Björn Ulvaeus on Curiosity, Legacy, and Reinventing Entertainment

At 78, Björn Ulvaeus isn’t slowing down. He’s speeding up.

In a packed session at SXSW London, the ABBA legend turned Pop House innovator delivered a masterclass in storytelling, creative reinvention, and how to build an entertainment legacy that outlasts any era.

What emerged was not just nostalgia or innovation for its own sake but a powerful argument for curiosity as the most important tool in the creator’s toolkit.

Björn’s creative career from global chart domination with ABBA to Mamma Mia! and the groundbreaking Voyage experience has always been driven by a single instinct: follow the idea that feels most unusual. “Everything after ABBA came from curiosity,” he said. “Mamma Mia was an experiment. Voyage was an experiment. All of it started with ‘what if?’”

It’s not reinvention for PR value. It’s an operating system. One where digital avatars, immersive concerts, and next-gen storytelling formats aren’t threats, they’re opportunities.

When asked about the uncanny feeling of watching a younger digital version of himself perform live, Björn reflected on the surprising emotional depth of the project. “We didn’t expect people to cry,” he admitted. “But something strange happens in that room. It’s almost spiritual.”

For him, the takeaway was clear: even the most technical ideas need to connect emotionally. Technology doesn’t replace the story, it extends it.

Through Pop House Entertainment, Björn is now helping other artists reimagine their legacies with the same lens of curiosity and experimentation. The key filter? Story.

Whether working with Kiss, Cyndi Lauper, or Avicii’s estate, the goal is not to simply digitize a back catalog but to identify narrative DNA that can be remixed for new generations. “There has to be a story,” he emphasized. “That’s where the ideas come from.”

Björn also addressed the looming elephant at every 2025 conference: AI. As President of CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers), he’s at the frontline of debates around rights, training data, and ethical use.

His stance? It’s not about fear. It’s about fairness. “AI models were trained on songs we wrote. That has value. There must be compensation.”
“But as a creative tool? It’s fantastic. It’s like having another songwriter in the room.”

He described using ChatGPT to work through lyrics when stuck asking for suggestions, rejecting most, but sometimes finding just enough spark to go in a new direction. “It’s bad at lyrics,” he laughed. “But once in a while, there’s something there.”

Despite all the innovation, virtual concerts, avatar licensing, AI songwriting, Björn kept returning to one timeless truth: everything still begins with a great song. “This industry starts with a song,” he said simply. “If there’s no song, there’s no story.”

It’s why he writes every day. Why he listens with the same internal compass that guided his early work with Benny Andersson. And why he believes the most important advice for any young songwriter remains unchanged: “Write it. Record it. And be ready to hear no ten times before you get a yes.”

Asked about longevity, he didn’t mention success, or strategy, or reinvention. He mentioned joy. “I still enjoy it as much today as I did then,” he said. “And I still wake up curious every morning.”

And that might be the real future of entertainment: not just new formats or digital avatars, but creators who keep showing up, not because they need to, but because the questions haven’t stopped.

Independently Created. Not affiliated with SXSW.

Unofficially SXSW is a ClickZ Media publication in the Events division