Is Mamma Mia! changing the meaning of ABBA?

You all knew another Mamma Mia! rant post was bound to happen soon, didn't you. ;)

 If you all noticed, I haven't actually said anything on the new Mamma Mia! movie since the day the trailer was announced a year ago. The reason being that I've been trying to ignore it's existence and pretend it doesn't exist.  :)  When the "When I Kissed The Teacher" video came out, I was really upset on the lyric changes (like I always am, lol) and decided I was just not going to post about it or complain about it because there's no point.  Now that the move has been released for a bit now and the soundtrack is available, I thought now I would be able to post about it.

With the release of the movie, I have been seeing Mamma Mia! everywhere.  I've been hearing ads for it on the radio (where they pronounce ABBA wrong, hehehe), I've been seeing people talk about it all over my tumblr and instagram feeds, and it's honestly making me annoyed.  I'm not annoyed at everyone enjoying the movie, people can enjoy it - no complaints there.  I'm annoyed at the fact that people are going to hear ABBA's songs and the first thing that'll come to mind is Mamma Mia!.  I know that sentence seems a little harsh, and no I don't mean that when they hear the songs that were featured in the movie, they think of the scene from the movie and whatever.  (Apologies if I'm rambling, I am trying to get a point across without knowing the right words to use, lol.)   I don't like that ABBA has basically become synonymous with Mamma Mia!.

I saw this post on tumblr a few weeks ago? (can't remember exactly when - I've been on and off tumblr lately, mostly off) and it made me really confused.

"ABBA goes so hard in so many different ways like they really have a song for every situation.. breaking up? getting married? defeating the french? Finding out you have not one but three possible fathers??? Really they covered everything"

I'm not trying to shame the original poster in any way at all BTW, I'm just using this as an example.

ABBA fans should know that ABBA's songs really aren't associated with the Mamma Mia! story line at all, it's just that the songs are being sang by these random Mamma Mia! characters (I can't believe they live in a world where ABBA doesn't exist... Those poor humans, lol) and some of the songs have their lyrics changed to fit the plot better.  I hate that they have to change the lyrics.  Why not try to find a song with more fitting lyrics or B&B can write new music??  Anyways, I digress.

When the tracklist for the soundtrack was announced, I will admit, I was a little hopeful that some of my favorite ABBA songs, the "unpopular" ones, would start getting recognized.  Songs like "I've Been Waiting For You" and "Kisses Of Fire", those songs have always been among my top favorites with "Tropical Loveland" being my all time favorite song, and though people are hearing of them now, I realize, yes, people are "hearing" the songs, but most of them now have new meanings and scenarios and lyrics, they aren't really hearing the masterpieces that the songs originally were.  People won't hear Agnetha and Frida's incredible harmonies or Bjorn and Benny's incredible songwriting.

This brings me onto another thing I wanted to mention.  When I think of ABBA, the first thing that comes to mind is the amazing harmonies of Agnetha and Frida's voices, the unique, magical sound that the two voices combined as well as alone make, as well Bjorn and Benny's backup vocals that add that additional touch to the songs.  I also think of the instruments, Benny's iconic synthesizer that is heard in so many of their songs, the melodies, and incredible songwriting talents that Bjorn and Benny have to tell such incredible stories with their songs.  When you hear the Mamma Mia! versions, you're not getting any of that.  Yeah, on some songs you're getting the original lyrics, but you don't get harmonies, that magical voices, the iconic instruments.  When I've listened to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, I've always found the backup vocals to sound atrocious, they don't even sound like they're trying.  (This is just my opinion, btw.)  As I've mentioned in previous posts, these are all actors, not singers.  Yes some of them can sing, I know that Lily James can, I watched the live action Cinderella movie and she does have a lovely voice, and Amanda Seyfried can sing too, (Cher is a singer but honestly I don't like her voice and I think her album of ABBA covers that she's doing sounds horrible, but that's for another time, lol) but most of the other people in the movie can't sing. They can act, sure, but they can't sing.

Also when watching some of the interview clips of the Mamma Mia! actors that they've done when promoting the movie, I noticed that they say a lot something along the lines of (this is not a direct quote - this is written from memory) "yeah I'm a big fan of Mamma Mia... I'm a big ABBA fan." and  while there can be fans of Mamma Mia! and ABBA at the same time (a lot of fans have become ABBA fans because of Mamma Mia! - that's not how I found ABBA BTW lol), but I just wanted to point out that being a fan of Mamma Mia! and a fan of ABBA are two separate things, not the same, since Mamma Mia! and ABBA are different things.

Basically to sum it all up, I'm not liking that ABBA and Mamma Mia! are getting merged together nowadays.  They're different - ABBA is band from the 70s and 80s, two Swedish couples who were together and broke up, while Mamma Mia! is a musical about a girl who doesn't know who her father is because her mom was messing around (probably not the right word, I just want to keep my blog clean :3 ) and they like to break out into song.  Two different things.  :)

Anyways, that was a long post and my fingers hurt from all that typing, so I'll just end this here.  Before I go, I do want to share these two videos I made that were requested by an awesome follower, ManhattanMan.  :)

Why I don't like Mamma Mia!

With the release of the new Mamma Mia! 2 trailer, the anticipation for the movie has grown quite a bit and as someone who dislikes the musical in a whole, and even more so the movie, I can't say I'm too happy about it.  I've gotten a few comments from people telling me that I shouldn't hate on Mamma Mia!, but I do and I have my reasons to hate it.  I figure it's time I list my reasons for disliking Mamma Mia! again so that everyone knows.

1. As someone who is very against changing the ABBA songs in anyway (I'm always looking for accuracy in everything, like the way tribute bands sing the songs as well as how accurate their costumes are, but you all know how I feel about that!), I was quite upset when I learned that in Mamma Mia! the musical, they changed the lyrics to a lot of the songs.  For example, in the song I Do x 5, they say "Say I do" instead of "I love you" and that just gets on my nerves.  Also in Mamma Mia, they sing "I was cheated by you and I think you know when" instead of "I've been cheated by you since I don't know when."  And then there's Under Attack from the musical not the movie, where they changed several verses.  Basically I am very against changing the lyrics, and I could be wrong, but I may have read/watched an interview where Bjorn said that he wasn't happy that they changed the lyrics. :)

2. The whole plot of the musical is really weird.  It's about a woman who had multiple incidents with men one after the other and so the girl doesn't know who her real father is because of that.  Yes, the whole thing about Sophie wanting to invite her father to her wedding and so she invites all three of them is pretty sweet, I will admit that, but it shows that Donna is a really weird woman.  Maybe in the sequel they're going to try and justify her acts, but still.

3. In Mamma Mia! the movie, I am absolutely horrified by how untalented a lot of the people they chose are at singing.  Pierce Brosnan's singing is atrocious, Meryl Streep can't sing a steady note, and everyone sounds like they have autotune there to help them out.  I understand, they're no Agnetha and Frida, but they couldn't at least chosen some people who can actually sing.  I'm sure the actors in the film are good at acting, since that is what they are, but they're not singers.

4. From what I can tell since I have not (and probably will not) watched Mamma Mia! the musical or the movie, Donna and the Dynamos perform a lot of their hit songs that presumable they wrote.  Um, why can't it be that they're just performing ABBA's hit songs?  Why can't they just be really big ABBA fans who like to break into ABBA songs at random moments as they plan for Sophie's wedding?  :P  I hardly believe that Donna and her friends are capable of writing songs like Super Trouper and Dancing Queen.  But since I haven't watched it, there's a chance I'm wrong about this and that they really are just big ABBA fans who performed their hit songs in their band.

5. The costumes.  I have no idea what these costumes are supposed to be, since I am pretty sure that people in the 70s did not dress this outrageous.  Sure there are some outrageous costumes from that time period, but this is 100 times crazier.  Compare them to Agnetha and Frida's outfits from 1974-75.  Agnetha and Frida's outfits were pretty interesting for the time, with satin capes with floofy stuff on the edges, a paneled skater skirt, layers of gathered frills at the bottom of the jumpsuit, and knee high boots, but notice how simple the colors are and how normal they look compared to the Mamma Mia! costumes.

 I also don't like how when you look for ABBA costumes, you're ultimately going to find Mamma Mia! costumes among the results, and these costumes are definitely not ABBA costumes.  Maybe they're inspired slightly, but they are so exaggerated, they are 100% not ABBA costumes.

I understand that Mamma Mia! introduced ABBA to a lot of people and helped grow ABBA's fan base quite a bit in modern times, and I know a lot of people who only became ABBA fans because of Mamma Mia!, but not all ABBA fans have to be fans of Mamma Mia! and are absolutely allowed to dislike it, just like myself.  So please don't go telling me that I shouldn't hate Mamma Mia!, because I do and these reasons are exactly why.

Happy Birthday, Meryl Streep.

  I'd like to wish Meryl Streep a very happy birthday.  I personally hate and can't stand her role in Mamma Mia! the movie and especially HATE her singing voice (Sorry, I'm a negative person when it comes to Mamma Mia!), so that's not why I'm wishing her a happy birthday.  I'm wishing her a happy birthday because of her excellent role in "A Series of Unfortunate Events".  So happy birthday!!!  :D

"Mamma Mia!" - A Disgrace to ABBA Music

  A few minutes ago, I was listening to samples of the Mamma Mia! Movie soundtrack, and I have to say, it is a disgrace to ABBA music.  I never liked Mamma Mia!, and this is one of the reasons why.  These people aren't ABBA, so there's no point in listening to these people ruin ABBA's songs.  If you want to hear ABBA's music, by yourself one of ABBA's albums, and that's all you need.  :)

  If you want to hear these awful, despicable, and disgusting versions of ABBA's songs, listen to them here.

Spot the four ABBA Members!

See if you can find the four ABBA Members in this picture from the Mamma Mia Premier in 2008.  :P

BTW, this is my 200th post.  :D