Happy 81st birthday, Björn!

 Today we wish our dear Björn Ulvaeus a very, very happy 81st birthday! Happy birthday, Björn! 🎉🎉🎉

 

Happy 80th birthday, Bjorn!

 Today our very own Björn Ulvaeus celebrates his 80th birthday! Grattis på födelsedagen, Björn! ❤️🎉

 

When two worlds collide

 I'm not really one to go sharing ABBA/ABBA related news because it's too hard to keep up and I don't have the motivation, but I had to share this considering one of my top favorite artists got to meet a member of my top favorite band today.  Considering Sabrina has been singing ABBA on many of her Short n' Sweet tour stops as a surprise song, and she's even named her cats Benny and Bjorn, I actually can imagine how exciting this must have been for her because I think I would feel the same way if I was presented with the same opportunity :') 

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3 years of ABBA Voyage

Three years ago today, ABBA's 9th and final studio album to date, Voyage was released! I still will never get over the fact that my favorite band ever, the group that I have pretty much dedicated the last 14 years to, actually made music again - the one thing they had had pretty vowed not to do during their 40 year hiatus.

When Agnetha and Frida sing together on top of Bjorn's crafty lyrics and Benny's impeccable compositions, the result is just magical. Even after 40 years, they still managed to capture the same essence that was ABBA from the 70s and 80s into 10 new tracks.

 Last night while working on this drawing (which I'm aware is not from any of the Voyage sessions but that's because I've already drawn pretty much all the voyage pictures haha), I listened to the entire Voyage album from start to finish.  It's nothing new for me to listen to the album from track 1 all the way to track 10 because I'm always listening to ABBA's albums in full, but as I was listening, I couldn't get over how unequivocally ABBA it is.  Even with 39 years since their last recording session, the sound of ABBA was there.  And I'm not just talking about their voices and the music.

We have songs that are about the close bond that people can have (I Still Have Faith In You), slow ballads as well as upbeat dance-able tracks (Just A Notion) and then some happy tracks with hint of melancholy (Don't Shut Me Down and When You Danced With Me).  We have songs about family - be it relationship/marital/divorce issues (No Doubt About It and Keep An Eye On Dan) or just family life (Little Things.)  We have songs that seem downright depressing until the final chorus of the song when we're left with a hint of hopefulness that maybe things are going to be alright in the end (I Can Be That Woman.)  And we have songs that are profound and philosophical (Ode To Freedom) and songs that are commenting on issues with today's world (Bumblebee.)  Just to name a few recurring themes.

I feel like a lot of people who just know ABBA as the band that provided the music to Mamma Mia or as just the band who has only the tracklist of ABBA Gold, aka uncultured dummies hahahhaha jkjkjkjkjk don't realize that these are all topics that ABBA have covered throughout their prior 8 albums.  I've talked a lot of this in my song analysis series that I will get back to posting when I feel like it, but here are some examples of past ABBA songs that are about the same topics. 

Relationship/Marital/Divorce issues: The Winner Takes It All, Hey Hey Helen

Philosophical: Move On

Social Commentary: What About Livingstone

Family life: Slipping Through My Fingers

Songs that are kinda depressing but then leave us with a hint of hopefulness at the end: One Man, One Woman

Close bond/friendship: The Way Old Friends Do

And these are just the ones that I can name off the top of my head.

Even from the moment I first heard the Voyage album in full, it just felt like an ABBA album.  Everything about it screams ABBA, and I cannot be more grateful to have been there to witness this momentous album, and still to this day listen to this album on the regular. 

Happy 3 years of Voyage, the Album. ❤️

Happy 79th Birthday, Björn!

 Today we celebrate one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Mr. Björn Ulvaeus' 79th birthday!  Happy, happy birthday dear Björn!  I hope he has the absolute greatest day celebrating with all of his family and friends!

50 years of ABBA - celebrating ABBA's Eurovision Win

 It was exactly 50 years ago today, that ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest.  They had done something so unique for the time, performing a more rocky song than had ever been performed before, crafting an intricate image that helped them to stand out.  They pushed the boundaries and ultimately created a new standard for all future Eurovision Song Contests. 

Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, and Frida did an absolutely outstanding performance, with an amazing song, and an incredible appearance, and they couldn't have done it if not for their close bond and determination to win.

Their win was well deserved, and today we celebrate with them on this absolutely iconic and incredible day.  Happy 50th anniversary, ABBA.  Hip hip hurrah!

Happy 78th birthday, Bjorn!

 Wishing a happy, happy 78th birthday to the one and only Bjorn Ulvaeus, songwriter and lyricist extraordinaire! 

Happy ABBA day!

 49 years ago today, ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with their epic performance of Waterloo, skyrocketing them into worldwide fame and success, and the rest of course is history! :D

Happy 77th birthday, Bjorn!

Today one of the world's greatest songwriters and lyricists turns 77!  Happy birthday Bjorn!  :D

Bjorn's pants...

 So I've been doing research for *one* of my next sewing projects (yes I've made these outfits before and yes I'm making them yet again), and as I was looking through pictures of ABBA's Waterloo costumes, I noticed something interesting about that time ABBA performed wearing those costumes once again in 1981.

At first glance, the biggest differences are Agnetha's pants, as she's wearing a stretchy blue pants instead of her satiny blue ones from 1974, Benny's jeans, as he didn't wear jeans with his costume, rather he wore black satin pants like the rest of them, and also Bjorn's boots, as he's wearing his boots from late 1974 to 1975 instead of his Waterloo boots.  The only member to be wearing their complete outfit is Frida.  

But then I noticed Bjorn's pants.  What pants is he wearing in 1981?  See, his 1974 pants have a silver trim in this like spiky shape, whereas his pants in 1981 just have a little silver trim on the bottom.  That's when I realized, he's actually wearing his pants backwards.  xD  See photos below:

 The front of his pants with the spiky design:

And if you look closely, you can see that they dip down as they get to the back, meaning:

This is what the back of his trousers look like: 

So really both Bjorn and Frida have their complete outfits (minus Bjorn's boots of course).  Anyways, this was just a random thought.  At least now I have a reference photo for what the back looks like when I get around to making them *again* for my dolls. xD

ABBA-Tar Drawing

I haven't done a new drawing in a while, but I had to do a drawing of the new ABBA-tars. :D 

Happy 76th birthday, Bjorn!

 Wishing a happy 76th birthday to the songwriter behind so many of ABBA's hits, Bjorn Ulvaeus!  In honor of his birthday, I did this drawing, and I have a speedpaint uploaded to my secondary channel as well. :)

New ABBA Drawing

 It's been a while since I've had time to really sit down and work on a realistic drawing.  I so rarely have inspiration or the attention span to work on long portraits anymore, but when I do, I think I do a pretty good job.  For fun, my sister and I decided to work on this drawing of my favorite four Swedes.  We're both good artists yet we've never collaborated like this before.  So here is my most recent drawing of ABBA, drawn with graphite pencils and a touch of a white gelly roll. :)

In other news, I've mentioned this so many times, but can you believe that this year I've officially been an ABBA fan of 10 years??  I can't believe I've devoted almost half my life to this band, but hey, it's been the best and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon. :)

Happy 75th birthday, Bjorn!

Happy 75th birthday to 1 of the 2 songwriting masterminds behind ABBA's amazing songs, Bjorn Ulvaeus! I hope he has an absolutely amazing time celebrating his birthday with his loved ones. To celebrate his birthday, I've drawn this digital drawing of Bjorn in 1976. :)

 

And also if you're interested, here is a speedpaint I filmed as well. :)

Bjorn wearing his old ABBA Costumes

Last night was either the opening or some event to celebrate the opening of the new Mamma Mia! the Party restaurant in London.  Bjorn and Benny were there, and for fun, Bjorn decided to come out wearing his outfit from the 1977 tour, and it was really nice seeing him in it again. (He mentioned the last time he wore it was 42 years ago in Perth, 1977, but he also wore it in April of 1978 for a photoshoot and November of 1978 in Japan... :3 ). 

This isn't the first time Bjorn has worn his old ABBA costumes, and that's something I love about him.  :)  Seeing as he's done this a few times now, I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a little compilation post.

In 2008, at the ABBA Fan club event, they played a video where Bjorn was wearing his old Waterloo costume.

 Then in 2014, for a TV show called Welcome to Sweden, Bjorn put on his white jumpsuit from the 1979 tour, as well as a jacket that he seems to have only one once before in Edmonton.

Then in 2018, Bjorn made an appearance on the show Better Late Than Never, wearing his white overalls from 1975.

And finally, from last night, Bjorn wore his 1977 Tour outfit.

My Sims

For those of you who don't know, I started playing the Sims 3 just over a year ago, and while the game can be considered a waste of time (especially when playing it for several hours at a time... oops), I quite enjoy the game.  One of the things that I find most exciting is being able to create and customize my own sims.  I get to make my own original story characters and bring them to life, make some of my favorite TV show characters, and I also get to make some of my favorite celebrities. And of course I made ABBA.

While I can't say they're perfect and look 100% like them, I'd say I did a pretty good job.

 For their casual outfits, Agnetha's is inspired by this outfit from 1973, Bjorn's outfit is inspired by this one from 1975, Frida's by this one from 1976, and for Benny's, I used this outfit from 1977 as reference.

 For their career outfits, I gave them outfits that are inspired by the cat dresses, but of course they're not all that accurate since there isn't much to use among the sims outfits as well as the Custom Content that I have a lot of.

And for their fancy outfits, I gave them these outfits from 1980.  (I know the hair is wrong, but until I get better hair, this is what I have for now.)

And here are some better closeups of their faces.

Did I do a good job recreating ABBA in the Sims 3?  I think I did. :)  Maybe I'll try to get more custom content later to try and get some better hair for them, but I'm still really happy with how they turned out.  Anyways, that's all for now. 

Happy 74th birthday, Bjorn!

Today we celebrate Bjorn Ulvaeus' 74th birthday!  Happy birthday Bjorn! :D  I hope he has an amazing day spent celebrating with his friends and family. :)

For his birthday, I've drawn this digital drawing of him.  I did draw this picture once before in 2013,being one of my first proper realistic drawings, but it didn't really come out all that great, so I was quite happy to do it again in digital.

here's a nice comparison pic for good measure.

And as usual, here is a speedpaint video for you to enjoy. :)

Happy 41st birthday, Peter!

Today Agnetha and Bjorn's son, Peter, turns 41.  Happy birthday! :D

Agnetha and Peter in 1987

A recent photo of Bjorn and Peter :)

ABBA Color Pencil Drawings

Back in February of this year, I had decided that I wanted to test out my new Prismacolor Premiere color pencils that I had gotten in November by drawing some nice portraits of all four ABBA members.  I had a particular photosession in mind and immediately got to work on drawing the first picture which was of Agnetha.  Unfortunately, I was having lots of difficulties, one issue being my color pencils were breaking and splitting lengthwise for some reason (I found out that it was because of my sharpener, btw) and another being the drawing just wasn't turning out right.  I ended up abandoning the drawing for a few months and picked it up again in July.  I ended up making decent progress and ended up finishing the drawing in just a couple of days.  With my new sharpener and a new set of color pencils (because I had worn out the white color pencil that I use for blending - my dad so kindly surprised me and bought a whole new set!!!), I was able to work on the remaining three portraits and just today I finished the last one and scanned them all on. :D

And here they are finally, the four portraits that I've been trying to work on for the past few months:

 Of all the drawings, I think I like the way Frida came out the best, but they're all really good and I'm really proud of myself.  Hopefully the next time I start a project like this it won't take as long to finish, lol.