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Mamma Mia 2 Aside, Cher Explains Why She Was Never a Big Abba Fan

Cher at the U.K. Premiere of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again in London. Photo: John Phillips/Getty Images

After filming her bit part in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (the greatest! sequel! ever! made!), Cher decided to record an album of Abba covers because, as she told the New York Times, she “just thought it might be fun.” In a new interview about the movie, the new Broadway show based on her life, and her covers album, Cher says she actually wasn’t a big fan of the Swedish pop group in the ‘70s. “Benny [Andersson] took the girls and used them like instruments. Sonny used to do that to me. He would carve out a place for them in the songs, and they would fit in that little place,” Cher told the Times. “But he didn’t give them space to sing the way they might have wanted to.”

Cher describes her takes on Abba’s material as “freer,” even though some of the songs are technically complicated to sing. “And it was a great time to do it. I’m a news junkie, and these are rough times. But when I was recording, I got swept up in the fun of it. The songs are silly and crazy, and for the album, I chose the ones that are saddest and the most fun.”

Cher Explains Why She Was Never a Big Abba Fan