The great day has arrived for European music. This Saturday, May 11, the grand final of Eurovision 2024 takes place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö (Sweden), in which 25 countries compete to win. After the performance of all the delegations, the faithful fans of the festival lived a moment full of melancholy with the memory of ABBA’s performance and their Waterloo at the festival in 1974. To celebrate the 50 years of the band’s triumph in this competition, The festival has recreated the band’s performance with Artificial Intelligence.
Some kind of surprise was expected for the celebration of this half century of one of the most outstanding performances in the history of Eurovision, which also coincided with the headquarters in the place of origin of ABBA. However, neither Agnetha Fältskog, nor Björn Ulvaeus, nor Benny Andersson nor Anni-Frid Lyngstad, any of the members of ABBA, physically reappeared in the final. Although they were present in a most peculiar way.
Avoiding this type of meeting, the group had already assured that it would not attend the meeting. The last time the members of the legendary band met was in May 2022, when they presented the band’s latest album, Voyage. The show was starred by their holographic avatars, a method that they have also used on this occasion.
Eurovision broadcast a performance created through Artificial Intelligence, in which the four members of the group reappeared with their real voices. It was their avatars that revived the memories of what the performance was like and what that emblematic victory meant. Those who were present were the trio of former Eurovision champions, the Swedes Carola and Charlotte Perrelli and the Austrian Conchita Wurst, who accompanied the performance with their voices.
The performance generated a large number of reactions on social networks. “I really don’t know how to feel regarding these ABBA avatars,” reads a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Playing with the feelings that ABBA came out with,” said another Internet user. “What a horrible thing they have done with AI to represent ABBA,” expressed another Internet user. Without a doubt, this technology-laden performance has been one of the most talked regarding and emotional moments of the night.
