"Just a Notion" is a song by

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 on 22 October 2021 as the second single from the quartet's 2021 album ''

Voyage Voyage(s) or The Voyage may refer to: Literature *''Voyage : A Novel of 1896'', Sterling Hayden * ''Voyage'' (novel), a 1996 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter *''The Voyage'', Murray Bail * "The Voyage" (short story), a 1921 story by ...

'', following the dual lead single " I Still Have Faith in You" and " Don't Shut Me Down", released in September 2021. Originally written and produced for the group's 1979 album ''

Voulez-Vous ''Voulez-Vous'' (; French for "Do you want (to)?") is the sixth studio album by the Swedish supergroup ABBA. Released on 23 April 1979, the album yielded five hits, all of them big 1979 singles in Britain – " Chiquitita", " Does Your Mother ...

'', the song was released over forty-three years later. The recording retains its vocals from 1978 but includes re-recorded instrumentation added much later, during the reunion.

Background and recording

"Just a Notion" was initially recorded in September 1978 during sessions for the album ''

''. Although progressing beyond the demo stage, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus became unsatisfied with it, deeming it "unmixable" and leaving it unreleased. However, a snippet of a rough mix by ABBA's engineer Michael B. Tretow was ultimately released on the box set ''Thank You for the Music'' in 1994.

Carl Magnus Palm Carl Magnus Palm (born 1965) is a Swedish author and historian, writing in Swedish and English, best known for his work on the Swedish pop group ABBA. ABBA Carl Magnus Palm’s first book on ABBA was ''ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions ...

has also confirmed that the verse included in the "ABBA Undeleted" medley is the second verse of the song. After ABBA reunited, and despite Andersson and Ulvaeus' prior criticism, "Just a Notion" was revisited for the reunion album ''

''. Benny Andersson recorded a new backing track with drums and guitars for the ''Voyage'' version, but it retains the vocals from the original 1978 version. "Just a Notion" was released as a single on 22 October 2021, before the November 5th release of ''Voyage''. Prior to the full release of ABBA’s partial re-recording, a complete version was recorded by cover band Arrival, which occasionally featured original ABBA bass player

Rutger Gunnarsson Johan Rutger Gunnarsson (12 February 1946 – 30 April 2015) was a Swedish musician, bass guitarist, guitarist, arranger and producer. He was closely associated with the pop group ABBA. Career Gunnarsson grew up in Ledberg parish. His career be ...

as a special guest, and was included on their 1999 album ''First Flight''. While the full version of the song had not yet been released, it still featured the same lyrics as ABBA's original, even though much of the song remained unheard and unreleased at that point.

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 ...

for "Just a Notion" to accompany its release. The video is directed by Mike Anderson and produced by Nick Barratt of the production company Able. The video received 583,000 views in its first 24 hours on YouTube. A brief teaser video on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

earned over a million views in its first few days.

Critical reception

Emily Zemler of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' calls "Just a Notion" "buoyant" and a "hopeful, upbeat song." Devon Ivie of ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'' writes that the song is "a ridiculously happy romp that finds Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid harmonizing about the joys of flirting while a power piano noodles in the background."

Charts

Release history

References

{{ABBA songs 2021 singles ABBA songs Polar Music singles Songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus 1978 songs