It was Camera Obscura who helped me love ABBA again.
Like any child of the 80s, I grew up with ABBA as a constant music presence in my life. In third grade I really loved the song “Our Last Summer” repeatedly borrowing my parents’ mixtape that featured the song so I could play it on my own boombox in the privacy of my bedroom. But then I became a teenager in the 90’s, and silliness and joy became things to be scoffed at. ABBA tried too hard, wore ridiculous outfits. They were a band to be mocked. If the songs were to be enjoyed it was only with the shamefully omnipresent caveat: It’s so bad, it’s good.
And so I ignored ABBA as the years went on. I danced occasionally to various songs at bars and parties, and I had my parents’ ABBA Gold album in my collection, but I didn’t have any deep appreciation for the band. I even went to see Mamma Mia the musical in Toronto with my parents and came away with a shrug and a “that was fine.”
It was only when I happened onto Camera Obscura’s cover of “Super Trouper” that things started to change. It seemed absurd to me at first, that this brainy Scottish band who wrote melancholy indie pop songs would cover this flashy song with its over-the-top harmonies and disco beat. But slowed down, with a gentle delivery, the song was pure emotion. And I liked it.
The Camera Obscura cover went on a playlist of songs that my kids listened to while they were falling asleep, so I have now heard it hundreds of times. I still like it. And it translated into an appreciation of the ABBA version as well.
Last summer, after a long, hot day at the beach, my older son and I retreated to the cool of our basement to watch a movie. He likes musicals so I suggested we watch Mamma Mia, which he’d never seen. He loved it, and honestly nothing makes me laugh harder than Pierce Brosnan shout-singing “SOS” so it was a win-win. This led to an avalanche of ABBA love for my son, who re-watched the movie repeatedly with his friends and sang his own version of “Voulez Vous” at a vocal recital.
Which is how we ended up at the singalong Mamma Mia movie showing at The Bytowne Cinema here in Ottawa last night. My friends Kaia and Martha and their kids came too, and we all sat in a clump, kids one row in front of the moms. I’d had a terrible day and honestly wasn’t expecting to have a great time. The movie is gently ridiculous, and I wasn’t sure I was in the right mental space for it. But then the theatre darkened and everyone cheered, then broke into song as the lyrics for “I Have a Dream“ appeared on the screen as the film began. Turns out that watching a musical movie is RADICALLY improved by watching said movie with a theatre full of people who are all singing along. So we sang, and clapped, and whooped, and laughed at Pierce Brosnan (“Stop cackling,” hissed Martha’s teenage daughter over her shoulder during “SOS”). As the credits rolled, everyone stood up and danced to “Waterloo” and “Dancing Queen”. On the way out various groups of friends offered to take each other’s photos.
I left the theatre with a buoyant heart, wondering why I wasted all that time scoffing at joy and silliness in the first place. The grinner takes it all. (Sorry.)
Songs - May 2023
Camera Obscura’s cover of Super Trouper:
Another Camera Obscura cover that gets me in the heart:
And here is some joy for you, if you want to take a chance on it:
Feelings - May 2023
After having a great time at the Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret movie, I picked up a copy (not with this classic cover, sadly) from a local bookstore so I could re-read it and pass it on to my sons to read eventually as well. It really holds up. And comparing it to the movie was fun. I knew the movie extrapolated on the mom character, but it’s neat to read the book and see the tiny bits of information about her that the scriptwriters chose to run with. One key detail from this re-read that I couldn’t wait to share with pretty much every woman my age who read this as a kid: they’ve updated the description of the menstrual products so the pads no longer include belts (belts!). This was an outdated and confounding detail when I read this book in the 80s, so I have no concerns with the original text being slightly altered so as not to horrify a whole new generation of young people about what is to come.
Also a favourite in the past month was Abby Jimenez’s latest, Yours Truly. There’s a trend right now in the romance world for main characters to be up front about their anxiety/depression/mental health and this does this so well with the male main character. Jimenez is always great with character development and in this book she particularly nails the secondary characters, especially the zany families. It’s a very charming, compulsively readable romance and anyone who loved her previous book, Part of Your World will enjoy a few brief overlaps the the characters from that one.
Thanks for reading! See you next month.
J.W.
Instagram : @JenniferWhitefordWrites
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My debut romance novel, MAKE ME A MIXTAPE is coming from Doubleday in 2024.