I'd be there like a shot if it was actually ABBA.

EatYourVegetables · 03/09/2021 08:17

Sexism means they can’t win no matter what they do.

I also notice you didn’t name the men, just the women.

SionnachRua · 03/09/2021 08:18

Although I'd like to see the abbatars look like the current people and not them in their heyday.

Clawdy · 03/09/2021 08:18

I agree it's a shame, would have been interesting to see them perform live.

AntiSocialDistancer · 03/09/2021 08:19

Going on tour is supposed to be utterly exhausting, I'm sure Abba knows how tiring it is more than anyone.

If they can make money at home more power to them. And I like the honesty in owning that people dont like who Abba are, they like what they were.

DriveMeCrazy1974 · 03/09/2021 08:19

I don't think it's depressing at all, actually. They know that they were the complete package back in the 1970s and want to keep that alive for their fans. Their new music is great, in my opinion, certainly as good as what they were producing back in the day, and I think using the avatars is a clever thing to do.
It's not as if they're only using avatars of Anni-Frid and Agnetha - Benny and Bjorn are also shown in this way.
I'm guessing, like many of us as we get older, they probably creak in places they never realised would start creaking and the avatars will be able to dance a bit better than their 70-something selves can do!
Abba, especially Benny and Bjorn, are very clever, have always known how to market themselves and have managed to keep Abba Gold in the charts for over 1,000 weeks. I think they probably know what they're doing!

Bryonyshcmyony · 03/09/2021 08:24

I totally trust them to know what they are doing. They are in their 70s, tbh they don't look too bad although I haven't seen Agnetha at all.

TheSquashyHatOfMrGnosspelius · 03/09/2021 08:27

Agnetha has always had difficulties with being in the public eye. I would like to think they are taking her feelings into consideration.

Bryonyshcmyony · 03/09/2021 08:28

@TheSquashyHatOfMrGnosspelius

Agnetha has always had difficulties with being in the public eye. I would like to think they are taking her feelings into consideration.

Yes I hope so. The new music is really good though!

Averyyounggrandmaofsix · 03/09/2021 08:30

They all look fabulous for their age, but people are cruel, and it's worse now than it was then.

borntobequiet · 03/09/2021 08:32

If it were possible, I’d go around as an avatar of my younger self any day.

ACPC · 03/09/2021 08:33

Leaving ABBA aside, I think we are going down a dodgy road here. Today its CGI/holographic performance, tomorrow it could be completely generated 'entertainers'. It's creepy.

ReviewingTheSituation · 03/09/2021 08:36

I wondered the same (as in why they're touring as a younger group). But to those saying they won't be able to move/dance like they used to, isn't the whole point that they 'performed' the whole gig themselves, wearing motion capture suits? So what you see is them moving/dancing/performing, but just looking young?

Original poster

Godwitz · 03/09/2021 08:40

No, I'm not suggesting they perform live. But that their Abbatars resemble them now not in their 30s.

And as for the moves I think the group are recorded performing and then the avatars are modified to look like them in the 1970s. Or I could be wrong!

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 03/09/2021 08:43

But to those saying they won't be able to move/dance like they used to, isn't the whole point that they 'performed' the whole gig themselves, wearing motion capture suits? So what you see is them moving/dancing/performing, but just looking young?

I guess they only had to do it a few times rather than every night of the performance.

I only briefly caught them on the one show last night but .I got the impression that they liked the idea of pushing the boundaries of performance and that it was going to be unlike anything seen before.

SoupDragon · 03/09/2021 08:44

They were told they could pick any of their previous "looks" they wanted.

refusetobeasheep · 03/09/2021 08:45

No, not depressing - this show will be re-capturing the joy and youth of their hey day in the seventies and I for one cannot wait!!

Newgirls · 03/09/2021 08:48

There are so many Abba tribute bands it’s like this is the ultimate tribute band. It’s clever. I’d go!

DriveMeCrazy1974 · 03/09/2021 08:49

As I said before, I'm pretty sure Abba knew what they were doing when they agreed to the Abbatars looking as they did.
It's one thing to dance in a one-off performance, but to do that every night would be exhausting for younger people let alone a person in their 70s. I think that probably a little bit of vanity and a lot of nostalgia has something to do with the fact they wanted the images to look as they do - and why not? I'd rather see an image of myself 30-odd years ago than I would of myself now - I think most people would to be honest!
One thing's for certain though - Abba are, and always will be (IMHO), the best at what they do.

MoiraNotRuby · 03/09/2021 08:51

I have read this thinking ffs people its avatar not abbatar and then it dawned on me, ABBA -tar, I need more coffee. So I'm not going to criticise anyone for how they age....

Sparklingbrook · 03/09/2021 08:54

@refusetobeasheep

No, not depressing - this show will be re-capturing the joy and youth of their hey day in the seventies and I for one cannot wait!!

I agree. It's a bit of nostalgia isn't it? Not depressing, it's how everyone remembers them.

DappledThings · 03/09/2021 08:57

@MoiraNotRuby

I have read this thinking ffs people its avatar not abbatar and then it dawned on me, ABBA -tar, I need more coffee. So I'm not going to criticise anyone for how they age....

Me too! Now all I can think about is how similar abbatar is to abattoir and it's not the greatest image.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread