"Don't Shut Me Down" is a song by Swedish pop music group

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

. It was released as a single on 2 September 2021 as a

dual single The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or r ...

alongside " I Still Have Faith in You". Both songs are from the band's ninth studio album and its first in 40 years, ''

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''.

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse "Agnetha" Fältskog (; born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and a former member of the pop group ABBA. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 Agnetha Fältskog (album), self-titled debut alb ...

performs lead vocals. It became the first ABBA release to top the Swedish singles chart since "

Summer Night City "Summer Night City" is a song recorded by the Swedish pop group ABBA, written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as a tribute to their hometown of Stockholm. It is the group's second non-album single, released on 6 September 1978. It was reco ...

" in 1978.

Lyric video

ABBA released a lyric video on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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 The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart. The song received widely positive reviews from music critics. Kate Mossman of the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' wrote: "Its opening has a West End feel, like '' Evita''s tentative address to the masses, but then it whizzes with a '

Dancing Queen "Dancing Queen" is a 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 also produced the ...

' mirrorball glissando into squelchy

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disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

, giving the impression it's going to be straightforward. But then it mutates, and mutates into something wonderful and strange."

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' was similarly positive, calling the song "a strutting march with gleaming orchestration and scrubbing disco

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, 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 advertis ...

'' 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