A new ABBA album: how to be adults after divorce

Photo by Andrew Ebrahim on Unsplash

Progressive and heavy rock music dominated my teens. But somewhere in my consciousness was a pop band: ABBA. I remember, for example, reading about their latest concerts in national newspapers, in the Junior Common Room at university.

Of course, I could never admit to liking their songs. That would be terribly uncool.

But I do recall watching a documentary on TV that explained the clever way that their songs were formed, that would appeal to a wide audience.

Or perhaps I was, as a young man, simply attracted by the Swedish beauty of the two ‘As’.

Whatever, I see now that the group have announced their first studio album in (an incredible) 40 years, the lead track of which “is an ode to their friendship and to the bonds that have matured and survived despite divorce and heartbreak.”

This is good. The two women in the group were married to the two men, and both marriages ended in divorce.

But that does not have to mean an end to mutual friendship and respect. Not for the first time, ABBA have a lesson for us all: it is quite possible for former spouses to behave like adults towards one another after divorce.