ABBA’s fans have a unique relationship with their idols: An interview with Shanika Ranasinghe by Elisabeth Andersson (2nd April 2024)
ABBA’s core fans have a strong loyalty to the band and a unique relationship with their idols. This is the opinion of British musicologist Shanika Ranasinghe, who researches the Swedish pop group’s fan base. ‘In my thesis I argue that there is no other band or artist that can be compared to ABBA and that they occupy a unique position in the public consciousness’, says Shanika Ranasinghe, who is active at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is in the final phase of work on her doctoral thesis, which is to be submitted in May. It moves in the field of ethnomusicology, is aimed at members of ABBA’s official and international fan club, and spans from the group’s win in the Eurovision Song Contest in April 1974 until the premiere of ‘ABBA Voyage’ in May 2022.
They are incredibly popular with a wide group of people who use their music in everyday life, for example in karaoke, at wedding receptions, and so on. But for many years the group did not release any new music and Shanika Ranasinghe wanted to investigate why the core fans still continued to have the band as their idols, what relationship they have with it, and what relationship ABBA has with the fans. Her studies on the subject already began when she wrote her bachelor’s thesis as a student at the University of Oxford a year after the premiere of the first Mamma Mia film. She then realised that there was not much research about ABBA. The upcoming dissertation is based on, among other things, several years of fieldwork in communities for ABBA’s core fans, such as Facebook groups. She has also used in-depth interviews and focus groups with fans and key people around ABBA, for example Görel Hanser, who for many years was the band’s personal manager.
‘The core fans have been extremely important to ABBA’s continued success. They continued to be loyal even when it was very unfashionable to like the band. Some were bullied or beaten at school for being ABBA fans’. Fans from the LGBTQI community have also been important. ‘The fans have kept the music alive and paved the way for other ABBA projects’, says Shanika Ranasinghe and takes the Mamma Mia musical and the Mamma Mia films as examples.
Enthusiasm for ABBA has existed for at least fifty years and could easily continue for another fifty years or more. What makes ABBA’s fans unique is their strong loyalty to the group and the level of accessibility they have to the members, she believes. The band members have actively shown great affection for their fans. It happened, for example, when 1,200 members of the fan club were able to book free tickets to the press premiere of ‘ABBA Voyage’. Fans and bands also make an effort to have contact, says Shanika Ranasinghe and takes as an example that many admirers know where Benny Andersson’s studio is and can knock to say hello. ‘If someone from the band is there, they come out and talk to the fans. I’ve never heard of that happening to any other band or artist as famous as ABBA. Maybe it’s a Swedish phenomenon!’.
Shanika Ranasinghe believes the group’s popularity will last for a long time. Her research shows that older fans often introduced the band to the younger generations of the family. ‘The enthusiasm for ABBA has existed for at least fifty years and could easily continue for another fifty years or more’. The 35-year-old researcher herself became attached to the group in the late 1990s. She is a member of the fan club and has seen the band members at events. As the subject is close to her heart, she admits that it is difficult to be completely objective in the research. ‘In my field of music studies, it is generally recognised that no research can ever be completely objective’, says Shanika Ranasinghe, who also feels that there have been advantages for her as a researcher to be an ABBA fan. ‘It definitely helped, both in terms of approaching and becoming part of the community’. The fact that she is a younger and newer fan than most of the people she interviewed has also created a natural distance, she believes. ‘It makes it easier for me to observe and identify certain patterns of thought and behaviour among the core fans’. Shanika Ranasinghe’s thesis is called “‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! a [f]an after midnight’: a Voyage through ABBA fandom”.
Published in Sydsvenskan on 2nd April, 2024, translated from the original Swedish.