Dancing Queen
It makes so much sense, it’s a wonder this took so long. An album of ABBA covers by camp queen Cher is a match made in pop-music heaven. The ostensible inspiration for the set was her cameo in *Mamma Mia 2*, where she delivered a faithful rendition of the timeless ballad “Fernando.” But who needs a reason to justify 10 new takes on ABBA’s biggest hits? From the piano vamp of “Dancing Queen” that opens the album, it’s clear nobody is trying to reinvent the wheel here. These tracks, FM radio staples for 40-plus years already, are given a spit shine and updated production values, but they’re otherwise straightforward takes that make clear the producers’ (and the performer’s) reverence for the source material. Only at the end does the formula change: “One of Us,” a heartbreaking standout from the Swedish group’s final album, *The Visitors*, is stripped down to strings and piano, leaving only Cher’s voice to channel all of the emotion from the devastating lyrics.
Of course Cher pulls off the ABBA tribute Dancing Queen. Elsewhere BROCKHAMPTON continues to reveal new shades on Iridescence, and The Joy Formidable’s Aaarth boasts its most off-kilter anthems yet. Plus, we take a look at Chicago indie-rocker Lillie West’s second outing as Lala Lala.
It's no musical masterpiece, but Cher's album of Abba covers is joyously camp – and also surprisingly poignant
Cher turns Seventies classics into modern club bangers on her ABBA tribute album 'Dancing Queen.'
Here We Go Again but it's something sexier: an ABBA covers album by Cher inspired by her role as Ruby in the 2018 film.
Camp - as Susan Sontag put it, in the 1964 essay, On Camp, that’s practically synonymous with her name - is “something of private code, a
For an artist who’s built an entire third act with her own distinct niche in dance music, the album feels surprisingly derivative.
Cher’s voice is the perfect weapon to re-wreak Abba’s emotional devastation, in spite of the cyborg Auto-Tune tendencies