Well, that was fantastic.
In one of the more outrageous, “not on my Bingo card” early contenders for Best Wildcard Pop Moment of 2024, the A*Teens are officially back, reuniting in honor of their 25th anniversary to perform a brief, perfect medley at Melodifestivalen.
And their reunion went better than one might have ever anticipated.
Given that the foursome have been fully out of the game as a band for over two decades – a handful of solo efforts aside, including Marie Serneholt‘s incredible Enjoy the Ride in 2006 – it would be easy to assume that the co-ed Swedish not-so-teenage troupe would be a bit rusty, to say the least.
And yet, the medley felt entirely joyous and genuinely exciting. That intro! Is there anything better than the drama of a silhouette?
The troupe took on two of their ABBA classic covers: “Mamma Mia” and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” as well as two of their own chart-toppers: “Upside Down” and “Floorfiller,” and they looked like they really hadn’t skipped a beat since 2003’s New Arrival. Original Wade Robson choreography and all!
Dhani Lennevald (who, fun fact, is still doing music production and dating the rising pop queen we know and love around here, Alice Chater) and Amit Paul have evolved into hot daddies. Marie literally looks like she hasn’t stopped promoting as a mega-pop star for a day. And yes, Sara Thee Lumholdt was absolutely killing it up there while very pregnant as an A*Mother-to-be again – reportedly 32 weeks!
But how did we get here in the first place?
Eagle-eyed fans (looking at you, Scandipop) noticed that all four members followed an official @ateens_official account a few weeks ago before the news officially broke that the band would be celebrating their 25th anniversary with a performance at Melodifestivalen, the yearly competition held in Sweden to determine their Eurovision contender.
They held a press conference in the days leading up to the appearance, all looking fantastic, and also sat down for their first-ever Instagram Live as a band.
The group explained that this particular reunion was meant to celebrate the back catalog – presumably vinyl reissues are on the way – with plenty of throwback content to come on their social media accounts. They also showed off the anniversary merch they were wearing briefly, teasing that some might be available for us to own in the near future.
As far as new music is concerned, Marie teased: “Right now, we don’t know. One year ago if you would have asked us…we would have probably said no, but right now, we are gonna celebrate everything we did 25 years ago. But timing will tell, so we should never say never.”
And if there’s a demand (the #ATeensComeToMexico demands entered the chat fairly quickly), they’d be open to hitting the road once again on tour.
Based on the early social media content, the press conference and that Melodifestivalen performance alone, I wouldn’t be surprised if the A*Teens – would they tour as A*Dults at this point? – decided to kicked off a new chapter. And why not? In an era of constant nostalgia swells on TikTok and unpredictable popularity resurgences – “Murder on the Doncefloor,” anyone? – there’s no reason why the A*Teens can’t have a second wind and enjoy a STEPS-like extension of their legacy.
If the reunion’s got you bouncing off the ceiling too, don’t worry – all of their albums are finally on streaming too.
Check out the MuuTunes Spotify playlist. You can also subscribe on Apple Music.
Photo credit: Stina Stjernkvist/SVT
