After bringing a blockbuster hologram version of Abba to a purpose-built venue in east London, Björn Ulvaeus’s next technological exploration is a musical that he’s written with the help of artificial intelligence.
Ulvaeus, 80, told an audience at SXSW London that he was “three-quarters” of the way through writing a new musical which he has created with assistance from AI songwriting tools.
He said the technology had limitations when it comes to songwriting, saying it was “lousy at [writing a whole song]” and “very bad at lyrics” but was helpful whenever he reached a creative impasse.
“You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you’re stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style,” Ulvaeus said.
“You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea.”
The use of AI is a hugely contentious issue in the music industry.
This year, Dua Lipa and Paul McCartney were among hundreds of artists who signed an open letter urging the prime minister to protect artists’ copyright and not “give our work away” to big tech.
Ulvaeus said he believes AI is a collaborator rather than a creative threat.
“It’s fantastic. It is such a great tool,” he added. “It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame. It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn’t think of before.”
The new musical is far from Ulvaeus’s first flirtation with technology.
Abba Voyage, the concert which launched three years ago in a purpose-built arena featuring digital avatars of the band members, has been a huge success and was described as a “dazzling retro-futurist extravaganza” by the Guardian.
It was a risky venture as Pophouse Entertainment, the company behind the project needed to bring in £140m in order to break even.
He told the audience at SXSW London that he embraced experimental approaches to songwriting and studio technology much earlier in his career.
This experimental approach is characteristic of Ulvaeus’s career-long fascination with technological innovation.
During his time in Abba, he – along with bandmate Benny Andersson – “always wanted the latest thing”, and were among the first to use the Minimoog synthesiser and to use digital recording machines in their studio.
“We were always on the lookout for, you know, you would hear a sound on the record. How was that done? And then you get that stuff,” said.
The Abba songwriter told the audience that he sees AI as the latest evolution in his career rather than a threat, which is how it is perceived by many.
“I actually wake up curious every morning,” Ulvaeus said, explaining the drive that has kept him creating decades after Abba’s peak. “Everything’s really after our wanting to try new things.”
