In the scant two years since Sweden's A*Teens got together in October 1998 they have evolved
into one of Europe's biggest teen bands. Their rocket-ship of a rise has seen them receive
several international awards, break sales records around the world, appear on American TV with
Puff Daddy, not to mention touring the USA with pop goliaths *NSYNC and Britney Spears. It's
almost appropriate then, for a group enjoying the mind-boggling rise through the stratosphere
of the pop world, for their new single to be called "Upside Down." For since their debut album
"The ABBA Generation" sold close to 3 million copies worldwide, that indeed is how their world
has been turned.
It all started in May 1999 when it only took one week for A*Teens to break the sales records in
Sweden with their first single "Mamma Mia" which entered the Swedish Sales chart at the top spot.
After three weeks the track had sold 120.000 copies and it eventually went on to become the
best-selling single in Sweden of 1999, after staying at number one for two months.
The debut album "The ABBA Generation", full of high energy renditions of ABBA's pop gems,
followed in August 1999 and it mirrored "Mamma Mia's" success by also entering the Album chart
at number one. The record stayed there for five weeks, and since then the album has gone on to
sell Triple Platinum in Sweden.
A*Teens are Marie Serneholt (18), Amit Paul (18), Sara Lumholdt (17) and Dhani Lennevald (17).
After their conquering of Scandinavia, the band set out to conquer the world. Holland, Belgium,
Spain, Germany and the rest of Europe were completely captivated. By the time summer 2000 came
around they were awarded a European Platinum Award for 1 million sales on the continent. In
September 2000 they received a Viva Music Award for Best International Newcomer in competition
with, the likes of Christina Aguilera and Blink 182.
They then took their pop stardust to the USA - in fact almost the whole of 2000 was spent
touring there, firstly with *NSYNC.
"We were very nervous for the *NSYNC tour, we didn't have an idea how we would be received.
But we didn't have anything to worry about, it all went really well! It was fantastic! To play
in front of 10-15.000 people every night was so great. That tour was very important for us in
many ways", says Marie. Right after the tour with *NSYNC wound up, A*Teens went on the road with
Britney Spears.
"That was such a fun tour, not least because we at that time had started to be known even in the
USA. A lot of people knew the words of the songs and at the same time we got brilliant reviews
for our concerts" says Dhani.
By September 2000 all the hard work in the States was starting to pay off -
"The Abba Generation" reached Gold status (500,000 copies sold) and only a couple of months
later the record is close to reach Platinum (1,000,000 copies sold). Of course, with one of
1999's most successful albums in the can, the obvious question about the future was raised.
Should A*Teens continue with ABBA's songs?
We immediately felt that we wanted to try without Abba's music," explained Dhani.
"Of course we realize that it is absolutely impossible to find better pop songs than Abba's,
therefore we wanted to find different songs. Together with the record company we discussed what
kind of songs we wanted and then they started to look for the material."
Amit qualifies the thinking behind the new album "Teen Spirit" further - "We didn't want to make
the mistake of doing an album that was too mature. We should never forget that many of our fans
are young, and so are we. We wanted to do a happy, up tempo and positive album. We wanted to
keep some parts of the "old" but at the same time show our development as a band."
"A big difference from the last album is Dhani's and Amit's roles. On Teen Spirit they sing a
lot more than on the first album," says Marie.
The album "Teen Spirit" was recorded between tours and promotion, and most of it in Sweden. That
was important for the band.
"Sweden has the world's best pop producers so there's no reason to go to, for example, USA, to
record," they explain.
On Teen Spirit you'll find renowned producers/songwriters behind *NSYNC, Jessica Folker and Cher
to name a few. The first single "Upside Down" is however produced and written by the hot
newcomers Grizzly/Tysper/Sepehrmansh.
"It is a simple and happy pop song. You shall be happy to listen to A*Teens, whether you are at
home, in a caf� or at a club. The positively is important," says Sara.
