Ring Ring?

 Look, I made a new set of costumes for my dolls! :D As usual, a more detailed post is up on my sewing blog, but here they are for you to see. :)  These outfits were frustrating, complicated, and difficult in some ways to make, mostly because of all the glue I used, lol, but I think they turned out pretty decent.

Happy 12th birthday, Bjorn Uldollus

 Today marks 12 years since I put in the finishing stitches of my Bjorn doll.  Happy 12 birthday lol. 

 

 (And yes I am actively working on a new set of costumes...)

A+

 Today, Agnetha's new album of reworked tracks from A, originally released 10 years ago in 2013, released!  This project has been met with a lot of feedback from fans, both negative and positive, and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts as well.  I should mention, as an obsessed ABBA fan, I tend to immediately love anything the ABBA members do or release (with the exception of Mamma Mia! the Movie/Musical, hehehehehehhe), but I listened to this album with as much of an open mind as possible.

I think the hardest part for me was trying to forget about the original versions of the tracks when listening to A+.  I love A with my whole heart, as I've mentioned in my previous post, the album is very special to me and I love that album so much.  So trying to forget about the music style of those tracks while listening to A+ is an extremely difficult feat.  On my first listen, I found myself leaning more towards disliking some of the creative decisions in some of the tracks, mainly I Should Have Followed You Home (A+) and When You Really Loved Someone (A+), however after listening to the album a few more times, specifically with headphones on, it becomes a whole new experience.  

The album sounds very digital to me, if that makes sense.  Like the instruments all sound computerized and synthesized, which in my opinion, makes it sound a little flat.  However, I've found that in general, this album is very laid back and chill when compared to A, and when listening with headphones, I've learned to appreciate the more modern chopped vocal style and auto-tuned vocals.  On the topic of auto-tune, I understand that it was added on to a lot of the vocals as a style choice, not necessarily because they're trying to perfect her vocals, and perhaps they went a little heavy on the auto-tune, specifically on Perfume In The Breeze (A+), but it's not the worst.  The sped up tempo of the vocals on I Was A Flower (A+) is quite noticeable to me, but I actually really enjoy this version. 

For me, the real highlight on the album is Back On Your Radio (A+). From my understanding, it was the first track they reworked, and they did a FANTASTIC job.  Also Janne Schaffer's added guitar to Past Forever (A+) is AMAZING.  I enjoy the added saxophone on Bubble (A+) and whistling on I Keep Them On The Floor Beside My Bed (A+).  And of course, I absolutely LOVE Where Do We Go From Here.  I've listened to that song almost every day since it came out, and Agnetha's harmonies and voice are so beautiful on that track.  I also like that on a lot of the tracks, Agnetha's vocals are very prominent and clear, very front and center. 

All in all, the album feels modern and very digital, and I think it's good.  It took some getting used to, and trying to ignore the A versions that I know and love from my mind while listening was tricky, but ultimately, I like this album.  Thank you Agnetha and Jorgen for this new album, and I can't wait for my CD and T-shirt to arrive from the webstore. :')

Where do we go from here?

Back in 2013, I was entering my third year of being an obsessed ABBA fan. I had experienced a lot of shame and negativity from people who were disappointed at me for my obsession, but I had never let it stop me. I was probably in my ABBA peak at that time, drawing ABBA constantly, making animations to their songs, LEARNING TO MAKE THEIR CLOTHES FOR MY ABBA DOLLS, like, I was obsessed! (Still am, of course haha).

I had never once thought that any of the ABBA members would release new music in my lifetime. Okay, Frida released a song now and then, Benny was active with his band, and Agnetha had released a whole album in 2004, but I was 3 then lol and by the time I had discovered ABBA, things were fairly quiet.

So when A was announced, a whole new album from Agnetha Fältskog, I was HYPED! i was so excited the moment the album was announced, and then when it came out, I listened to it so much, often on repeat. All the promotion for the album, interviews and even a performance at BBC's Children in Need! I was so happy.

A holds a special place in my heart, and now with the album celebrating 10 years with a new, reimagined version, whatever that means, I am feeling that same thrill that 12-year-old me had. I'm just so excited.

I like the new song a lot. It's very upbeat and happy sounding, it feels very modern. Agnetha's voice is amazing. Regardless of how I feel about auto-tuning in songs, I fully accept that it's a tool that every artist uses nowadays to aim for the most perfect and crisp vocal out there. So if there is auto-tune on this track, I do not care. The fact that she's releasing new music makes me happy and I feel honored to have been able to experience new music from ABBA and Agnetha these last couple of years. :')

(Also I meant to post something about when this song was first announced last week and my thoughts, but I have been SUFFERING from getting my wisdom teeth removed and had just vomitted a ton when I first saw the announcement.... Yeah... it's been tough.  I seem to be on the tail end of things though, so hopefully no more of this PAIN soon enough. :) )

Collection update

Hi, long time no post. :3  

Apologies for being so MIA.  The last few months since my beautiful bird Skyler passed away have been pretty hard, but I'm starting to feel better. I have sorta been active on my YouTube Channel, and if you've seen my videos there you'll know that I recently adopted two beautiful budgie boys, Mordecai and Darius.  They're super cute and definitely bring a lot of joy to my life.

Back in December, I had ordered some stuff from the ABBA the Museum webstore as kind of an early birthday present to myself and had intended on posting about the few things I got, but then Skyler had gotten sick and I just never got around to it... 

Now, just a couple of weeks ago I enjoyed some more retail therapy by ordering some stuff from the ABBA voyage web store, and now that everything's here, I figured it's time to finally get around to posting my collection update. :)

I've also gotten a few other ABBA items not from the official stores, but from Amazon and ebay and the like, so yeah, here are some of my newest items:

To start, here we have the beautiful, new 1-year anniversary ABBA Voyage Programme, aka the main reason for my purchase at the voyage store.  I mostly wanted this book because I want HQ pictures of their outfits so I can recreate them, and this book definitely gives that!  So many stunning photos of the avatars, sometimes it's hard to believe that they aren't even real!!

Okay, I've been wanting this book for over 10 years, back when it was only available from the International ABBA Fan club, and I remember when ABBA the Museum first announced they were selling it with new illustrations, I wanted it so badly.  I now have it. :)

Because I want to turn my entire bedroom wall into an ABBA shrine, I decided to get these postcards from the Museum store, and yes now my room is covered in even more ABBA pictures. :D

I had pre-ordered this book by Carl Magnus Palm as soon as it had been available.  I liked it, it does a pretty nice job of talking about ABBA's legacy.  Idk I felt like there was a bit of an anti-Stikkan Anderson view to the book??  Other than that, I enjoyed it.

I also got this very nice and well written Agnetha biography by Daniel Ward.  I think he did a fabulous job compiling snippets of interviews, and I really felt like I got to know a bit of what the Real Agnetha Faltskog is like, understanding her personality and learning a lot more about her.  I'd give it an 8/10. :)

And I got Agnetha's sort-of autobiography, by her and Brita Ahman.  I like how a lot of it is Agnetha yelling at the press, lol.  It's not the most informative book, she's chosen to not spill any juicy details in her life (which I like btw - I believe that she should have a right as to what she wants publicized about her and what not), but it's pretty good.

I got this beanie from ABBA the Museum's store.  It's nice, though it kind of keeps on falling off my head despite the fact that I have a really small head. xD

Knowing Me Knowing You keyrings from the ABBA voyage store. I like them, I got them to share with my sister, though I honestly can't tell if this is to be used as a frienship keyring or a breakup keyring. xD

ABBA Gold on Gold Vinyl, in honor of ABBA's 30th anniversary!  I didn't need to get this, but I have an obsession with collecting vinyls, so I had to. :)

And last but definitely not least, this ABBA Voyage t-shirt. :) It's super comfortable and soft, and it's nice having yet another way of showing off my love for this band that I've dedicated over half my life to. :)

So yeah, that's pretty much everything.  But before I go, please enjoy this picture of my budgies because I love them so much. :'D  (Darius is on the left, Mordecai on the right.)