Wrap Your Arms Around Me

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Wrap Your Arms Around Me
File:Wrapyourarms.jpg
Studio album by
Agnetha Fältskog
Released31 May 1983
Recorded20 January – March 1983[1]
StudioPolar Studios (Stockholm)
Genre
Length46:16
LabelPolar
ProducerMike Chapman
Agnetha Fältskog chronology
Nu tändas tusen juleljus
(1981) 		Wrap Your Arms Around Me
(1983) 		Eyes of a Woman
(1985)
Singles from Wrap Your Arms Around Me
  1. "The Heat Is On"
    Released: May 1983
  2. "Wrap Your Arms Around Me"
    Released: July 1983
  3. "Can't Shake Loose"
    Released: August 1983
  4. "Man"
    Released: 1983 (South Africa)

Wrap Your Arms Around Me is the seventh solo studio album, and first English-language solo album, by Swedish singer and ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog, released on 31 May 1983, by Polar Music, and 8 August in the United States, by Polydor. Following the speculated disbandment of ABBA in late 1982 and the subsequent dissolution of her marriage to group member Björn Ulvaeus, she met with record producer Mike Chapman in London, being heavily known for his work with Blondie, he began collaborating with Fältskog to take role by coming up with the album title and produced it thereafter. As with post-1979 ABBA releases, recording for Wrap Your Arms Around Me took place at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where Fältskog collaborated with songwriters and ABBA studio musicians to complete the album. The recording lasted for a span of three months during that time. The album marked a significant step in Fältskog's solo career, resulting in a shift in musical style from the pop-oriented sound of ABBA to a more adult contemporary and soft rock aesthetic that established Fältskog's conventional sound following her later solo albums until I Stand Alone. The stripped-back approach accesses theme implications of ballad-tempo driven by an energetic, introspective sensibility, following as a pre-cursor to album-oriented rock, while retaining elements similar to europop. This eventually helped secure Fältskog's reputation as a solo artist, growing more independent from the ABBA clout. Despite limited international chart-topping success compared to ABBA, the album remains an important part of Fältskog's musical catalogue, marking a new chapter in her career. Following its release, the album became a commercial success across continental Europe, topping the charts in Sweden and Norway. However, it had only modest success overseas in North America, including United States and Canada, charting at 102 and 79, respectively. Four singles—"The Heat Is On", "Wrap Your Arms Around Me", "Can't Shake Loose", and "Man"—were released throughout various countries to promote the album. It has gone to attain sales certifications in Sweden, Finland and Netherlands and it has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Release

Wrap Your Arms Around Me was released in May 1983. The first track from the album, "The Heat Is On", was issued as a single in Europe, where it is commonly regarded as Fältskog's best-known 1980s solo hit. "The Heat Is On" was successful in Europe and Scandinavia, reaching number one in Sweden and Norway and peaking at number two in the Netherlands and Belgium. The album's title track was another successful single, topping the charts in Belgium and Denmark, reaching the top 5 in Sweden, the Netherlands and South Africa, and the top 20 in Germany and France. "Can't Shake Loose" was the choice for the lead single in North America; this song became the first of only two solo singles from Fältskog to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, peaking at number 29 in October 1983. The song was written by Russ Ballard, who also wrote "I Know There's Something Going On", the only US hit by Fältskog's fellow ABBA member, Frida. The track "Man" was the only song on the album written by Fältskog herself, in contrast to her pre-ABBA 1960s recordings in Swedish, which were mostly self-written. The album's strings were provided by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.[2] In 2005, the album was reissued on CD, featuring five bonus tracks. On July 28, 2017, Wrap Your Arms Around Me was re-released as part of a reissue collection of solo albums from the members of ABBA. It was available in 180g black and pink vinyl.[3][4]

Album cover

English fashion photographer Gered Mankowitz shot the album cover and all the singles based off her album. Mankowitz said of this shoot, "Agnetha was being produced by Mike Chapman who I had worked with a great deal in the 70s; and he asked me to come to Sweden, where they were recording, to shoot this cover. Agnetha was charming, very sexy and photogenic – we had a lovely session together. When I got home to London there was a huge bouquet of flowers waiting – a thank you from her, and a sweet and thoughtful gesture!"[5] David Costa created the stylized cover while Lolo Murray does the makeup for the photo shoot.[6]

Commercial performance

Wrap Your Arms Around Me debuted at number one in the Swedish chart on 14 June 1983, selling around 100,000 copies in the first two days since its release. It was proclaimed Sweden's fastest selling albums for the year.[7] It topped the chart for two weeks and placed a total of twelve weeks,[a] before dropping off by 15 November, before it subsequently re-charted on January 1984. By the year end in 1984, it has sold more than 1,200,000 copies since its release.[8][9] In the United States, the album debuted at number 176 on the Billboard 200 on 17 September 1983, and at number 48 on the Rock Albums chart on 8 October 1983.[10] A month later, it peaked at number 44 on the Billboard Rock Albums and number 102 on the main Billboard 200 chart, spending for a total of eleven weeks on that chart while it only charted four weeks on the rock chart.[10] Since it's debut, it has sold an estimated of 2,500,000 copies worldwide, according to Fältskog.[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star empty.svg[12]

The album received favorable reviews from music critics. Joe Viglione from AllMusic retrospectively gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that songs like "The Heat Is On" and "Shame" were "much more refined than a lot of the dreck the major labels were issuing at the time" and that the album is "a healthy serving of charming melodies". He mentioned that the composition, "like the album, is a real gem". The contemporary review from People magazine was also favorable, the author wrote that the record is like the ABBA albums "smooth, upbeat, relentlessly bright and on the sterile side". He concluded that fans of ABBA will not dislike the record and people who dislike the group will not like it any better.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Heat Is On"
3:50
2."Can't Shake Loose"Russ Ballard4:20
3."Shame"David Clark Allen3:40
4."Stay"Allen3:20
5."Once Burned, Twice Shy"
3:40
6."Mr. Persuasion"
  • Susan Lynch
  • Larry Whitman
2:45
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Wrap Your Arms Around Me"
5:15
2."To Love"
3:49
3."I Wish Tonight Could Last Forever"Ballard4:12
4."Man"Agnetha Fältskog3:31
5."Take Good Care of Your Children"Tomas Ledin3:42
6."Stand by My Side"
4:16
Total length:46:16
2005 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Never Again" (duet with Tomas Ledin)Ledin3:54
2."It's So Nice to Be Rich" (from the movie P & B)
  • Gunnar Svensson
  • Hans Alfredson
3:41
3."P&B" (B-side of "It's So Nice to Be Rich")
  • Svensson
  • Alfredson
4:01
4."The Heat Is On" (super dance music mix)
  • Palmer
  • Ashton
7:58
5."Ya nunca más" (Spanish version of "Never Again")
  • Ledin
  • Mary McCluskey
  • Buddy McCluskey
3:55

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes. Musicians

  • Agnetha Fältskog – lead vocals
  • Berit Andersson – backing vocals
  • Diana Nunez – backing vocals
  • Maritza Horn – backing vocals
  • Smokie (Alan Silson, Chris Norman, Terry Uttley) – backing vocals
  • Tomas Ledin – co-lead vocals on "Never Again and "Ya nunca más" (2005 reissue)

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Netherlands (NVPI)[25] Gold 50,000^
Norway — 100,000[26]
Sweden — 350,000[27]
United Kingdom (BPI)[28] Platinum 300,000[28]
Summaries
Worldwide — 2,500,000[11]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release formats for Wrap Your Arms Around Me
Region Date Label Format Catalog
Sweden 31 May 1983 Polar
POL 365
Europe
  • POL 365
  • 813 242-2
North America 8 August 1983[29] Polydor 422-813 242-1
UK 31 May 1983 Epic EPC 25505
  • Australia
  • South America
 RCA Victor Various
Japan Discomate DSP-5119
Various 13 September 2005
CD 0602498687697
28 July 2017 LP 00602557569933

Notes

^ a: Since its inception in 1975, the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart published album rankings over a two-week period till 1993. Wrap Your Arms Around Me reached number one for a total of four consecutive weeks and spent 24 weeks on the chart, despite the shift away from the two-week publication format.

References

  1. ↑ Janson, Magnus (July 1983). "Agnetha Solo". International Abba Magazine. No. 20. Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England: Pinewood Studios. p. 4.
  2. ↑ Fältskog & Åhman 1997, p. 93
  3. ↑ "Solo Albums Reissue!". ABBA. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  4. ↑ Sexton, Paul (7 June 2017). "Six Albums From ABBA Solo Repertoire For Vinyl Reissue". uDiscover Music. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  5. ↑ Mankowitz, Gered (25 January 2023). "Gered Mankowitz on Agnetha Fältskog". Facebook. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  6. ↑ Wrap Your Arms Around Me (booklet). Agnetha Fältskog. Polar Music, Polydor. 1983. 042281324215.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ "Billboard 06-25-1983" (PDF). Billboard. p. 9. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  8. ↑ "(ABBA) Agnetha Interview - Gäst hos Hagge 1985 Swedish TV Interview". YouTube. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  9. ↑ "It's important to take care of my own business now that ABBA has disbanded". Svenska Dagbladet. Stockholm, Sweden: Schibsted. 5 September 1984.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Tonnon, Fred; Garau, Marisa (December 1999). "Behind the scenes, I felt like a wreck (translated from Dutch)". Mikro Gids. Nederlands: Bindinc.
  12. ↑ "Wrap Your Arms Around Me – Agnetha Fältskog". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  13. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. pp. 150–151. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  14. ↑ "RPM Magazine 10-29-1983" (PDF). Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  15. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Agnetha Fältskog – Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  16. ↑ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  17. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in suomi) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  18. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Agnetha Fältskog – Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
  19. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Agnetha Fältskog – Wrap Your Arms Around Me". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  20. ↑ "South African ABBA Albums and Singles charts". Geo Cities. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  21. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Agnetha Fältskog – Wrap Your Arms Around Me". Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Agnetha Faltskog | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
  23. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1983" (in Nederlands). Dutch Charts. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  24. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 1983" (in Deutsch). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  25. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – Agnetha Faltskog – Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 3 December 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) Enter Wrap Your Arms Around Me in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1983 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  26. ↑ "WRAP YOUR ARMS AROUND ME by AGNETHA FÄLTSKOG sales and awards". BestSellingAlbums. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  27. ↑ Palm, Carl Magnus (2014). ABBA: A Biografia (in português). Rio de Janeiro: Best Seller. p. 10/27 (ePub). ISBN 9788576848837.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 "Record Mirror UK Charts" (PDF). London, United Kingdom: Record Mirror, United Newspapers. 20 August 1983. p. 41. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  29. ↑ "Billboard 1983-08-06" (PDF). Billboard. 6 August 1983. p. 88. Retrieved 19 November 2024.

Bibliography

External links

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