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

[Godwitz]

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?

Personally the look of the avatars give me the heebie jeebies. I wouldn't go to this kind of show but can well understand why they don't wish to tour, from the little I know it's gruelling and I think they have all moved on. I look forward to hearing new music though and wish them all well. A true gift this band were with amazing harmony and melody.

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....

Ha, ha - I had been thinking the same thing and wondering why there were so many bad spellers on MN, then the penny dropped.

Always been an ABBA fan and looking forward to the new music.

I suspect the avatar style suits them as its new tech and trendy for the modern youth. Besides at their age they may not want to tour themselves but enjoyed doing the album.

Being of an age I find it a bit depressing that so many of the performers from my younger days are still going. For a lot of them the years may not have been kind and the voice no longer what it was. I'd rather remember the vibrant young people singing than the old codgers croaking.

It does bring to mind the Simpsons sketch where they had an advert for the Rolling Stones 'Iron Wheelchair Tour'.

I think it will be a very interesting live show, and I'd love to go.

I don't think you can compare it to a live Abba concert, but if you think of it as a different kind of experience it's just as valid. Live 10 piece band though!. Bet there will be amazing support acts.

I would expect an avatar to be anyone's 'best version' of themselves. Jeez if you had my avatar I'd want it to be me but 'best'.

They aren't pretending to be 'real' people on stage.
(also, I am close to the events business and I know that some of the amazing potential of audio visual technology just hasn't been used or played with properly yet, so I hope they go for broke)

And… maybe this really is just a case of: they don’t feel up to performing night after night (even young healthy performers say touring can be absolutely grueling), maybe they’re at a place where they’re healthy and happy as a band and don’t want the mental stress touring would bring, and… maybe they just chose avatars that looked like when they WERE happiest touring? All just ideas, though. Could really be for any reason, and they could tell the press anything. I mean, for all we know, one of them specifically is ill and can’t do it, and record companies just market-tested the avatars to hell and this is the age people wanted to see.

Also… when the ABBA Teens came out in the 2000s, it was kind of like trying to do ABBA with younger (live) avatars.

I would expect an avatar to be anyone's 'best version' of themselves. Jeez if you had my avatar I'd want it to be me but 'best'

Yes mine would be 18 year old size 8 me in sky scraper heels and a really short skirt. Not middle aged me in my jeans and nice top.

I suppose there is also the issue of Covid and touring.

Their voices are still amazing, such a talented group of artists. This is what suits Agnetha and Annifried best. Fans can take it or leave it. This is not just about the fans. But also about the member of much adored ABBA.

i think that people will watch for the curiosity factor to begin with. But I think that there’s a real risk that this will fall on its face.

They just aren’t what they used to be and understandably so, but the ABBA music of the 70’s lives on, what’s the point of bringing in new music 40 years on. Just let it go and be what you were.

I don’t like the new music as it happens and certainly wouldn’t buy it.

As I've said, it's not about them touring or playing live ... it's about them not being represented as the 70plus year old women they are now. As though that wouldn't be marketable. Which sadly it probably wouldn't be.

@EatYourVegetables

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

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

Of course. Because the men could appear as their older selves without cosmetic surgery/botox/fillers and no derogatory comments would be made. The women would be scrutinised.

Abba have earned the right to do whatever the hell they want. They have given the world a legacy of glorious music which will be enjoyed forever, like Mozart & the Beatles. We should be grateful that they have produced new music, not criticise them.

The women would be scrutinised.

Just like you're doing now.

They are a brand that earns their income and people want to see abba. Its incredibly nostalgic and also quite cutting edge technology. Very exciting.
I'm old myself and to be honest the Stones make me cringe now. Enough already.

Is it so different from the sing-along shows where they merge CGI with old footage to "resurrect" stars like Elvis in their heyday?

@ACPC

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.

I agree @ACPC

It’s technologically fascinating but artistically concerning as a precedent. They already recreated Carrie Fisher in two different ways for separate Star Wars films.

But ‘live’ events with (for example and off the top of my head) Elvis, Whitney Houston, Tupac, Prince, Bowie etc feel like they’re just around the corner and I don’t like it.

I grew up with Abba but never saw them live. I am virtually in tears at the thought that I can return to 1974 and see them live. It will be amazing!

Agnetha suffered with anxiety didn’t she? I think she was overwhelmed and removed herself from public life. Maybe that was part of the deal in reuniting?
I am so happy they sound good still. Best group ever. I bloody love them.

I'd rather remember the vibrant young people singing than the old codgers croaking.

Comment made me think of the link below. In exceptional circumstances an old codger croaking is appropriate artistically. (Though I'm not sure it's fair to accuse Johnny Cash of croaking.)

Apparently that was recorded six months before he died.

I don't find it depressing that they are using abbatars of themselves. At almost seventy, I like to be in my bed at nine o'clock and there's no way I could leap about day after day. They are probably fitter, but even so, very few people in their seventies are capable of throwing themselves around a dance floor. (Waiting for someone to say, 'oh, but my mum / my Nan').Their music is so much part of my life and I'm looking forward to hearing their new productions. I'm sure it will live up to expectations.

I suspect the women are mentioned here because the men have always appeared in various forms out and about.

The fact that they didn’t appear together as a group speaks volumes really, it’s impossible not to notice that.

But for some reason people always seem to think that this is sexist/anti women…

The reality is that we won’t be seeing them live. It’s like a cartoon depiction. Fine if that’s what floats yer boat, but let’s not kid ourselves that it’s ABBA making a comeback, it’s like ABBA in Disney.

And of course there are other groups who are long past it. Just look at the Rolling Stones, bloody awful now, most of them are well into their 70’s and look bloody hideous, in fact one of them died recently so I suspect that their run might end now, but they’ve been appearing in concert still and people are still prepared to pay £400 plus for the privilege. It’s hardly surprising that they would exploit that and the same could be said of ABBA. But none of that is because they’re still great, they’re not.

@ACPC

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.

We already have that in Asia. Hatsune Miku is about to go on tour and “she” is completely a CGI creation.

Yes, Agnetha hated touring. Interesting that they picked they own favourite look - Frida's was definitely in her 'best hair' phase.

And even though they have performed them for the avatars, they'll have had breaks in between each song. Touring and performing is physically gruelling and I don't think most people would want to see them sitting on stools for big chunks of the show while they catch their breath. I think it's really an innovative way to please the ones who want to see Abba get together again.

I don’t think it is depressing. There are many fantastic musicians and singers who never got to stardom because they were just not pretty or handsome enough. Too, we have had too many boy and girl bands with people who cannot sing and do not write any music, but because they can cavort around half naked lip syncing or using auto-tune...they’ve become stars. Having CGI will eliminate this eye candy unfairness and allow singers abs musicians with real talent to start performing.