Friday, February 9, 2001
A*Teens to unleash new album
The A*Teens made their mark doing updated versions of ABBA classics, but now the Swedish foursome is trying something new.
Calling from Stockholm, A*Teen singer Marie Serneholt sounds like she's more than ready to say goodbye to ABBA with their new album, "Teen Spirit" (out Feb. 27).
"I hope our fans are not sad or upset that we're not doing ABBA covers anymore," says Marie. "We really love this album, and we're really happy with how it turned out and we've been doing a lot of work on it and we hope our fans will like it, too. Also, we hope people who haven't really liked A*Teens will give it a chance."
Marie and her group mates -- Amit Paul, Dhani Lennevald and Sara Lumholdt -- have been singing ABBA covers for two years. Their last album, "ABBA Generation", featured covers of songs such as "Mamma Mia" and "Dancing Queen", and although it was a big hit in South America and in Sweden, the group didn't quite crack into the North American pop market.
Marie hopes the new music -- which features some classic European pop songs like the single "Bouncing Off The Ceiling (UpSide Down)" as well as some R&B influenced songs and a few slow-tempo pop ballads -- will attract attention in North America. The young singer is also counting on promotional appearances and performances to spark A*Teen interest.
"I think the best thing is to be there and show yourself, doing appearances all the time," she says. "Performance is the thing that affects people the most."
The A*Teens are currently working on perfecting their performance for a big show in Madrid, where they will showcase their new songs.
"I'm tired," laughs Marie. "These last two weeks have been really intensive. We had one week just choreography, learning new choreography for the songs, and then we had like four to five days just rehearsing the songs. Then we put the show together with singing and dancing at the same time. We're working day and night to get the show together. Now we have to remember everything."
The A*Teens have a wide range of performance experience. They've toured with Britney Spears and have seen first-hand the "hysterical" crowds at the *Nsync shows during a five-date tour with the boy band.
They've also witnessed wild crowds in Chile that weren't screaming for *Nsync but for the A*Teens themselves. "You really feel like you're a pop star there," says Marie.
Meanwhile, public appearances at home in Sweden will generate excited whispers and interested glances from their fans.
Marie thinks the A*Teens will invade the North American pop scene this spring. For now, she and her bandmates will continue to practise and dream of possible future performances with music stars like *Nsync and Michael Jackson.
|
