"Don't Shut Me Down" is a song by Swedish pop music group

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...

. It was released as a single on 2 September 2021 as a dual single alongside " I Still Have Faith in You". Both songs are from the band's ninth studio album and its first in 40 years, ''

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''.

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse Fältskog (born 5 April 1950), known as Agnetha Fältskog (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and musician. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 self-titled debut album. She later achieved internatio ...

performs lead vocals. It became the first ABBA release to top the Swedish singles chart since "

Summer Night City "Summer Night City" is a song recorded by the Swedish pop group ABBA, written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as a tribute to their hometown of Stockholm. It is the group's second non-album single, released on 6 September 1978. It was rec ...

" in 1978. The song incorporates three key changes.

Lyric video

ABBA released a lyric video on

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of "Don't Shut Me Down" to accompany the release. It was directed by Mike Anderson of the production company Able. The lyric video gained 1.4 million views in 24 hours following its release, placing in the top three of YouTube's trending rankings in 12 countries, including the UK.

Reception

"Don't Shut Me Down" became a comeback single for ABBA, charting in the top ten in eleven countries and reaching number one in Sweden and Switzerland, as well as the

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chart. The song received widely positive reviews from music critics. Kate Mossman of the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'' wrote: "Its opening has a West End feel, like ''

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''s tentative address to the masses, but then it whizzes with a ' Dancing Queen' mirrorball glissando into squelchy

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disco, giving the impression it's going to be straightforward. But then it mutates, and mutates into something wonderful and strange."

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' was similarly positive, calling the song "a strutting march with gleaming orchestration and scrubbing disco

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, stolid and earnestly tuneful." The song was featured in '' Billboard'' magazine's list of the 100 best songs of 2021.

Charts

Certifications

References

{{ABBA songs 2021 singles 2021 songs Polar Music singles ABBA songs Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus