Main Pop Girl

39 years after the release of their last album, ABBA are set to reunite this week to announce a new hologram-led tour and the release of their first new music in decades. The supergroup has launched social media profiles for their new project entitled ABBA Voyage, which fans presume will be the name of their new tour. First announced five years ago, the tour won't feature the group members themselves who are all in their 70s, but life-like holograms known as "abbatars" who will replicate the band's appearance from their heyday. Set to launch by spring of 2019, the tour has been delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic but is currently scheduled to take off in 2022. Along with a tour, the group have also reunited in the studio to record new music. In 2018, the foursome announced that they had recorded two new songs together entitled 'I Still Have Faith In You' and 'Don't Shut Me Down'. Since then, however, the band has continued to create new music together, with Benny Andersson confirming the existence of a third song in 2019 and Björn Ulvaeus stating in 2020 that the group had written eight new songs together with five of them being recorded so far. At least one of the songs will be released as a single, with Ulvaeus stating in 2020 that a music video costing £15 million has been produced for the track staring the abbatars. Some of the tracks will also feature in a TV special entitled ABBA: Thank You for the Music, An All-Star Tribute, which fans anticipate to be released alongside the new music. With the ABBA Voyage social media accounts teasing an announcement for 2 September, fans won't have long to wait until all becomes apparent.

Formerly one fourth of the most successful girl group of the 2010s, Jesy Nelson made waves last year when she announced her official departure from Little Mix due to mental health reasons. Now, she's opening up about her reasoning behind leaving the group in her first big push as a solo artist with The Guardian - and it sounds like the decision wasn't entirely hers. Speaking about whether her mental health issues made it tough for the other girls over the years, Nelson said, "Of course. Course. We’ve all had our own problems. But it’s never nice to be around someone who’s down and doesn’t want to be there. As much as I needed to come out of it for myself, I didn’t want to keep putting three other people through that as well." And when asked specifically about the lead-up to her ultimate departure, Nelson went into even more detail: But although times may have been difficult between her and the other three girls, Nelson is confident that the group will have continued success without her. “I reckon they’ll look after their babies, go off and do their own things for a while, then make a comeback together. I think they’re just as sick as a three. They’re still doing it for girl power. I still love them to pieces. They were like my sisters.” Long-lost sisters, perhaps. When asked if she still keeps in touch with the girls still performing as Little Mix, Nelson responded in the negative. “No, not as much. Not now. I think we all need time. It’s a big thing that’s happened. What I’ve said about a million times is that I never said I’m coming out of the band to never be in the public eye again. I said I’m coming out of Little Mix because I could not deal with the pressure of being in a girl band, not that I can’t deal with the pressures of being in the spotlight or being famous.” Time will tell how her solo career turns out.