Three years ago today...

 I'll always remember September 2nd, 2021 as one of the most exciting days of my life thus far.  Waking up with anticipation of the live stream event that ABBA were hosting, not just on their YouTube channel but in various locations around the world.  There was so much curiosity, so many unknowns, yet we all had a suspicion that ABBA's long awaited "two new songs" were finally here.

I remember exactly where I was on that day.  I had set up the live stream to play on the TV and was seated on the couch for almost an hour before the event even started in fear that I would somehow accidentally miss it.  Skyler was seated on his favorite perch, chattering away, and when the live stream started, there was a lot about the various worldwide fan events, lots of people celebrating ABBA, talking about ABBA, dancing to ABBA.

For a moment I was not sure what this event was for, but then, I Still Have Faith Have You started to play.  Hearing Frida's voice, followed by Agnetha joining in harmony.  The music video featuring unseen footage of the ABBA members, seeing them goofing around and not just as the professional people they always presented themselves as.  Then the ABBA-tars in all their glory, and Bjorn and Benny adding some backing vocals.  The layers upon layers of harmonies just like in the old days in the chorus.  It was amazing.  Though I remember Skyler thought otherwise, haha.  He immediately flew out of his cage screeching because he didn't like the music at all.  (He did eventually warm up to it hahaha, but unless it was a new Roxette song, he was skeptical of EVERYTHING!)

It was all I could have dreamed of, yet Bjorn and Benny suddenly appeared in London, and Benny said in the most nonchalant way, "We have made a new album with ABBA."  I remember immediately being like "What?!  What did he just say?!?!?!?" I couldn't believe my eyes and ears, but then they presented us with some behind the scenes footage of ABBA working on the motion capture for ABBA Voyage as well as the four of them in the studio, recording new songs.  It was so heartwarming, seeing my four favorite people in the recording studio, creating magic together again.  It wasn't until two months later that we even got to hear the remaining 8 tracks on the Voyage album, but I knew they would be amazing.

I remember the moment Benny said that the album was available to pre-order, I jumped onto the website and it wasn't even up yet!  It said it needed a password to enter the shop, and I had no idea what to do.  I just kept on reloading and reloading the tab until it let me in, and even then, there were no images on all the listings but I just bought whatever I could justify spending on.  I gave ABBA a lot of money that day, but I didn't care.

Then, before the live stream ended, we got to hear the Agnetha-led Don't Shut Me Down, and what a treat it was to hear an uptempo ABBA song and know that they still had it in them to create a classic ABBA track.  

Although their voices had significantly aged, something I definitely noticed, there was no doubt that it was ABBA, and hearing them and seeing the four of them together felt so comforting.  Not only had ABBA given us the long promised two songs, they had prepared 8 more, one of them being one of my absolute favorite ABBA Undeleted songs revisited with a modern sound.

It was just such a wonderful day, and I'll always be grateful that I got to witness ABBA's comeback, and even more that I got to experience it with my best bird boy, my beloved Skyler Bird. :')

(Photo of Skyler from September 2, 2021.)