Is "Shipping" the ABBA members too much?

So one thing that I've been seeing around a lot around my ABBA circles, mostly among the younger modern generation of ABBA fans, is that there is a lot of shipping of the members of ABBA.  I myself have never been on to ship characters in anything, like when I watch TV shows such as Doctor Who, I don't see any need to ship characters like the Doctor and Rose Tyler together.  I can see why people ship them together and see them as in love, but if it's not actually proven in the show, I won't believe it.  I do have a few platonic ships, where I see them as friends, but I'm not one for romantic ships.  But I'm going off topic. 

I've seen a lot of posts around that ship Agnetha and Frida together.  Seeing as most ships are supposed to be romantic, I am quite disgusted by the "Fridnetha" ships.  What proof does anyone have that Agnetha and Frida could be in a relationship?  People take these ships so seriously and take pictures of them and use them to support their reasoning that the two ABBA singers are together and whatever, but it does not work at all.  In most of these pictures that they use as proof, Agnetha was married to Bjorn and Frida was engaged to Benny!  I know I'm not entirely making sense, but these Agnetha x Frida ships really drive me mad. 

Another ship I can't stand is Agnetha x Benny or Frida x Bjorn.  If they're talking about shipping them in terms of friendship, since we know that all the ABBA members were friends, hence why would they all be in a band together for so long, then that's alright.  But if people are taking it to the level that they have the fridnetha ship, then that's just wrong.  I know we have this classic picture of ABBA in 1972, but it's just a fun little picture that doesn't support anything.

Also Bjorn and Benny ships are another thing that I don't like.  Can two people be friends without it having to be romantic?  I'm sure Bjorn and Benny love each other, but as friends.  They've been friends for 51 years after all!

I feel like the modern generation (not all of the modern fans of course, but a lot of them) are getting caught up in shipping and ABBA fanfictons (which is another thing I can't stand, but I'll have to get into that on another post!) instead of appreciating the people as who they are and appreciating the music that ABBA has given to this world.  Please just see ABBA as they are and as the music that they've shared with all of us and not as characters to ship with each other.  ABBA is supposed to be two couples, Agnetha with Bjorn, and Benny with Frida, not any other way.

I apologize if anyone has found today's rant to be offensive, it's just something that I really dislike in the ABBA fan community.

Tribute band review: ABBALIVE

I remember many years ago when i would watch ABBA videos on YouTube every day 24/7 (I've probably seen every single ABBA performance there is on YouTube, from HQ videos to bad quality, bootleg recordings, you'd be surprised), I had found some videos of an Australian tribute band, Australia's most authentic tribute show, they say: ABBALIVE.  Now usually I can't stand tribute bands, and you guys probably know that already, but this one's actually pretty good.  That's pretty high praise coming from me, btw.  They've got the sound right, the voices are pretty good, as in they aren't perfect since nobody can sound just as unique as Agnetha and Frida, but they're good.  Appearance has always been a big deal for me when viewing tribute bands, but for these guys, it doesn't really matter since the sound is there and it's good!  Also I like how they're wearing costumes that tribute bands, or at least the ones I've seen online, don't seem to wear all that often.  Even better, these guys have them pretty authentic.  As a perfectionist I have to note that they didn't include the fluffy stuff on Frida's cape, but that's just me being nit picky. ;)

One thing I don't like is that they have a lot of synchronized dancing which ABBA didn't do when performing live (I'm talking about live concerts like during their 77 and 79 tours, not TV performances), like comparing ABBALIVE's "S.O.S" to ABBA's from the Movie,

but I can see how it is good to have some interaction with the audience. But as an upside, a lot of the synchronized dances are based off ones that ABBA did on TV performances and music videos.

Now if I ever got my way and made my tribute band that would totally work out, I would ditch the synchronized dances and try to make them act more like ABBA during their live concerts where there are like no synchronized dances besides the So long dance routine which is a must, but for this tribute band, I think they did it well.

What I don't like though is that they have those super weird fake stereotypical Swedish accents that don't sound like ABBA at all that most tribute bands do, and that's always a downer for me, but I'll ignore that for now because I really like that they didn't do the "Swedish Finger Pointing Dance" which isn't a thing either, so thumbs up here!

So I think I'm going to have to agree that ABBALIVE is Australia's most authentic tribute show, and I'd give them an 8/10. :D  I hope you've enjoyed this tribute band as much as I have and that you enjoyed reading my review!  :)

Happy birthday Frida!!

Happy 72nd birthday, Frida!  I hope you have a super incredible day filled with lots of love and happiness and celebration! :D

I drew this picture of Frida using the incredible software Clip Studio Paint.  I've also uploaded a speedpaint video to YouTube that you can watch up there ^, showing the process of how I made this incredible drawing. :D  I hope you enjoy it, and I hope Frida has a wonderful 72nd birthday!

Send birthday wishes to Frida!

Guess who nearly forgot to post this. xD  Anyways, you can send birthday wishes here!