Why Did Agnetha Fail So Miserably Whilst Frida Succeeded?

Agnetha had a better voice and was the lead singer in most songs. Even Frida' s husbsnd wanted Agnetha to sing his songs which made Frida jealous. But she retired early bexause she had some mental health issues, social phobia etc. And she was the more beautiful one for me.

Frida’s song was a top ten because the bald troll Phil Collins was HUGE at the time. He was on the track drumming away. Collins’ drumming was the coke head tom toms of the 80’s. This fucking song played endlessly in MTV.

*on MTV

PS- I think he produced the song. He was HALF of the promotion of the song. Thank Phil.

Probably because DJs and VJs could pronounce "Frida" easily, while "Agnetha Falts-whatever" was a challenge and a chore. Easier to just not play it at all.

Frida always looked so miserable, standing to the side, silent, while Agnetha sings "Winner Takes it All"

Because the rest of the world thought, correctly, that "I Know There's Something Going On" was really the better song.

r6

No, "Can't Shake Loose" was miles better

You dumbasses are looking at US charts. Try Sweden and Europe and you’ll find a whole different story.

Agnetha, my woman crush.

Anni-Frid's expert, multi-octave harmony is what gave ABBA its distinctive piercing vocals.

Who are they? Agnetha wrote mystery stories I think.

I like both songs. Can't Shake Loose was a good song. I Know There's Something Going On was a better song, and Something's Going on was a better record overall than Wrap Your Arms Around Me. Frida's version of To Turn the Stone was terrific, and Threnody, a Dorothy Parker poem set to music was great as well.

Neither one of them were successful as solo artists in the US long term, though, and neither of those singles hit the top 10 in the US, and did even worse in the UK.

This singer dissects the intricate harmonies created by ABBA. Bjorn and Benny couldn't even read music.

I took it all.

Paul McCartney can't read music either. Neither can Dolly Parton. Or Bob Dylan. Or Stevie Wonder.

Fridas song was fantastic. Those drum beats that Collins put down were great.

Can't Shake Loose was the poor man's Physical.

That is pretty amazing, R13, thanks for sharing. It is interesting to me that ABBA was so successful when they really were fumbling their way through a lot of things. I remember reading how they kept pushing the girls to sing higher and higher on Does Your Mother Know until their voices would break, and not long ago I read an interview with Benny, and he was talking about why ABBA didn't use sequencers on their albums, and he admitted that it was because they didn't know how.

Despite their limitations they managed to put together some incredible harmonies, and to this day there are songs where I don't really know who is singing lead, and have to take the internet's word for it because of the way that Agnetha and Frida's voices blended together and wrapped around each other. If it is true that they really didn't like each other, it is hard to tell by the way they sing together.

Benny and Bjorn both have high, clear voices. Not sure why they had the girls do all the singing.

WHILST?

Look who's sitting on a bar stool looking hopefully out the greasy windows for new fantasy meat while daydreaming about ABBA.

Agnetha the better singer?! Anni-Frid is a classically trained singer who could also sing jazz and pop.

Jazzy number for a young Anni-Frid. Vocally hers was a mezzo-soprano while Agnetha’s was between mezzo and soprano with a slightly flatter tone than the former.

[quote]You dumbasses are looking at US charts. Try Sweden and Europe and you’ll find a whole different story.

You only have to sell like five records to be #1 in Sweden

Agnetha's turds were better, too.

Because "I Know There's Something Going On" (besides being a better song) was a far more radical departure from the usual ABBA sound. Keep in mind that ABBA's chart fortunes started to wane by the time "The Visitors" was released, a year before Frida's and Agnetha's solo albums.

I found this live version of Agnetha's duet with someone named Gary Barlow called I Should Have Followed You Home. This was her first public performance in nearly 25 years. I love the audience's reaction when she walks onstage and when she first sings.

[quote]I know the two girls detested each other and that lead to the break up of ABBA.

Complete bullshit

[quote]Even Frida' s husbsnd wanted Agnetha to sing his songs which made Frida jealous.

More bullshit

I Know There's Something Going On had two things Can't Shake Loose didn't: Phil Collins' drums and that earworm guitar riff. It was rockier and had broader appeal. Can't Shake Loose had a similar strong drum line but it just sounded like a generic drum machine. Not uncommon in the 80s but it just didn't stand out among all the other tracks of the time.

Anyway, none of Frida's other solo tracks made much of an impression and she only released two English language solo albums. Agnetha released three in the 80s and two more in the 2000s which had some minor hits in Europe and the remixes did well in dance clubs. So while she didn't achieve Frida's one-hit wonder status she hardly failed miserably.

Wow, look at that little chubby tax dodging Tory midget, Gary Barlow, in R26.

I love this impromptu singalong with Benny. Their music meant so much to so many people.

I love this song.

These isolated vocals demonstrate the harmony of the girls. Agnetha's ethereal higher range and Frida's warmer lower range. I read where Frida's voice is so rich she almost sings 'in stereo'.

Agnetha was more beautiful and had a better voice for pop music. However, she had a slight suburban air she just couldn't shake that is very evident to most Europeans. Meanwhile, Frida had a edgier, urban vibe that is prized and instantly confers a different status and commands more attention.

This was told to me by a European. Also, he studies marketing out here and popular culture and writes about it.

You’re absolutely right R33. Frida looked and sounded (with her rich mezzo soprano) urban and sophisticated. While Agnetha was the wholesome country girl. After ABBA they both continued in their respective path, Frida marrying a HRH and jetting about Europe’s glamorous spots, while Agnetha retreated to her farm on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. I remember an interview of Agnetha for the Swedish TV that’s on YouTube, where she sounds almost offended when asked how frequently she speaks to her friend Frida. She basically replies that Frida and her were colleagues, not friends, and are living 2 very different lives.

"I Know There's Something Going On" is the best thing an ABBA member released after their break up. A well deserved hit.

Compared to Agnetha, Frida was always a bigger risk-taker. I like it.

I know there’s something going on 😩

Frida indeed had the better song:

Frida’s is the voice you immediately hear when you think of an Abba song. Agnetha’s voice was warmer and duskier, but Frida’s was piercing and strident. The harmonies together are priceless but they don’t work as well without the certain something that Frida adds.

[quote] Paul McCartney can't read music either. Neither can Dolly Parton. Or Bob Dylan. Or Stevie Wonder.

I learned something new today. I never would have guessed that Stevie Wonder couldn’t read music!

R22 is right. Frida had the better range, greater technical mastery and musical ability, but her lower tessitura and soft, mellow voice don't lend themselves well to most pop songs, which require a sharper, brighter tone and the ability to consistently belt relatively high - two things that she lacks. Agnetha's tone is exceptionally beautiful and it has a peculiar intensity that gets people's attention, and she could belt quite high when she had a good day (which wasn't that often). Anyway, ABBA songs rarely required the main vocal line to go above E5, and most of the higher notes were harmonized in head voice. If you think about it, nowadays most singers constantly hit F5 and above, so by more contemporary standards their songs weren't very high.

I am not a musical expert, but from what I've been able to gather, Frida's range is B2 - E6, but she was never comfortable belting above B4. Incidentally, the need to cover the C5 - E5 range in full voice is what gave her harmonies that very metallic, slightly reedy quality that was essential to the ABBA sound. As R22 shows, her head voice was gorgeous and she had absolute control over it. In her live performance of En Ledig Dag she goes up to E6 like it's nothing.

Agnetha's range is D3 - D6, but she once screamed an Eb6 during a live performance of the King Kong Song. Her tessitura is higher (she is comfortable belting up to E5, but could very occasionally go up to B5). Her tone around G4 and upwards was very crystalline but remained warm, which was also essential to achieve the ABBA sound. Without either girl, the harmonies wouldn't have been quite as beautiful and the songs wouldn't have had so much of an impact.

The interesting thing is that both voices compliment each other extremely well in every area - Frida's was more powerful up to G4, and it had a velvety, dark quality to it that was complimented by Agnetha's creamy lower and middle range (think about how Agnetha harmonizes below Frida in Fernando, for example). Above G4, Agnetha's voice became stronger and brighter, whereas Frida developed a girlie, metallic quality that greatly complimented Agnetha's own brightness. Together and solo in the context of ABBA, they both shone like very few singers can do it.

Their solo material is very uneven, though. The repetitive Something's Goin On is much better than the very generic Can't Shake Loose, partly due to Phil Collins' great production. The rest of the album is a bit lackluster, although R12 is right and Threnody and To Turn the Stone are gorgeous... Sadly, the rest of songs are rather mediocre and bland. I have always hated Shine and its clunky production, not to mention that Frida's voice isn't well suited to dance music at all. She sounded completely lost on that record, to be honest. As for Djupa Andetag, there are some really interesting numbers in there, but the production is very monotonous and there is a lot of boring filler.

In overall, Agnetha's discography is better and more varied (I Stand Alone is a great album), but her more conventional song choices and production didn't make her stand out enough. Also, My Colouring Book was insanely boring (did we need yet ANOTHER album of standards and hits from the 60s?) and A is a very pretty and enjoyable record, although maybe a bit too ballad heavy. As for her Swedish records, I have never, ever been able to like them - in them, she seems to be competing for the first prize in the Most Boring Music in History competition.

Sorry for the lengthy explanations, but this subject is quite enjoyable.

You have to admit that some of their lyrics were great.

The gods may throw the dice

Their minds as cold as ice

[quote]The repetitive Something's Goin On is much better than the very generic Can't Shake Loose

The repetitiveness makes it suck. I can see how a gay would think that is good but it's not.

R38=Frida.

R40 Thank you for that analysis! ABBA has been my favorite group forever and I love reading stuff like this.

Here's one of the few good cuts from the Shine album. This song is quite lovely and showcases Frida's middle range rather well - the harmonies sound distinctively ABBA-esque, and show that her voice and Agnetha's were quite similar in the G4 - E5 range.