ABBA - Take A Chance On Me

What this video is

Released January 1978, 'Take A Chance On Me' arrived at the apex of ABBA's commercial dominance, becoming their seventh UK #1 and third consecutive chart-topper — cementing them as the act with the most #1 singles in the UK during the 1970s. The single was promoted concurrently with the London premiere of ABBA: The Movie and the sustained chart run of ABBA: The Album. The promo video exemplifies the nascent…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of the pre-MTV promotional clip era, this video codified the Europop promo aesthetic: minimal studio environment, direct-address performance, split-screen as narrative device, and the performer's physical charisma as primary visual content. Its stripped-back approach influenced…

The director

Lars Sven 'Lasse' Hallström (born 2 June 1946, Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish film director who began his career directing short pop clips for Sveriges Television in the late 1960s. Between 1974 and 1982 he directed nearly all of ABBA's promotional films…