A-Teensi.e. the shortened name ABBA-Teens, was created with the inspiration of the Universal Music label. She wanted to check whether she could sell ABBA’s iconic songs again in a slightly new arrangement and with different artists.
So she formed an ideal quartet consisting of: Dhani Lennevald, Sara Lumholdt, Amit Sebastian Paul and Marie Serenholt. Then she styled them appropriately and armed them with the greatest hits of the Swedish legend.
“We were just teenagers who loved to sing and dance,” he said in an interview with Vice Lennevald. Sometimes we couldn’t believe what had happened to us. It was a beautiful moment in our lives,” he said.
The line-up was officially formed in 1998, but 1999 was a breakthrough year for the band. Then, after the release of the first single – a new version of “Mamma Mia” – teenagers in Europe went crazy about the new group.
Fueled by youthful strength, hits from the 70s and the fashion for boy bands A-Teens it quickly became loud. In August 1999, the band’s first album titled “The ABBA Generation” was released and turned out to be a bestseller in 22 countries.
The album – although it did not conquer the United States and Great Britain (in the UK and in the USA, the group’s single songs were rather popular), it was still quite successful. The debut sold over 2 million copies, and hits returned to radio stations “Super Trouper”, “Dancing Queen”, “Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight)”.
Journalists did not like the music experiment of a major label. Rolling Stone magazine called the A-Teens “a group of poseurs unable to rise to the level of the original.”
Getting noticed on ABBA’s songs – having the entire promotional machine – was relatively easy. The stairs started later. In 2001, the group released their first album – “Teen Spirit” – with original material.
This time, producers from Sweden, who are world-famous authors of hits, did not produce anything that would allow the group to break through. The reviewers were again merciless, and the group’s last hit was the number “Upside Down”, heavily inspired by ABBA and teen pop.
The album itself – despite severe criticism – sold a million copies. This result was more than half worse than the first album, but the band continued to operate, enjoyed considerable popularity and gave concerts, among others. With Aaron Carter
“When we went to South America, we went everywhere with a police escort. People were climbing the walls of the hotel. They had to lock down entire levels, and armed security guards were watching us. It was crazy,” Lennevald recalled of the group’s tour of South America.
The next album – “Pop ’til You Drop!” turned out to be a commercial disaster worldwide. and its subsequent reissue “New Arrival”. Sales reached an unsatisfactory level for the label, and even concerts in Central Europe did not help with promotion.
Ultimately, after the release of the “Greatest Hits” compilation – which was very popular in Sweden (unlike in other countries) – the band announced its discontinuation. Each member of the group was to start a solo career. The young stars, who were no longer teenagers, assured that the end of the group was not related to internal frictions in the lineup, but to the desire to try something new. “We didn’t quarrel, everyone just lives different lives,” said one of the singers.
It quickly turned out that the members A-Teens they are not popular enough to gain recognition with their solo activities. Each singer released one album, which went almost completely unnoticed.
She had the greatest career among the group Marie Serneholtwho, in addition to recording her own material, also tried her hand at… Melodifestivalenand then appeared regularly on television. Dhani Lennevald After the release of the album “Girl Talk”, he left the label and tried his hand at producing (he collaborated with, among others, Mans Zelmerlow).
Sarah Lumholdt She began to achieve greater success in pole dancing than in music, becoming the Swedish champion in 2014, while Amit Sebastian Paul after the failure of his album, he focused on a career in business.
In 2014, there were rumors about the band’s possible return, which ultimately did not happen. The great reactivation took place in 2024, when the A-Teens appeared at Melodifestivalen and gave a guest performance during the Swedish Eurovision qualifying rounds.
The group decided to temporarily return to the stage on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of their debut.