Synopsis

ABBA's "Happy New Year" promo clip moves between the aftermath of a glamorous celebration and more intimate performance scenes. Party guests drift through a room filled with champagne, costumes, confetti, and fading energy, while the band performs in a quieter domestic setting. The contrast reflects the song's mood: a festive greeting shadowed by uncertainty about the future. Beneath the bright holiday imagery, ABBA presents New Year's Eve as both an ending and a hopeful invitation to imagine a better world.

Factoids & Trivia

• The song was among the first pieces completed for the *Super Trouper* album. Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote it in Barbados in January 1980.

• "Happy New Year" began as part of an unrealized musical project about New Year's Eve. The writers even approached John Cleese about contributing to the proposed production.

• The promo clip combines festive footage filmed during the making of the *Super Trouper* album sleeve with performance material shot in an apartment. The party scenes emphasize the song's surface celebration, while the apartment sequences suit its more reflective lyrics.

• The song was not initially released as an international single, although a Spanish-language version, "Felicidad," was issued in Spanish-speaking markets and became a Top Five hit in Argentina.

• For many years, Swedish Television screened a specially prepared performance of "Happy New Year" every New Year's Eve, helping establish it as an annual holiday favorite in Sweden.

• The English-language song eventually received a European single release in 1999, nearly two decades after its original recording.