ABBA fans got some tangentially-related good news last month, when word came that a Muriel’s Wedding musical—which would almost certainly abound with the Swedish pop group’s tunes—was underway. This, after the quartet comprising Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad briefly reunited to celebrate its 50th anniversary back in June. At the time, it seemed the only thing that would bring ABBA back together again was another anniversary—even a rumored billion-dollar offer for a reunion tour did little to tempt them to reunite. Now it looks like the wonders of technology are nudging them along the way, as the group’s just announced a joint venture with American Idol creator Simon Fuller and Universal Music Group (its longtime label) for “an original entertainment experience.”
Details are currently scarce, but the forthcoming experience will involve virtual reality, as Fuller’s been busy “developing hyper-realistic digital humans in the field of entertainment” in his other, non-televised-talent-search work. In a press release, Fuller said “We are exploring a new technological world, with Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence at the forefront, that will allow us to create new forms of entertainment and content we couldn’t have previously imagined.” (Well, at least it’s not holograms.) Still, it’s a promising development, we suppose, especially for people who always wanted to find themselves in an ABBA video.