When someone mentions ABBA, I don't think ABBA can simply be defined as one thing. They're not just some band from the 70s/80s. They're not stereotypical pop and disco from that era. They're not just two guys and two girls. They're not just a blonde and a brunette/redhead. They're not tacky satin and sequin-y costumes. And they're not just the tracklist to ABBA Gold. They're not just two couples from Sweden.
Musically, ABBA is that perfect blend of Agnetha and Frida's voices. With Agnetha being a Soprano and Frida a Mezzo-Soprano, their voices are each so distinct yet they blend together so perfectly and in such perfect harmony. ABBA is the layers and layers upon layers of harmonies and also layers of the same instruments recorded multiple times, over and over again to get that fuller "wall of sound" effect.
ABBA's songs are sometimes made up of happy lyrics set to sad music. Some songs are just plain happy, other songs are just plain sad. ABBA have numerous songs that cover various themes like divorce, young love, mature love, philosophical subjects, and so much more.
As an ABBA fan, I know ABBA as all of those things, and all of those combined is what makes ABBA. If you take out any of those elements, it just doesn't sound like ABBA.
...
So there is this British Indie Pop band that I've been seeing around called The Last Dinner Party. I haven't really listened to them, but interestingly, I've seen them described in a couple of places as the "New ABBA" and this kinda baffles me. Around a year ago someone in a forum shared a link to their song Nothing Matters and mentioned that they felt the song had ABBA vibes. I listened to it, I didn't hear it, I never thought about it again. Then again more recently, I watched a video where in it, the person described Chappell Roan as the 'New Kate Bush" and The Last Dinner Part as the "New ABBA." And I was very confused by that statement.
Ever since Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill" was featured in I think it was season 4 of Stranger Things, people who hadn't hard of Kate Bush were suddenly introduced to Kate Bush, and people who had heard of her before but not really into her were suddenly re-introduced to Kate Bush. I've heard a few Kate Bush songs prior to the release of Stranger Things, specifically Wow as featured in ABBA in Switzerland, and her song Wuthering Heights, as well as a few other songs of hers that were suggested to me on YouTube, and if I had to describe her music in one word, I would use the word Eclectic. She has a very unique vocal style, a very distinct look, but also, none of her songs sound the same and Running Up That Hill is just a sample of what she has to offer.
Chappell Roan has been rising in popularity, and she is definitely a very interesting listen! I don't really listen to her songs as a lot of them are too sexually explicit for my taste, but she's got some very good songs and she too has a very unique style! She sings in a variety of different styles, many different themes, a very unique vocal style, and her songs also don't all sound the same. If I had to compare any of her songs to Kate Bush, it would probably just be the way she sings the chorus of her song Good Luck, Babe! Other Chappell Roan hits like Pinky Pony Club and Hot To Go don't sound at all like Kate Bush... So, why do people compare Chappell Roan, the artist on a whole, to Kate Bush, when like only parts of one song resemble that of Kate Bush, particularly only that one Kate Bush song that has gained recent popularity? It's almost like people heard one Kate Bush song, associated that one song with her, ignored everything else about her, and then assume that anyone who sings similarly to Kate Bush is obviously now the "New Kate Bush" when there's nothing else that is comparable.Then we have The Last Dinner Party and ABBA. Much like how people associate Kate Bush with only Running Up That Hill and not any of her other hits or songs, here in the US at least, ABBA is often synonymous with Bubble-gum Pop songs like Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, and honestly, the entire tracklist of ABBA Gold. The average person doesn't typically know anything more than ABBA Gold, or perhaps some of the songs that were not on ABBA Gold but were featured in the Mamma Mia! films. So, when people start calling The Last Dinner Party the NEW ABBA, they're probably just thinking about ABBA Gold.
In an article by Hard Of Hearing Magazine written by Lloyd Bolton, the critic wrote, "Indeed, who since ABBA has had the guts to aspire to sounding like ABBA?" and of the song Portrait Of A Dead Girl, "worthy of ‘ABBA Gold,’ relates a more contemporary sentiment, and as the strings win our hearts, the “over and over again” of the chorus propels the song through the pop stratosphere."
And like, I don't know what the critic means??? Portrait Of A Dead Girl is definitely more ballad-y and honestly more Fleetwood Mack ballad-y than any of ABBA's ballads. Considering ABBA Gold doesn't really feature many ABBA ballads at all (there's The Winner Takes It All, One Of Us, Fernando, and Chiqutita, but also many of those songs I wouldn't even consider ballads), where would would that song fit into ABBA Gold? Where????
Vocally, I don't even hear any similarities either. ABBA songs often feature one A singing lead and the other singing in harmony, and then they have so many backing vocals as well, but it never sounds like "gang-vocals" our shouty vocals. It sounds orchestral almost, like Agnetha and Frida's voices are just another musical instrument. Of the three The Last Dinner Party Songs that I listened to that are often compared to ABBA ("Nothing Matters", "Portrait Of A Dead Girl," and "Sinner") I do not hear anything that remotely resembles ABBA.
If anything, perhaps you could say it matches more with the dark and mature, synth-laden sound of some of the tracks on ABBA's the Visitors album, but according to the music critic, they are only focusing on ABBA Gold, and none of the songs that I'm thinking of (The Visitors (Crackin' Up) and I Let The Music Speak) feature on ABBA Gold. And again, most people don't usually know of those "deep-cut" ABBA songs because they're not on ABBA Gold or in Mamma Mia!.
I feel like the music critics that compare The Last Dinner Party to ABBA don't really know who or what ABBA is. Just because a band has a lot of synthesizers reminisce of the 70s synthesizers and female vocals doens't immediately mean they sound like ABBA. ABBA's not the only 1970s band or band with synthesizers in a lot of
their songs, and people tend to forget that ABBA is not just two female
vocaists but rather two male and two female. So just because a band has
synths and female vocals doesn't mean they're ABBA, you know? That's
like saying "omg Sabrina Carpenter is a blonde, singer/songwriter who can
play the guitar! Obviously she's the new Taylor Swift!" when their
music sounds nothing alike, you know?
Now, I just wanted to point out that neither The Last Dinner Party or Chappell Roan (from what I can find) have compared themselves to ABBA or Kate Bush. If they were inspired by them, that's awesome - it's always amazing when a band or a singer are seen as inspirational and for sure they have inspired many modern artists form after their time. I don't have a problem with that. I think my real issue is music critics who find it important to tie an up and coming artist' success to an older band/artist, and then have the nerve to call them the "new" version of said band/artist. Especially where these new artists and bands are not trying to be the new version of anything, they're just trying to be themselves.
And also, I know music critics are probably only tying the sound of Chappell Roan and The Last Dinner Party's music to ABBA and Kate Bush's music, but personality and the story behind each artist tie a lot into their music as well, and none of their stories are comparable either. Each band/artist as their own unique story which plays into how their music is, and you can't have ABBA's sound without the members of the band and their unique situation.
In conclusion, you can't claim a band is the "new ABBA" when you don't fully know ABBA, and especially not when a band isn't trying to be ABBA in anyway. As I wrote in my introduction to this blog post, ABBA can be defined my many things and are their band in their own right, with a variety of different songs and styles and sound, and there cannot be a "New ABBA" without any of the elements that originally made ABBA.
Anyway, that's my rant for the day haha.
And of course, no hate towards The Last Dinner Party or Chappell Roan! Keep doing what you're doing and stay true to yourselves and unique!
While I do agree, there's no way to replicate ABBA to the T but I must say, I like how more ABBA-esque songs are becoming more mainstream and reshaping pop music back into being fun with a nostalgic feel to it. Even more smaller artists who were previously unheard-of like Artemis, Chappell Roan etc. are charting with their songs that have this 70s-80s feel to it. I'm also quite pleased at how many new generation ABBA fans there have been recently and how much they've been able to appreciate such a great band from before their time.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the retro feel is great and I don't have a problem with any of the artists being inspired by ABBA! My issue is the critics who like to tie new artists to older artists without knowing the full story haha
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