"Just a Notion" is a song by

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's ...

. It was released on 22 October 2021 as the second single from the quartet's 2021 album ''

Voyage Voyage(s) or The Voyage may refer to: Literature *''Voyage : A Novel of 1896'', Sterling Hayden * ''Voyage'' (novel), a 1996 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter *''The Voyage'', Murray Bail * "The Voyage" (short story), a 1921 story by K ...

'', following the dual lead single "

I Still Have Faith in You "I Still Have Faith in You" is a song by Swedish pop music group ABBA. It was released on 2 September 2021 as a dual single alongside "Don't Shut Me Down" from the band's ninth studio album and first in 40 years, ''Voyage''. Anni-Frid Lyngstad p ...

" and "

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

", released in September 2021. Originally written and produced for the group's 1979 album '' Voulez-Vous'', the song was released over forty-three years later. The recording retains its vocals from 1978 but includes re-recorded instrumentation added much later, during the reunion.

Background and recording

"Just a Notion" was initially recorded in September 1978 during sessions for the album '' Voulez-Vous''. Although progressing beyond the demo stage, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus became unsatisfied with it, deeming it "unmixable" and leaving it unreleased. However, a snippet of a rough mix by ABBA's engineer

Michael B. Tretow Bo Michael Tretow (born 20 August 1944 in Norrköping) is a Swedish record producer and audio engineer, musician and composer, best known for his work with the Swedish pop group ABBA (1970–1982), and with the musical ''Chess''. Tretow exper ...

was ultimately released on the box set ''Thank You for the Music'' in 1994.

Carl Magnus Palm Carl Magnus Palm (born 1965) is a Swedish author and historian, writing in Swedish and English, best known for his work on the Swedish pop group ABBA. ABBA Carl Magnus Palm’s first book on ABBA was ''ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions' ...

has also confirmed that the verse included in the "ABBA Undeleted" medley is the second verse of the song. After ABBA reunited, and despite Andersson and Ulvaeus' prior criticism, "Just a Notion" was revisited for the reunion album ''

''. Benny Andersson recorded a new backing track with drums and guitars for the ''Voyage'' version, but it retains the vocals from the original 1978 version. "Just a Notion" was released as a single on 22 October 2021, before the November 5th release of ''Voyage''. Prior to the full release of ABBA’s partial re-recording, a complete version was recorded by cover band Arrival, which occasionally featured original ABBA bass player

Rutger Gunnarsson Johan Rutger Gunnarsson (12 February 1946 – 30 April 2015) was a Swedish musician, bass guitarist, guitarist, arranger and producer. He was closely associated with the pop group ABBA. Career Gunnarsson grew up in Ledberg parish. His career began ...

as a special guest, and was included on their 1999 album ''First Flight''. While the full version of the song had not yet been released, it still featured the same lyrics as ABBA's original, even though much of the song remained unheard and unreleased at that point.

Lyric video

ABBA released a lyric video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

for "Just a Notion" to accompany its release. The video is directed by Mike Anderson and produced by Nick Barratt of the production company Able. The video received 583,000 views in its first 24 hours on YouTube. A brief teaser video on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

earned over a million views in its first few days.

Critical reception

Emily Zemler of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' calls "Just a Notion" "buoyant" and a "hopeful, upbeat song." Devon Ivie of ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' writes that the song is "a ridiculously happy romp that finds Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid harmonizing about the joys of flirting while a power piano noodles in the background."

Charts

Release history

References

{{ABBA songs 2021 singles ABBA songs Polar Music singles Songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus 1978 songs