The music is great and the 70’s look was cool, but then they zoomed in on her teeth for the words “Mamma Mia!” at 0:55 and showed her imperfect bottom teeth.
Not a horrible snaggle-tooth smile, but something I didn’t expect to see in a performer; it kind of grabbed my attention.
Does it seem surprising to you as well when compared to contemporary artists?
(btw, the title track was released on the album ABBA in 1976)
You know, I do concider some celebrities of yesterday sometimes and wonder if they would have the slightest chance today. Janis Joplin? Mama Cass? Recognised musicians for sure. But would they get a foot in the business? Freddie Mercury is a bit of a sex icon, but he’s got really funny teeth as well.
To answer the OP, no. No-one had a problem with the teeth. Or anything else. You’re referring to Anni-Frid Lyngstad at the height of ABBA’s success. If her looks are a problem, that’s the kind of problem I wish we had more of. Now I think I’ll go and watch the video again.
I thought you were going to link to the other girl, Agnetha. She used to have a big gap between her front teeth, but had it fixed.
You can see it in pictures from her solo career in the sixties, like here:
I don’t think I was so surprised that her teeth were like that as I was that they would focus so closely on her mouth for the video.
I mean, if an artist’s teeth aren’t her most perfect attribute, wouldn’t the film maker choose different scenes and angles?
I like this video; they seem more human, real, and less plastic.
I think you need to put things in perspective here. The video was made in 1975. At that time in Sweden, the politically correct thing would have been to make songs about social injustice, against the Vietnam war or violations of human rights in Chile.
Instead, ABBA make a happy silly song, and produces a promotional film like this to help sell more records. They were already the height of commersialism in Sweden, and were widely criticized for that. One of the guys who used to make videos for ABBA has said that they got the job because nobody else wanted it, they were considered sell-outs among Swedish media people.
A small imperfection like the one you mention would hardly be noticed.
I have to think that people like Joplin and Cass, today, would be put through some kind of image boot camp before their label ever let the public lay eyes on them.
After that, who knows. Amy Winehouse literally looks like the walking dead most of the time, and she’s famous and popular.
Lots of sexy entertainers have had odd features. Bushy eyebrows (Mariel Hemingway, Brooke Shields), gap teeth (Laura San Giacomo), mustaches (Elizabeth McGovern), Moles (Cindy Crawford, Madonna), prominent noses (Cher, Barbra Streisand) and worse. I’ve always thought that Carmen Electra’s career has been held back because she doesn’t have any distinctive physical flaws I can hang my hat on (Her appalling taste in men isn’t a physical flaw).
Put it this way: If Mort Drucker can’t draw a caricature of you, you won’t get skewered in MAD Magazine and your career will suffer accordingly.
Well, I may be more critical of this particular thing having had a very large space between my front teeth as a child, but when I look at her face it’s just about all I see. I don’t neccessarily find her unattractive, but I do find the space quite prominent.