Smiling Princess Frida

The following is a transcript of a programme, that was taped 2nd December 1996, when Frida visited Finland to perform in a charity-gala and promote her new album Djupa Andetag on the side. Frida is interviewed by Heli Nevakare of Finnish National TV2. The transcript may not be fully accurate due to my short-comings in the Swedish language, but I try my very best.

Images of When All Is Said And Done backed with Älska Mig Alltid on the soundtrack.

HELI: Our guest today is Princess Anni-Frid Lyngstad-Reuss. One can say about her that she's made a comeback, even though she never was away - that's how well we all remember the group, who sold 250 million records worldwide.

Waterloo promo-video full length.

HELI: Welcome to Helsinki.

FRIDA: Thank you.

HELI: May I ask first - How did you end up in showbusiness? How come you chose it... or did it choose you?

FRIDA: I think it chose me. I've been singing as long as I can remember. For example I started to sing with a dance-band when I was 13. There was some kind of a force inside me that pushed me towards music. To live from it and in it has always been very important for me. I think I can say it had chosen me before I even realized. And I'm still on that road.

HELI: Is music your best friend?

FRIDA: Yes, music, one can say, is my best friend. It's been a big part of me always. It's a gift and I depend on it, always have. It's a power inside, showing itself in diverse forms. It's been a good friend in different times in my life.

When All Is Said And Done -video full length.

HELI (insert): Anni-Frid was born in Norway, but soon after her birth she moved to Sweden to live with her grandmother. Her mother followed soon after, but died when Anni-Frid was 2 years old.

HELI: Tonight there's an exciting concert here in Helsinki. What's happening?

FRIDA: It's a charity gala for children's future. And it's about children with cancer. We are trying to raise some extra money, a lot, I hope.

1.500.000 FIM was raised at the gala.

Ögonen from the gala in Svenska Teatern 2nd Dec 1996. A playback performance cut short by the next chatter...

HELI: You have also a trust fund, for enviroment. Can you tell something about that?

FRIDA: Anni-Frid Lyngstads Miljöfund is now 4 years old. We work with children and young people. We set up e.g. camp-schools for children on summertime. We tell them about enviroment and everyday-ecology. Children from big cities cam come to the countryside for a few weeks, a big experience for many of them. And, well, we don't just teach. They can also play, swim and experience adventures. We try to awaken the interest for enviroment in them.

HELI: And how do the children react to a pop-queen from the seventies and from the nineties for that matter.

FRIDA: Well, children today are aware of things. They know about ABBA. It's been around for so long that it's almost an institution. They don't necessarily identify me a Frida of ABBA, I've changed so much since those years. But they know I was with ABBA, so naturally they're curious and ask a lot of questions about all kinds of things of my past career. But when you're with children, it's really they who decide what is talked about. It's interesting to hear how the children feel about the world we live in. I'm comfortable with them, it maybe because I'm so child-like myself.

Head Over Heels -video from the second verse.

HELI: You have recorded a new album. Is it a back-to-roots -album?

FRIDA: Yes, I think it is. At first there was this urge to sing again. Also some of my close friends in the music business have been talking me into it for years. We contemplated on should we do it in English or in Swedish. But I didn't want any big comeback thing. I just wished to have this yearning, I have, in shape of an album. So it was natural to sing in Swedish. I hadn't done anything in Swedish since Frida Ensam in 1975. And that was in the middle of the ABBA period. So I wanted to go back to my roots language-wise. It's been great to sing in Swedish again.

Även en blomma -video full length.

HELI: Are these lyrics easy for you to sing? Även en blomma is about love, yearning, fire, eternity and pain...

FRIDA: Well, it's easier to express oneself in one's mother tongue. English works fine with me, but you have to concentrate on the pronounciation. "Did I do it right", so to get the right feeling, you always multiple takes. When you're using your mother tongue, you can just let the feeling flow right out. You can sort of rest in your own language, strengthening the emotion and the meaning of the lyric.

HELI (insert): The producer is like a father. Comforting when it's rough and praising when it's good. These are the thoughts of Anders Glenmark, Frida's producer.

HELI: Was it easy to work with Anders Glenmark? Did you sing in the darkness, at night?

FRIDA: What do you mean? (laughter)

HELI: The atmosphere on the album is so intensive.

FRIDA: You don't have to record at night. Our collaboration was fantastic from the start. We studied each other in a way. We met several times before the decision if we would record together or not was even made. We wanted to see if we go together, if we share the same ideas on music and other things as well. About the album we were on the lines. I've been very particular about the lyrics. I want to be able to relate to them, I want to sing about things I know, of thing that I've gone through myself.

We've had a very close working relationship. The fax machines between Switzerland and Sweden have been red hot. Anders basically wrote the lyrics to the music he had written earlier. Musically this has been a very intimate project. We've had a loyt of fun and it's been very satisfying. I've also been quite emotional about singing again. I've been so lucky.

HELI: Will we hear these songs live on stage?

FRIDA: It's not impossible, we've had discussions, but nothing has been decided. That too is something I have to feel 100% right about, that it's something I really want to do. You have to have the will to get up on the stage in front of everybody. I have to get used to the idea. It's been a long time since the last tour. So, I'm negotiating it - with myself.

HELI: Do you miss the touring life or are you happy just resting for a while?

FRIDA: I don't miss the travelling, but I do miss the public. And the contact you have in a live situation you can never experience in a studio. To meet the audience face to face is always exciting. The enrgy of it, that's something I long for.

Dancing Queen. The ABBA Gold version.

HELI: You're also a princess. What does your husband think about your career?

FRIDA: Oh, my husband has supported me on this all the way. When this project started developing, we talked about it. We didn't want it to disturb our way of life. He's been behind me 100%. He's an artist soul himself, an architect. He understands that one can not suppress one's creativity.

HELI: You have said that the soul grows. How does it happen and how has your soul grown?

FRIDA: It grows from experience. Yearning to live a real life helps. You have to know how to make use of your talent. The longing to sing grows one's soul and keeps it in constant development. This is all something you have to work for.

Dancing Queen ends.

HELI: How were you able to wear those ABBA shoes?

FRIDA: I think I wore those platform shoes only once. Benny and Björn were using them more often. Perhaps they thought that we girls were too tall and needed to balance the difference... The bottom was high too, not just the heel, so it was easier to stay on your feet. They're back in fashion now.

HELI: Did you think no more, I don't want these.

FRIDA: Well, I don't like those shoes, but the jeans with broad pantlegs and the tight blouses are alright.

So Long -television playback performance (from 1975?), full length.

The closing musical number, it has to be called that, REALLY is something that makes one's jaw drop. The So Long -performance. It has the same set and clothes as the Honey Honey -bit in The Story of ABBA. This is full length version and in the fade out the camera pans the audience, who are just as unbelievably seventies' as ABBA, only in a more every-day -way. Well, there is this one girl in a tight blouse, miniskirt, gorgeous boots and VERY serious shades...

After seeing Frida's hair in this clip, one is forced to admit that the wig Andy Bell has in Erasure's Take A Chance On Me video, is not THAT exaggarated. Frida and Agnetha also show off some choreographical moves, turns and steps that no doubt were thoroughly rehearsed. The song starts with Agnetha wiggling her ass... suddenly reminding me of what Travolta did with his, two years later.