"Waiting for Magic" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group Ace of Base from their debut album, ''

Happy Nation ''Happy Nation'' is the debut studio album by Swedish pop group Ace of Base. It was initially released in Denmark on 2 November 1992 by Mega Records. During development of the record, the group was heavily influenced by a Jamaican reggae ban ...

'' (1992). It was released in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

in April 1993 as the fourth single from the album. The song reached number one in Israel, and the top-10 in both Denmark and Finland. The original version of the song appears only on the original release of ''Happy Nation''. On the album's re-release and '' The Sign'' (1993), it was replaced with its remix. No

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was produced for "Waiting for Magic", but it was promoted through a number of live performances, including one at the

Miss Universe Denmark Miss Denmark () is a national Beauty pageant in Denmark. The pageant was founded in 1926, where the winners were sent to Miss Universe and other titleholders to Miss World, Miss International and Miss Supranational. Organization The Miss D ...

pageant.

Lyrics

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

is used as an allegory in this song for waiting for "the prince" to come ("Kiss me baby, I am Snow White sleeping in my coffin waiting for you").

Critical reception

Chuck Eddy Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an American music journalist. Life and career Chuck Eddy was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with ''The Village Voice'' and ''Creem'', where he published one of the first nati ...

from ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' said that the song "is sung by a

sleeping beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

waiting "in a coffin" to be kissed and awakened". Kim Såtvedt from Norwegian newspaper '' Laagendalsposten'' stated that it "has something of the magic" that "

All That She Wants "All That She Wants" is a song by Swedish group Ace of Base. It was released in Scandinavia in 1992 as the second single from their first studio album, ''Happy Nation'' (1992), and in the following year, it was released as the first single from ...

" "holds". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote that here, "the Swedish chartbusters drop the conventional

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

beat in favour of a more modern

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

cadence. The sing-along factor has remained intact though." Wendi Cermak from ''The Network Forty'' described the song as "dance-oriented and radio-friendly". Scandipop called it a "gem" in their retrospective review of ''

''. A reviewer from Sputnikmusic noted "an upbeat piano identifying the chord progression that then moves to follow a catchy ascending vocal melody", and concluded that Ace of Base "clearly chose to put some effort into this one."

Track listing

* Sweden Maxi-CD #"Waiting for Magic" (Radio Version) – 3:31 #"Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 12") – 6:34 #"Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7") – 3:51 #"Waiting for Magic" (Album Version) – 5:14

Personnel

* Vocals by Linn Berggren, Jenny Berggren, Jonas Berggren, and Ulf Ekberg * Written by Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg * Produced by Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg * Total Remix by Ulf Ekberg and Stonestream * Recorded at Tuff Studios

Charts

References

1992 songs 1993 singles Ace of Base songs English-language Swedish songs Eurodance songs Number-one singles in Israel Songs written by Jonas Berggren Songs written by Ulf Ekberg Mega Records singles {{1990s-Sweden-single-stub