Happy 14th birthday, Benny Anderdoll

 14 years ago today, I put in the finishing stitches on my homemade Benny doll. :D

 

New ABBA The Museum Kimonos

 I was just browsing the ABBA the Museum website and happened to see that they've just remade the kimonos.  And I was pretty excited because, as stated in my lengthy post from August about the problems with ABBA the Museum's costumes, ABBA the Museum did not make an accurate kimono.  Now, I'm not trying to diss ABBA the Museum for attempting to sell ABBA costume replicas, because so few of those exist, but when the product is described as being a replica of the ABBA members' stage costumes, I expect to see a replica, not just something inspired by the kimonos.  And sadly, these kimonos are just as flawed as the first one.

The first issue is not with the costumes themselves, but with the item description, which is as follows:

This kimono is a replica of the stage costume worn by Frida during the Japan leg of the tour. Designed by Owe Sandström, the piece reflects a creative fusion of Japanese and Swedish aesthetics. Sandström chose the traditional Japanese kimono silhouette and adorned it with motifs from Swedish flora—specifically, the Columbine, a classic garden flower. 

(Obviously it says a different ABBA members' name per product description, I just copied the one for Frida's.  Everything else is the same.) 

Now, if you're familiar with ABBA's story, which I would assume ABBA the Museum would have to be because they are the official ABBA museum after all, you know that the Kimonos first debuted in 1976.  Not 100% certain on this, like I can't find a source for this other than my own brain, but I do believe the kimonos were created for the purpose of taking them to Japan, but ABBA didn't end up going to Japan until 1978.  Bjorn and Benny did end up wearing the now-two year old costumes during the short promotional trip, specifically for three of the performances (Knowing Me, Knowing You, The Name Of The Game, and If It Wasn't For The Nights), although Benny was oddly wearing Agnetha's kimono rather than his own.  

 The first official appearance of the Kimonos was in one of the commercials for Japanese Electronics Company, National, in August 1976.  And roughly a month later, the kimonos were worn during the performance of Why Did It Have To Be for the TV special, ABBA-Dabba-Doo.  The final time the ABBA members wore all four kimonos together was in November 1976, when they appeared on the French TV show Les Rendez-vous du Dimanche.  

The kimonos were not worn during the Japanese leg of the 1979/80 World Tour.  So I don't understand why they would say that in the product description,

Now onto the actual costumes themselves.

In the previous iterations of the Kimonos that ABBA the museum sold, they simply scanned in one design out of the 3-4 that appear on each ABBA members' costumes and repeated it in a couple spots on the kimonos.  The kimonos were also full-length, more accurate to traditional Japanese kimonos, but not accurate to how ABBA's costumes were designed.

This time, they have made shorter kimonos, more in line but not quite as short as ABBA's original Kimonos.  They've also scanned in more of the original designs, not just the one, and have made the costumes more accurate in color.  

They almost had me fooled that they'd made an accurate replica this time, however, yet again, the placement of the designs is wrong, again.

To compare, here is an updated chart featuring my drawings of the designs in the correct placement, and the new ABBA the Museum costumes.  (For some bonus fun, can you tell from where on the original kimonos they took the designs from???)  ((ALSO just a reminder - these drawings I did of the floral designs are not 1000% accurate because I had to piece them together myself using images of ABBA's kimonos))

Agnetha: 

  Frida:

 

Benny:

 

 

 

 

Bjorn:

 

 

 I'm just so baffled as to why they've done this, why they can't just put everything in the correct placement.  If they just looked at my charts, they would see how inaccurate they are, but they don't even have to use my charts because they have the actual original costumes right there on display in the museum to consult with.  I just don't understand.

 

 

 Now we know that I have beef with a lot of ABBA tribute bands, but why is it that some of their costumes are more accurate in terms of design placement than the ones sold at the ABBA museum???

 

  

PLEASE do better ABBA the museum, or at least don't list your costumes as replicas.  Please and thank you. <3

 

Somewhat related - I saw this shirt at the Polar Music store, and I think it's such a cute, but subtle way to wear an ABBA themed garment, featuring the design on collar of Frida's Waterloo Costume.  It may be ridiculously expensive, but it's super cute regardless.  If ABBA the Museum wanted to sell more ABBA-inspired clothes like this, I wouldn't have any complaints with that.

 

 Alright, rant over.  Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

Also, one nice thing about these new kimonos is the nice high quality scan of the design that's on the back left of Agnetha's sleeve that I unfortunately had to make up half the details for on my doll kimono because there were no high quality reference photos.  Unfortunately this means, oh the horrors, my doll costume is slightly inaccurate, but at least I can saw it's placed in the correct location lol)

 

Darius

 My sweet blueberry boy Darius passed away today. He was one of the smartest birds I have ever met, he was spunky, he was clever, and he was the best. Mordecai and I will miss him so so so much. Fly high, my angelic boy. 💙💙💙  

 

Happy 80th birthday, Frida!

 Today we wish our beloved Anni-Frid Lyngstad a very, very happy 80th birthday.  Grattis på födelsedagen, dear Frida!

 

Rest in Peace, Karin Glenmark

On October 30th, Karin Glenmark passed away at the age of 73.  Both Karin and her brother Anders' story have been so intertwined with ABBA's, from their early days of competing against ABBA in the 1974 Melodifestivalen, together with their aunt and uncle, to providing backing vocals live during Agnetha's 1975 performance on Sommarnöjet, to Anders playing backing guitar on ABBA's Dancing Queen and Money Money Money, to eventually both Karin and Anders contributing the majority of the backing vocals for Bjorn and Benny's Chess Concept Album.  Karin and Anders even provided backing vocals for Agnetha's 1985 solo track "Save Me."  And then of course there is Gemini, Karin and Anders' band that featured tracks mostly written and produced by Bjorn & Benny.  And also Anders' went on to produce Frida's 1996 album, Djupa Andetag.

When I was younger, I used to disdain Gemini, fueled by the fact that I was upset that ABBA had ended and Bjorn and Benny had been focusing on the duo instead.  Plus Benny once said (can't find the source, I'm sorry) that Karin sang better than Agnetha and Frida!  But, I've matured a lot since then, and I've really grown to appreciate Geimini's music, to the point that I have their first album on my phone, and their songs often play when I have my phone on shuffle.  I have yet to actually listen to their second album, but I've literally had the tab up on Discogs to purchase it, so the news of Karin's passing really hits hard.

Aside from her music with Gemini, Karin also had a few solo albums and singles released from 1980 until 1996.  I have never actually listened to them before, but I'm inclined to now.  

Karin has always had a strong and powerful voice.  One of my all time favorite vocals from her is on the final track on Gemini's first album, "Another You, Another Me."  The song is definitely very ABBA-esque with the lyrics, which were written by Bjorn, so I've always had a soft spot for the song anyway.  An absolute favorite performance of mine is during Chess in Concert in 1984, when Karin stepped up to fill in for Barbara Dickson who had suddenly gotten sick  during Endgame. Another song that demonstrates Karins beautiful, softer vocals are Mio Min Mio, and also Karin's performance/cover of Agnetha's 1967 hit "Utan dej mitt liv går vidare".  I also have always really enjoyed Gemini's performance of TLC on Jacobs Stege in 1987, with the song being an extremely fun an upbeat track.

Rest in peace, Karin.  Thank you for the music and the memories.

Happy 14th birthday, Bjorn Uldollus

 And just like that, today we celebrate 14 years since I put in the finishing stitches of my homemade Bjorn doll.  :'D   Happy birthday Bjorn Uldollus!

 

ABBA-Coded

 So, for those of you who don't know, although I think I've mentioned it quite a few times on this blog haha, I am a fan of Sabrina Carpenter, and I think I've considered myself to be a fan since just before her EVOLution album came out in 2016.  Getting to see her rise in popularity over the last couple of years, watching her shift from genre to genre, and produce songs that feel more true to herself with her fun sense of humor and love for innuendos, has been extremely exciting to watch.  She's become a pretty iconic singer, and I can't help but feel proud!

I've also been quite happy to see that she's quite the ABBA fan herself (literally just made an update to my Sabrina being an ABBA fan video last night), and has stated that ABBA is one of her favorite bands, listed ABBA as an inspiration behind some of her songs, even one of the costumes on her most recent tour was inspired by ABBA Voyage.  She's covered ABBA songs frequently, named her cats after Bjorn and Benny, and even got to meet Bjorn when she was in Stockholm on the last stop of her tour! So in short (and sweet - haha couldn't help myself), Sabrina is a big ABBA fan.

Just over a week ago, Sabrina's 7th album, Man's Best Friend, came out, and I listened to it, and was initially quite turned off by the nature of sexual themes in this album, just something that I personally am turned off by, but not saying it's a bad thing just to be clear.  So while listening to the entire album, I was veering towards not liking it.  However I'm also someone who likes to read comments, see what other people's opinions are on topics, see what interest people and what doesn't, etc, and when I got to the last track on the album, titled Goodbye, without reading the comments yet, I for some reason found myself thinking, "Hey, this sounds like it's inspired by ABBA."  I'm not usually someone who actively looks for ABBA inspiration in songs, and often times when people say a song by any artist sounds like ABBA, I cannot for the life of me hear what they're hearing and would love if they would elaborate, which they of course don't.  

After listening to the song, I opened the comments, and already it was flooding with people saying it sounded like ABBA, which meant I wasn't the only one thinking that either, haha.  And considering Sabrina has stated that she is a massive ABBA fan and already included ABBA in the inspiration behind the soundscape of her song "Please Please Please," it's no surprise that she would find ways to use that inspiration in more songs, and that's awesome.  I'm happy for her.

Now, all of this that I just shared is relevant, but kinda not really what I'm trying to post about haha.  This is me we're talking about, so obviously I'm here to complain about something, hahaahahhaa.

One thing that I noticed in a lot of the comments on her song Goodbye, was people saying the song sounded like a specific ABBA song, and what do you know, most of the titles that people were suggesting were from ABBA Gold.  People were saying, "omg this song sounds like Fernando!" or "this song sounds like Voulez-Vous!", or this song sounds like Chiquitita, and most commonly, people were saying the song sounded like Take A Chance On Me!  Now, I'm not someone who understands BPMs, tempo, rhythm, and all that jazz, and I am simply an ABBA fan, and a person who likes music and listens to music, and I know for a fact that Goodbye, which is a bit of a slower track with rich harmonies and cheeky humor mixed in, does not sound like Take A Chance On Me. Another common thing that people were saying was that the song is so "Mamma Mia! and ABBA-coded."

I feel like a lot of people in today's day and age, are familiar with ABBA, and considering ABBA Gold is literally their most popular compilation album, it makes sense that ABBA Gold is pretty much everyone's frame of reference when it comes to ABBA.  And then you have the success of Mamma Mia! the musical and movie franchise that I personally despise but a lot of people really like.  Add on top of that the impact that ABBA have had on the Queer community, and that is basically what comes to mind when people think of ABBA: Mamma Mia!, Dancing Queen and all other songs from ABBA Gold, and Queer.  No knowledge of any other songs in ABBA's catalog, very little knowledge of the members of ABBA and their story, and that the songs somehow have to do with a girl trying to find which of her three dad's is her actual dad.  And I'm not saying that you have to be an obsessed ABBA fan like I am to be able to like ABBA or speak on ABBA, but what I'm trying to say is that a lot of people think they know ABBA without actually knowing about ABBA, and as a result, they end up sounding a bit silly when comparing modern artists to ABBA.

I went on about this a bit in a previous rant already, but one thing that really ticks me off is how people were comparing the band The Last Dinner Party to ABBA, and they would rattle of titles of ABBA songs, all from ABBA Gold, and say that The Last Dinner Party sounds like those songs.  No other details or insights on what makes the song sound like an ABBA song, just that it does.  

Similarly, before Chappell Roan officially released her song The Subway, all there was to listen to were live audios from the various live performances.  I actually really like that song a lot, haha, and I was a frequenter to "Chappell Roan performing The Subway Live - Highest Quality!" videos, and often would read the comments see people in the comments comparing the song to the Cranberries, which makes a little sense as Chappell Roan is a fan of the Cranberries, and, more surprisingly, comparisons to ABBA.  And I'm just here, like, "How?"  The only connection I could think of was perhaps due to ABBA being quite prominent and well loved by LGBTQ+ people, fans were simply trying to compare Queer artist Chappell Roan to another "queer" band ABBA, without having knowledge on ABBA and their only frame of reference for ABBA is the fact they've become known to be a Queer Band.  (And to be clear - I am not trying to say its a negative that ABBA have become known as a Queer or Gay band!)  Chappell sings in a completely different style, her vocals, while absolutely stunning and powerful, aren't harmony focused like ABBA's (again, not a negative, just pointing out a difference), and structurally the song doesn't match any ABBA songs.  So, I don't get it.  And as far as I can tell, Chappell has not listed ABBA as an inspiration to any of her music, either.

And falling back to Sabrina's song "Goodbye", when people say the song sounds like any song from ABBA Gold, it's simply falling back to their basic knowledge of ABBA.  Obviously because it has an alleged slight Spanish flavor, clearly that means it's inspired by Fernando.  And because the song has "Ahas", something that ABBA are notorious for including in their songs, that means that the song is inspired by "Voulez-Vous", despite the fact that Goodbye is a slower song and Voulez-Vous is an upbeat Disco-esque song.  And despite the fact that the Mamma Mia! versions of ABBA's songs strip away all pleasant sounding harmonies and replace them with Musical style singing that is not layered with harmonies, clearly the harmonies on Goodbye are inspired by Mamma Mia! the Musical...  You get my gist?

So yeah, basically I just wish people wouldn't just throw around ABBA when listening to modern artists simply because they think they know what ABBA is and what makes a song sound like an ABBA song, when what they know is only a fraction of what is ABBA on a whole. And that's basically what I wanted to rant about today.

 

Going back to Sabrina's song, I have been thinking, when I heard Goodbye for the first time, why did I immediately think of ABBA?  Seeing as I'm actually familiar with ABBA's songs outside of the ABBA Gold tracklist, I feel like I am a little more qualified to share my thoughts, haha.

 I think the first thing that stood out to me was the chorus, where Sabrina sings "Goodbye means that you're losin' me for life/Can't call it love, then call it quits, can't shoot me down, then shoot the shit/Did you forget that it was you who said/goodbye?", the way the harmonies build, and the message of the song - the first thing that came to mind was Put On Your White Sombrero, another Spanish-flavored song in ABBA's repertoire that isn't Fernando. (Although I wouldn't say Sabrina's song has a Spanish flavor, I think the only connection to that is because she says Goodbye in several languages throughout the song, including a couple of phrases in Spanish.)  

The story of both songs are quite similar as well, with the whole sentiment essentially being, "You didn't find me to be good enough for you, so goodbye loser," and I mean, there is literally the line "Think of this day as a showdown/Goodbye, my friend, this is the end for me and you."  Then you add the little piano or keyboard flourishes in the chorus that sound similar to the piano flourishes in the chorus of Dancing Queen, and on top of that the "Aha"s, which aren't tied to any specific ABBA song as they appear in so many.  The instruments sound very real as well, nothing sounds overly computerized, much like what would appear in a song from ABBA's era.  However, while the song includes all of these elements, the song itself still sounds like something from Sabrina's catalog, not sounding like an ABBA rip-off at all, simply taking inspiration from a band that Sabrina admires and packaging it into a love-letter of sorts while still keeping it her own and still sounding like Sabrina.  If that makes any sense.

And while this song hasn't been confirmed to be an ABBA-inspired song in any way, considering Sabrina is an ABBA fan who is actually familiar with ABBA's songs, including those outside of ABBA Gold's Tracklist, it wouldn't surprise me if the song was heavily inspired by ABBA.  But those are just my thoughts.

ABBA: A Little Golden Book Biography

 If you remember, way back in 2013, I had the idea to publish my very own children's book about ABBA, something that I realized didn't seem to be available anywhere.  As a kid, I would go to the library in search of anything related to ABBA, and the only band-related biographies written with children in mind were about the Beatles.  So I had no choice but to beg my library to inter-library-loan biographies about ABBA that were not written with children in mind, and while I'm not saying that ABBA's story was scandalous or dirty in anyway, but discussion of "Sexy Bottoms", "Sex-Appeal", and "Sex" is definitely not something that a child should be reading about.  Never mind that those topics are not important or crucial to ABBA's story at all, but of course every author has to include something about that because they can.

So, I wrote and illustrated a book on ABBA, self-published it on Amazon's Create Space, now known as Kindle Direct Publishing, and that was that.  I have since done over that book twice, and not to toot my own horn, but I think I was able to fill a big gap in the ABBA book world.

Since my book's initial release in 2013, there have been a few more ABBA children's books that I can think of off the top of my head - "Sagan om ABBA" or "Pop Story" as its titled in English by none other than Bjorn Ulvaeus, and a french children's book on ABBA titled "Mes premières chansons d'ABBA", and I'm sure there are a few more as well.

But anyway, as of today, a new children's book on ABBA has been announced.  Published by Penguin Random House, author Jeneanne DeBoise and Illustrater Miake Plenzke are releasing a story on ABBA as part of the Little Golden Book Biographies series!  I grew up with access to Little Golden Books, and in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, they literally have a small shelf designated to all the newest Little Golden Book biographies (and I'm currently on the lookout for the new Chappell Roan biography haha), so this is quite exciting.

Despite ABBA's worldwide success, books on ABBA are not common in the US, at least not in my part of the US, so the fact that a major publishing company that releases books worldwide, America included, is releasing a book on ABBA, I am quite excited that there will be yet another way for children who might have in interest in ABBA to read about ABBA in a nice, child-friendly way.  

Now, will the book be accurate?  I'll have to find out when it's released in March, 2026, but I'm optimistic!

Official ABBA Costume Replicas - A Study on Accuracy

As you all know, I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to ABBA costumes.  Since I started my sewing journey in 2011, my goal was to recreate for my dolls as many ABBA costumes as possible, as accurately as possible.  As someone who is not a professional and is limited by my skill set and abilities, that task has not been an easy one and try as I might, I don't think I'll ever be able to achieve 100% accuracy, but I do the best and I can and I accept where I am unable to achieve a better result. 

Examples of so-called "ABBA costumes" 

I can't remember exactly when, but I remember when ABBA the Museum started selling ABBA costumes.  It had me super excited, because it meant people didn't have to rely on those weird so-called ABBA costumes that look nothing like what ABBA wore.  If this was made by ABBA's official museum, surely they would be as accurate (and hopefully high quality) as can be.  

 I guess one thing to consider when selling replicas of ABBA's costumes is how practical do you want them to be.  Maybe not everyone wants to go around wearing cat dresses and kimonos that are rather short and not overly practical.  So it didn't bother me too much when ABBA the Museum released official Cat Dresses where they sit a bit longer, and can be worn more as an actual dress rather than a very, very short dress.  The most important thing was that the cat on the front was accurate, which it is.  Unfortunately the cats have been scaled up to fit the larger size, so if you wanted to cut the cat dresses and add slits to the sides for the purpose of accuracy, it would look a bit off, assuming that would bother you liked it would bother me haha.  But all in all, it looks nice.  

A comparison of the ABBA the Museum cat dresses vs. Agnetha and Frida's cat dresses.

But how then am I supposed to feel about official replicas as sold at ABBA the Museum, that are seemingly intentionally made to be not accurate?

In 2015, ABBA the Museum also began selling replicas of ABBA's kimonos.  Unlike ABBA's original kimonos, they chose to make them more in the style of a traditional Japanese kimono in terms of length, and does it bother me slightly?  Yeah, but overall it was quite exciting to me as I had been attempting yet again to recreate ABBA's kimonos, and figured I could use the nice, clear images of the costumes for my recreations!  Boy was I surprised when I was compiling all my reference photos and noticed that the designs did not match up with the designs on ABBA's kimonos.  It simply didn't match up.  

For reference, this is what the placement of Agnetha's original kimono is

And this is my rendering of what I believe to be an accurate rendition of Agnetha's kimono designs. (I drew these designs up back in 2020 when i was working on my doll kimonos.  As far as I can tell, they are as accurate as possible based on all my reference images, but I can't guarantee 100% accuracy. Feel free to use them as reference for your own kimono remakes if you want!)

And when you compare it to the museum's kimono, you can see that they simply used the design on the front of Agnetha's left sleeve and used just that rather than use all of them for some reason.

They did the same with Frida's kimono, taking the design from her front right sleeve and using that instead of all the other designs.

 

 

 

And when Bjorn and Benny's costumes were added to the collection, same issues happened.

Instead of utilizing all of the designs, they used the design from the Front Left of Benny's kimono, albeit they did put it in the correct place at least.

And for Bjorn's costume, they used the design from the front right of his kimono, but it on the bottom right, and then made a new design of 4 flowers where the bottom right of his kimono clearly has only 3.

Another costume remake that they sell at ABBA the Museum is a replica of the cape Agnetha and Frida wore in the beginning of the 1979/80 tour during Voulez-Vous. They title it the polar cape and state that it is a replica.  Because of that claim that it is a replica, I was enticed to buy it, but after looking at the preview picture, I was again surprised to find that it in fact was not 100% accurate. For some reason they shifted the design over so it's off center.  interestingly, they had an earlier version of the costume that wasn't shifted, but when they released it with a better fabric, they shifted it. I have no idea why.  I thought that was the only issue, and ultimately decided I could live with the simple off-centered-ness, and I will say it feels so nice and drapes really nicely.  Although, considering I am quite short and Agnetha and Frida are a lot taller than I am, it is rather big on me haha.

 It even helped me to then look for a good satin to use for my remake of the capes for my dolls.  However, what would you know, when I was working on my doll costumes, I discovered yet another inaccuracy.

A rendering of the ABBA the Museum cape,

And a rendering of the actual cape.  Hopefully you can see the difference.  (Also I have a permanent warp in my eye due to eye-issues, and OMG drawing this with the grid lines on my art program was so difficult haha)

Now don't get me wrong, everything that I have ever bought from ABBA the Museum has been exceptional quality. Expensive, as well, but the quality makes it feel worth it.  And I really do appreciate the effort to make replicas of ABBA's costumes, but my question is, why are they choosing to make the costumes inaccurate?  Especially considering at the ABBA Voyage webstore, they're also selling replicas of Agnetha and Frida's capes from the opening of the Voyage show, and as far as I can tell, while certainly not as extravagant as the designs are printed on rather than embroidered and embellished like the actual things, they are seemingly almost identical to the ABBA-tars costumes.  (Granted I still haven't been to the show, so I can't necessarily verify that at this time.)

I also have these capes and they are so fun and swooshy, and because I enjoyed wearing them so much, that's what convinced me to buy the Polar Cape replica despite its flaws haha.

I guess, all this to say, perhaps it's just me being a perfectionist, and others aren't bothered by this, but I just hope that maybe ABBA the Museum will consider updating their costume replicas further, and producing an even more accurate result.  I really really enjoy their products, (and I just saw that they made a bucket hat and other accessories using the pattern from Benny's fur jacket as seen in the Mamma Mia! music video - that is absolutely adorable!), I just want to see more accuracy, especially where they have the means to compare to the actual costumes as they have most of them on display at the museum. 

And they clearly don't mind making updates, as they already released a new version Agnetha Waterloo beanie that is I think more accurate in terms of pattern.  It doesn't have sequins glued on, like you can do with the original crochet kit, instead having tiny clear sequins that don't resemble Agnetha's original beanie, but it seems to fit my head better than the crochet kit one (but that the crochet kit fitting weird could be due to user error as I crocheted it myself.)

On a semi-related note - I came across a dress on Thred-Up that looked quite similar to Agnetha's Fernando dress.  It's quite a bit shorter than Agnetha's actual dress sitting just above my knees, and obviously it's not meant to be a replica at all, but I decided to get it and have been calling it my Fernando Dupe dress.  The brand is Misslook, and I had to add a lining into it because it was way too sheer originally.  But I have been enjoying it a lot. :3