Rina Sawayama reveals "This Hell" had to be approved by ABBA due to similarities to "Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"
Rina Sawayama has revealed that she had to get approval for "This Hell" from ABBA's Benny Andersson after realising the guitar riff sounded like their "Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" song.
Sawayama has revealed to BBC that she contacted ABBA through Elton John after realising the guitar riff in "This Hell" was similar to "Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)".
After freaking out due to the similarities, Sawayama revealed she "contacted my publishers, and they freaked out, too. They were like, 'ABBA are absolutely going to say no to this, and you have to change it'."
She re-recorded the song with a different riff, but then decided to call Elton John to try and get in direct contact with ABBA's Benny Andersson or Björn Ulvaeus. John sent the song to Sweden on her behalf, along with a handwritten note for Sawayama: "I said: 'Look, I love your music. I'm happy to split the publishing. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this to happen'."
Andersson responded a few days later, approving the song by saying, "No problem. Absolutely fine. All the best."
Sawayama added, "So that song has the blessing of ABBA!"
Rina Sawayama's Hold The Girl album will arrive on 16 September via Dirty Hit, and is available to pre-order now.
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