Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus – the pioneering members of Swedish supergroup ABBA – will be joining this week’s X Factor to give the remaining acts some very special mentoring.
That’s because this Saturday contestants will be performing some of the band’s greatest hits, which we’re hoping will include Waterloo, Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All – in fact, ideally the entire ABBA Gold album in full.
While Andersson is set to host a masterclass with the show’s six semi-final acts – Acacia and Aaliyah, Dalton Harris, Scarlett Lee, Brendan Murray, Anthony Russell and Danny Tetley – Björn will be at the studio to watch them perform tracks from the Mamma Mia! movies this weekend.
Benny said: “I am very happy to be hosting a masterclass and hear the last six contestants perform our songs.”
Bjorn added: “I am looking forward to being at The X Factor studio on Saturday night and see how the contestants put their own spin on our songs just as Cher, Meryl Streep, Lily James and the rest of the cast did in the movies.”
In April this year, ABBA announced that they are working on new music for the first time in 35 years.
Posting a statement on the official ABBA Instagram account, the band wrote: “We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”
The quartet is expected to release two new songs – I Still Have Faith In You and Don't Shut Me Down – in early 2019.
The X Factor is on Saturday at 8pm on ITV
