Benny Andersson says Mamma Mia bosses are playing it safe
As one quarter of Swedish supergroup Abba, he revolutionised pop music in the 1970s, with the band's songs featuring prominently in 2008 smash film Mamma Mia!
But Benny Andersson has slammed plans for the Mamma Mia! sequel, currently filming in Croatia, accusing the producers of 'playing it safe' by 'making a copy' of the original film.
The Waterloo hitmaker, 70, said although he was thrilled by the production, he also would have liked to create something completely different: 'Universal Pictures have a great success with Mamma Mia! The Movie. Then they want to do another one… They want a copy of what they’ve already done. It’s playing it safe…
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Thoughts: Benny Andersson has slammed plans for the Mamma Mia! sequel, currently filming in Croatia, accusing the producers of 'playing it safe' by 'making a copy' of the original film
Iconic: The Waterloo hitmaker, 70, said although he was thrilled by the production, he also would have liked to create something completely different: 'Universal Pictures have a great success with Mamma Mia! The Movie. Then they want to do another one… They want a copy of what they’ve already done. It’s playing it safe…'
'They just want another Mamma Mia! I don’t mind that. Don’t misunderstand me. I enjoy working with it. It’s a beautiful cast… It’s going to be fun.
'But the reasons for the big companies to do what they do – film companies or record companies – is that they want to play it safe.'
Long after their breakup in 1982, ABBA-mania remains undimmed. Mamma Mia! The Movie,has made more than $600 million worldwide, following a stage hit.
In August, Universal Pictures announced that principal photography had begun on another movie, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Candid: He continued: 'They just want another Mamma Mia! I don’t mind that. Don’t misunderstand me. I enjoy working with it. It’s a beautiful cast… It’s going to be fun. 'But the reasons for the big companies to do what they do – film companies or record companies – is that they want to play it safe'
It has the original cast (Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth), as well as new “additions” (Lily James). Ol Parker directs a story that he has co-written with Catherine Johnson and Richard Curtis, while Andersson and Ulvaeus are executive producers.
Andersson revealed yesterday the sequel will include around 18 ABBA songs that were not in the previous film: 'I’ve been recording them again… I’ve been to London a number of times to record voices and backing vocals. All the actors have to do their bit before they start shooting.'
Blockbuster: The original Mamma Mia! film Long made more than $600 million worldwide, following a stage hit
He founded ABBA with fellow songwriter and guitarist Björn Ulvaeus, and their then respective partners, the singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog.
The group became a pop phenomenon after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. Their extraordinary string of mega-hits includes Mamma Mia, Fernando, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You and Take a Chance on Me.
Although ABBA were a defining force in pop music, selling more than selling more than 380 million albums, but songwriter and keyboard player Andersson doubts that they would find success if they were only starting out today.
Legend: Although ABBA were a defining force in pop music, selling more than selling more than 380 million albums, but songwriter and keyboard player Andersson doubts that they would find success if they were only starting out today
Wow factor: The group became a pop phenomenon after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. Their extraordinary string of mega-hits includes Mamma Mia, Fernando, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You and Take a Chance on Me.
He argues that creativity is now being stifled because music is composed 'by committee', resulting in unmemorable songs topping the charts.
Asked whether, in today’s industry, ABBA might not have found success, he said: 'Yes, very possible. We were lucky to be in the 70s.'
While he has always composed at the keyboard, valuing the freedom to 'make mistakes', he questions today’s approach: 'Music is now created by committee in a way. One guy’s doing a nice rhythm track, another one is doing a bass line, a third one is doing some nice synthesiser sounds...
'And the last thing that happens is that someone is trying to write a melody on top of whatever is on there. That means that the music has no sender, you know. Return to sender.'
Asked about today’s pop songs, he added: 'There’s not much to remember. They have other ingredients nowadays. I don’t really get it. I can appreciate a good recording, a good groove, great sounds, good rapping, good lyrics, but I don’t know where the songs themselves are any more.
Honest: He argues that creativity is now being stifled because music is composed 'by committee', resulting in unmemorable songs topping the charts
Pop supergroup: He founded ABBA with fellow songwriter and guitarist Björn Ulvaeus, and their then respective partners, the singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog
'All of a sudden, you hear a good Adele number, you hear Lady Gaga… Katy Perry… Wow, that’s a good recording, that’s a great song. But otherwise, I’m not sure.'
It is hard to ignore the criticisms of a musician with an extraordinary gift for melody.
When Andersson occasionally goes on to Spotify to listen to the British Top Ten, he finds himself struggling to understand their popularity: 'I listen to that and I say, what’s going on here?
'I don’t understand the ingredients. What is it that so many people like that it ends up in the top ten charts?... If I don’t understand it, I can’t really analyse it.'
He exudes modesty, blaming himself instead: 'It’s probably me that’s not really up to it. I think it has to do with age. It’s always been like that. Our parents didn’t like Elvis Presley. They didn’t even like The Beatles to start with. They didn’t get that. We did. So I suppose it’s the same now.'
He spoke to the Daily Mail ahead of releasing a 21-track solo piano album of music that spans his career.
New album: He spoke to the Daily Mail ahead of releasing a 21-track solo piano album of music that spans his career
He likens it to 'playing an autobiography without words'.
Titled ‘Piano’, and released this month by prestigious classical music label Deutsche Grammophon, it includes songs from ABBA and his hit musical Chess, among other solo compositions.
He has reworked ABBA tracks like Thank You For The Music. He said: 'When the music is stripped of all clothes, all the arrangements, all the lyrics, all the voices, and all that’s left is me playing the piano, what comes through is a much greater strain of melancholia than it really has in the recordings…
' I don’t know if it’s the way I play or if it’s the way the music actually was from the beginning.”
He does not generally listen to his old recordings: 'While you’re working on a project, it’s full-time listening to it every minute of the day until it’s finished.
'Once it’s released, it sort of becomes your property not ours…. They don’t belong to me any more.'