Ace of Base ''All For You''

There are college freshmen right now who have no idea that all that she wants is another baby; who don’t know what it’s like to see the sign and have it open up their eyes; who don’t know that it’s a beautiful life – oh – oh oh oh. But it’s also true that whether they’ve heard of Ace of Base or not, anyone who’s heard Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” has heard what Ace of Base were all about – lightly Latinized, boldly synthesized, Eurodisco singalongs that sound fantastic on both the radio and the dance floor. Songs that are easy to love even though we know that each spin we give them reduces our IQ by at least a quarter of a point. To hear “Alejandro” dominate the airwaves this summer, it certainly seemed like the right time for an Ace of Base reunion, or at least an Ace of Base reconstitution.

It’s been more than a decade since Ace of Base have had a hit song here in the U.S. and 8 years since the Swedish pop quartet formed around songwriter-producers Ulf “Buddha” Ekberg and Jonas “Joker” Berggren released their last studio album. 2002’s Da Capo, recorded as a trio, following the departure of Malin Berggren, wasn’t released here. Since then, the other original vocalist Jenny Berggren also left the group to pursue a solo career, while Ekberg served as the head judge for Sweden’s Idol 2009 competition and “Joker” Berggren… got really fat. Recruiting Idol 2009 finalist Clara Hagman and Julia Williamson to fill the girl’s roles in the group, Ekberg and Berggren re-convened as Ace of Base in the studio and released the group’s fifth studio album The Golden Ratio internationally this past summer (no U.S. release is planned). Here’s the album’s lead single, “All For You”, which, y’know, sounds like a possible Lady Gaga song.

Ace of Base “All For You”

Last month, Jenny Berggren released her debut solo album My Story. Here’s that album’s much more forward-looking lead single “Here I Am”.

Jenny Berggren “Here I Am”