"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, ''
Voyage''.
Agnetha Fältskog performs lead vocals. It became the first ABBA release to top the Swedish singles chart since "
Summer Night City" in 1978. The song incorporates three key changes.
Lyric video
ABBA released a lyric video on
YouTube of "Don't Shut Me Down" to accompany the release. It was directed by Mike Anderson of the production company Able.
The lyric video gained 1.4 million views in 24 hours following its release, placing in the top three of YouTube's trending rankings in 12 countries, including the UK.
Reception
"Don't Shut Me Down" became a comeback single for ABBA, charting in the top ten in eleven countries and reaching number one in Sweden and Switzerland, as well as the
Euro Digital Songs chart.
The song received widely positive reviews from music critics. Kate Mossman of the ''
New Statesman'' wrote: "Its opening has a
West End
West End most commonly refers to:
* West End of London, an area of central London, England
* West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England
West End may also refer to:
Pl ...
feel, like ''
Evita''s tentative address to the masses, but then it whizzes with a '
Dancing Queen
"Dancing Queen" is a Europop and disco song by the Swedish group ABBA, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''Arrival'' (1976). It was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Andersson and Ulvaeus al ...
' mirrorball glissando into squelchy
1980s
File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
, giving the impression it's going to be straightforward. But then it mutates, and mutates into something wonderful and strange."
[ Jon Pareles of '' The New York Times'' was similarly positive, calling the song "a strutting march with gleaming orchestration and scrubbing disco guitars, stolid and earnestly tuneful." The song was featured in '']Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine's list of the 100 best songs of 2021.
Charts
Certifications
References
{{ABBA songs
2021 singles
2021 songs
Polar Music singles
ABBA songs
Number-one singles in Sweden
Number-one singles in Switzerland
Songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus