Ace of Base

0:13Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. This time I speak with two pop music legends, Jenny Berggren and Ulf Ekberg, from the Swedish group Ace of Bass. We met in Copenhagen, where the band first had its major break. We discussed their recent documentary with Viaplay and the legacy of the band.

1:03First of all, we're meeting Copenhagen and I think that's a very special place for Ace of bass, right? Is that here where the band actually took off, right? This was where everything started to explode. It was a small explosion first, and then it became a bigger explosion, and a massive explosion. Denmark was the first country that believed in us, and against all odds, we got a record deal here, and suddenly also the Danish people started to love our music. Our first real experience, I have a sharp position outside of Sweden, was in Denmark in May 1992. And it took off from there and the Danish just embraced us as part of the culture.

1:46They just loved us. And when we released All the Chavons became number one with a Fortune 2 and then Happy Nation was number one. So it just became our home market, kind of. We are Swedish, but nobody cared about us in Sweden. Everybody cared about us in Denmark. So it was fantastic to work with such a passionate record company here that really believed in us also. and it all started here. It was great. The first six months, this was the best school ever for us to learn doing all the mistakes you do when you don't have a clue, whatever, to be a rock star. We could do everything here because all the Danes were very forgiven and we had a massive blast and had a lot of fun in Denmark.

2:23So it means everything for us, Denmark. It's fantastic. And Copenhagen is very fun, I have to say. Jenny, I have to ask you, since when this idea of the documentary came about, it's a fantastic documentary, very personal at times. But is that something that you guys have been discussing for years? Did it come from you or perhaps from somebody else? Well, I was not really intrigued with doing a documentary. It was already a documentary going on from Jens van Rijs with the tapes that was given to Jens van Rijs. And for me, it became a question between me and my siblings. I had to talk to Jonas a lot, to Lynn a lot, and I did.

3:08And then we decided that I will be participating in it. And from that, it has been a fantastic journey. Usually each year I learn something new. I learn a language. I've been trying to learn some Cyrillic letters. I've been trying to learn some Spanish. And last year I didn't learn anything else but about documentary filming. So I did that last year. And there is always something going on in my mind that I have to learn that is something new. And when I came, I was like in April or something, I started to be participating in it. And it was an amazing journey. An amazing journey with memories, with pathways that was opening up.

3:54And fragrances you haven't sensed in many, many years. They were suddenly there. And also the compassion that you had for each other at that time was just in the room. Because everybody's leading their own life now, basically. Everybody's on their own, doing their own things. And that was just, you just came back to something that was really beautiful, really fantastic and a fairy tale. And the footage is fantastic because the documentary is very emotional. I could see sometimes in your faces the feelings. So tell us about the footage, because some of them are brand new. Nobody has ever seen them before, right?

4:35Yeah, well, a lot of the footage has never been seen before. A lot of the footage that I have filmed from 1902 onwards until 2010, I hadn't even seen it. So I had it on disc drives, and I gave it to Jens van Ries without knowing really what's on it. But I thought that it can't be that bad, really. and I trusted him as well, because he's a very respected journalist in Sweden. So he looked through and he said, you know, you have a goldmine here. It's fantastic. I said, I'm happy that it's good. Because after the career, having all this film material, I didn't have, I was kind of tired of the music industry.

5:17I didn't want to go and look at myself or my band members or hear my music, our music, and see our interviews again. I needed to have a break and that break took a few many years before and then so suddenly we could use it for something right and the document I think it came out very well and it is very personal when you have this personal film material and of course all the new material with Jan and me it's very important to add on it that we can also describe and explain the story in our words with perspective on what happened in the past. It's easier now when you have a few years afterwards when you have a little more bird perspective on the career to talk about it, maybe in different words, than when we were actually inside this crazy circus.

6:06Because it was just very crazy, totally crazy, mayhem all the time. I mean, it was clear watching the documentary. And I think I mentioned before the interview, it's incredible how personal it was. It talked about difficult moments from the band. But in a way, I think for those who are fans of Ace of Base, it's quite interesting as well, because a lot of documentaries are very sanitized and almost boring. I mean, you don't get to know the artist in a way, but that's very different in this documentary. Right, Jenny? It was one of my main goals to be personal and have a very thin skin towards the people who see it.

6:44why the reason is that we were talking about the tough moments in our lives and the legacy of those should be how we fixed it how we were broken by something whatever it was but we also got whole again and how we managed to have lives today that are normal working affectionate up is up down is down it was not that way when we were in a subase but now it is and it takes you know you have to take it back and we did that step by step and we became whole again step by step and I even wrote a book about it how I was going from being half disaster from one actually a fan that broke in that and for me it was very important to embrace the fans after that because I knew the fans they were great great personalities and I'd grown to know them even more they write their own books about their own experiences since I wrote mine.

7:42It's an amazing fan base out there and it is very important that they were still loved, that they knew that I wouldn't take them away because that was one night that was really, really horrible for me. So we became whole again in many ways. That was the reason I wanted it to be personal. That is the reason I wanted to be skin thin so you can feel our pain and you can feel our sorrows but you can also feel our joy of being the ones who we are today and that is important that's a good story to tell always a good story to tell and what a crazy story as well there was one moment when you guys cracked down the US which at the time was very kind of gangster rap or grunge and suddenly Ace of Bass was everywhere.

8:28I mean, it must be crazy because I remember the time in the 90s. You guys were quite unique in the sound, right? Is that the secret of the success, perhaps? And the melodies, of course. The secret, I think, is because we did music that we wanted to hear ourselves and nobody else did. We were inspired by a few bands like Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode and the current band like KLF and Tech Atomic. But we tried to do what we liked. which ended up to be a massive scale of different genres, which made it quite difficult for record companies to really promote us. What are ACO-based? What is ACO-based? Techno, electronic, synth, reggae, pop, what actually are we?

9:12It was very difficult in the 90s to do that promotion. And that was a great thing to come to Denmark, because nobody got it in Sweden. We tried for years, years after year after year, and nobody believed in that in Sweden. and suddenly had this little small record company in Danmark with this crazy record boss, Kjell Wennig, and he was just, I just understand it. I get everything, all of it. I love you guys. So that was amazing. And when we got to the U.S. and we reached the charts in the U.S., and before we even assigned there, so with All That She Wants, we got on the charts, just on import.

9:54All that she wants is another baby. She's got to know about all that she wants is another baby. We ended up on the grunge list together with Nirvana because they didn't know where to place us, on what list do we fit. We were not really pop, we were not really house or techno. So we ended up on the grunge list, which was quite amazing. Us and Nirvana, which was fun. You were ahead of time. Yeah, it was very ahead of time. And now it's more natural what pop is. But because we were so early with what we were doing, it was very hard for people to place us. But that was obviously our strength, that suddenly we did something new.

10:36And Jenny, what do you think about the reaction of your own country? Did it change with time, now with the documentary? I mean, how do you feel? Because I know in the beginning it was a bit difficult to crack Sweden. You mentioned Denmark and other countries in Europe. but how do you think Sweden perceives Ace of Base these days? Well, we experienced a fantastic moment yesterday. We were presenting an award in the Swedish Grammy and we just went out on stage and the applause were immense. It was fantastic. And then we started to talk and there were interruption with applause. And that was just so great because that's the grey area of Stockholm, the smog of everybody's being a bit jealous looking at each other and we just, we were just soaring above it and wished I think we said that, like, we wish you, who wins now, the same success that we had, because we have fans all over the world that has memories to these songs.

11:35We were presenting the award of the song of the year and that was a big thing, to see that the establishment of the whole Swedish pop scene who really hated us or music scene went just back to us and said okay some applause for you guys that was great about time about time right yeah but it's so stupid i mean it's so stupid but i know how the swedish mind works i'm a swede myself i know exactly i'm not supposed to guys i just want to ask what about now i loved finding out about both your projects in the film. Ufa, I'm curious, musically, what are you doing? And you have to tell me about the Amazon after.

12:22I didn't know that connection because I'm from Brazil, so I like that. What can you tell us about your more recent projects? So the most music-related project I have is a music tech education company. I work with Gibson. We do everything for Gibson online. We have an app making people learn how to play guitar ten times faster than anybody else. And I'm a co-founder of the company. I'm the chairman and the largest shareholder of the company. And we're doing really well. And we have a catalog of 3 million songs. And we have re-recorded a lot of these songs. So I work a lot in the studios with these songs.

12:55So we have studios in Stockholm, in South Africa, and in Barcelona. And then I do mainly what I'm doing is a lot of impact and sustainability investments and helping sustainability companies worldwide. So I work a lot in Asia, a lot in South America, in the US, and in Europe. It takes a lot of my time. And then I have, as you mentioned, a big passion for Brazil, actually for South America overall, but now it's more in Brazil than anywhere else, a little bit in Colombia also, to help the Amazon rainforest to stop the cutting of the trees and burning of the Amazon. So we're working with 200 different indigenous groups and helping a big, big area down there.

13:35And I'm spending four or five times a year in Brazil, in the Amazon, in different areas. And it's a great job. Been there doing this for eight years now. And finally, we see a lot of change. Actually, we're making a change. And people, also the locals, are really appreciating what we have done. Just to get the trust is not easy. It takes a while. There's been a lot of people there promised things and not delivering. but we gain the trust and actually we have shown that we can deliver. So it's a great project that just grows, but not without problems, that's for sure. But I love the project and I like to help, and I love to be in Brazil.

14:12Fantastic, obrigado. And Jenny, what about you? I know you're still performing. You're going solo and I love it. I'm sure the fans are very happy, but what can you tell us about your more recent projects? Okay, recent projects. I recorded a video for my next upcoming single that will be released the 31st of May. And it will be with our record company, Playground. And I've done already, made a release of Open and Alive. What I said to my fans when I turned 50 is that I want to give back. So I don't have any specific big ideas. I love to make music. I love the way I have different corners in my musical vocal range, if you say so.

14:55So I love the jazz. I love the strong ballads. I love the sting, loneliness, beautiful melodies. I love dance music when you cannot stop running on the treadmill when you're in the gym. And I also love like a big band jazz band, like that kind of feeling. and I wanted to give back I also made some collaborations with different people but I just wanted to write music that I write myself what does Jenny sound like and if she has four different colors oops let's show all four so that is what I'm doing and I'm also out doing a lot of shows doing the Ace of Base music doing my music from my story an album I made telling about the autobiography parts of it that I made so my idea is to bloom wherever God plants me and I've been doing that in so many strange ways and whatever comes up I value it but I don't sell I'm not about selling a product I'm just trying to make music and I'd rather do it a bit blindly and see what happens for instance Happy Nation blew up in our faces now on TikTok and on different media social media platforms that is amazing and we didn't have a part in it we just like okay here comes something from the right and it's big and it's huge and it's our own song and we didn't actually create it oh we did create the song but we didn't create the buzz so that's amazing how new generations find the way to the music so i guess we weren't wrong the first time when we thought we did good melodies that people wanted to listen to because they're still out there the melody still works and i love that with the new generation they've got so many beautiful new open eyes they have a heart that doesn't think this one looks like that in that case I will listen to it they just listen to the music and whatever talks to them they take an embrace in their heart I love that with a new generation well done

17:26It was happening a lot with Vaiso Pays, finally here to say, in films. I think Wycliffe Gin maybe mentioned that it's been 30 years, but it feels very fresh, it feels almost ageless, right, your music? I mean, I think he has a great expression. He says, how many years is now? He says it's 30 years. 30 years, that's not a record, that's a culture phenomenon. And I guess it is a culture phenomenon to actually be able to be so relevant for so many years over so many generations. And I mean, we're super proud of the legacy we have put here. And we got a few questions, obviously, over the past few weeks of did you ever think that you could sit here 30 years later to talk about the music?

18:09And I think that was really nothing we could think about in the 90s that could last this long and be this big. And it's crazy. I mean, also the documentary is great to have now when we celebrate 30 years since we were number one in America with both the single, the sign and the album, the sign, Happy Nation. So it's a good anniversary celebration we can do. And I think it's a great, it tells a great story about the band, the ups and the downs and the challenges also we had, which is great. But it's amazing to be able to sit here. Now we have three kids and they have also seen the documentary and they suddenly say, wow, dad, that was, we knew a few things, but not all this craziness and see how proud they are as well.

18:53It's great to make them proud. Yeah, they're proud. Yeah, my kids are proud too. I'm so proud of you, Mom. And now when I call them and I'm away somewhere and they say, I've been away like for two, I've been to the States and I've been to Egypt doing shows and I get an injury as well. When I come home, they're just like, Mom, I'm so proud. Because I was packing to go to Grammys in Stockholm yesterday and today I'm here to do a TV show. And it's like, Mom, I'm so proud of you. they don't miss me anymore. They're proud of me now.

19:54Thank you, Jenny and Ove. What a pleasure. The documentary Ace of Base, All That She Wants, is available now on Viaplay in the Nordic countries. The show was edited by Flynn Simons and I am Fernando Gusto Pacheco. Thank you for listening.