ABBA planning to release five tracks next year after reunion gets delayed by coronavirus pandemic

The Swedish group had been scheduled to release two new songs in 2018 as part of their ABBA avatar tour project, which was then delayed. The tracks will be the first new music from ABBA since 1983.

ABBA have since experienced multiple delays, and in April 2019 Björn Ulvaeus said they planned to release one of the songs in "September or October" last year.

Fast forward to February 2020, and the group's Benny Andersson appeared in a video clip talking about release dates for new ABBA music. Ansdersson said, "They're coming this year. I'm guessing after the summer."

Andersson added, "One shouldn't promise anything, but if I were to decide myself, it would be September. I can't make that decision alone, but that's what we're aiming for."

The Independent reports today (22 July) that the Swedish group have experienced another delay in their reunion - the coronavirus pandemic. The band will return in 2021, and apparently have five new songs planned for release.

Geoff Lloyd, the co-host of Reasons To Be Cheerful podcast said, "I got to spend an hour […] with Björn Ulvaeus from Abba via Zoom. He’s quarantining – he’s got an island in the Stockholm archipelago."

Lloyd adds, "They’ve recorded five new songs. They should have been out at the end of last year… Because of technical difficulties and the pandemic, it’s delayed things. But he promised me that the new Abba music will be out in 2021."

Ulvaeus said about ABBA's two new tracks in July 2018, "One of them is a pop tune, very danceable. The other is more timeless, more reflective, that is all I will say. It is Nordic sad, but happy at the same time."