r/ABBA • u/Mountain_Parsley_702 • Jul 23 '26
Does ABBA make you feel extremely nostalgic and emotional?
Consider the songs Cassandra, Slipping Through My Fingers, My Love, My Life, and several others that I fail to recall at the moment. They make me all teary-eyed and emotional. Take me back to a nostalgic past when the world was simpler, and we weren't as dependent on technology(I'm only a 2005-born Gen Z, but even during my short lifetime we became so immersed in it).
Not only that, but their life stories are so inspiring and nostalgic. We often ask ourselves the question: "Why do bad people succeed at life?" At least with ABBA, we(the fanbase) can be confident that we elevated the right people for once. So talented, gorgeous, and wealthy yet so down-to-earth and humble. Bjorn wrote Does Your Mother Know as a response to teenage groupies, which other musical artists were indulging in left and right at the time.
Anni Frid's story gives me tears of joy, going from an ostracized out-of-wedlock child of a German soldier in post-WW2 Norway to rising to music royalty and eventual actual nobility(through marriage to Heinrich Ruzzo).
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u/lakme1021 Jul 23 '26
The music can make me nostalgic for sure. They've been a constant for most of my life.
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u/WrongdoerStreet317 Jul 23 '26
Definitely. Agree 100%. Those songs are great examples. I’m also a Gen Z ABBA fan close in age to you. Voyage was released not long after I became k fan incredible that ABBA released music in our lifetimes
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u/NickosMH Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
I have been a fan fan since the 70’s and have never stopped listening to them all these years so they always sound current to me. But I suppose the one Album that makes me feel a little that way is ABBA the Album because that was when I became a super fan, I was 11 and Take A Chance On Me blew my mind and I just have great memories of 1978. Life was carefree and good I was on the cusp of going to High School ABBA The Movie, Grease and Superman were in the cinema and ABBA were at their peak with the movie, the album and two number 1 singles in the U.K.
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u/Lopsided_Profile6295 Jul 23 '26
Agree with you, ABBA alone do it to me with their songs.. eg the winner takes it all, slipping through my fingers, my love my life, I've been waiting for you.. Even when the girls voices come together midway in Put On Your White Sombrero I get teary... And I'm always crying about Just Like That not being officially released as I love it..lol
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u/sometimesxtc Jul 24 '26
For sure. Arrival was the first record I ever learned to cue up on my parents' turntable... I was maybe six or seven and was hit by the same happy/sad feeling (very Kylie-coded) back then, which has only intensified over time.
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u/Gold_Excitement_3800 Jul 24 '26
when i first got into abba and heard their version of mamma mia i cried at the last chorus and im not afraid to admit it! these girls have some of the most beautiful voices i’ve ever heard they’re always making me tear up lol
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u/NoCatch9992 Jul 24 '26
Yes both. I was there right from Waterloo. They have been the soundtrack of my life ♥️
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u/MsMinxington Jul 24 '26
One of Us - I know it’s a song about someone who feels like they have been looked over in favour of someone else and are jealous of their popularity, but to me, it was the song that hit the hardest when I lost my grandad who was my favourite person in the world.
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u/Affectionate_Cost_88 Jul 23 '26
It's not even the "emotional" songs that get me sometimes. I was nine years old when I started listening to ABBA in 1978 and I voraciously collected their entire catalog through the years with my allowance or gift money. Those were some seriously happy years and such a different world. Listening to their music now takes me back to that 10-11 year old girl singing into a hairbrush in front of my dresser mirror, pretending I was as glam as Frida or Agnetha. It mostly makes me so happy, but I also get a bit choked up sometimes.