Abba's Agnetha Faltskog wanted her new record to be filled with love songs.

The 'Waterloo' singer is returning with, 'A' - her first album since 2004's collection of covers 'My Colouring Book', and her first original material since the 1980s - and concentrated on love songs because of their universal appeal.

She said: ''It is about love because nearly every song in the world is about love. It just isn't the same to sing about politics or something else. That's why you can give so much when you sing, because love it so strong. It's easier, very human being is involved with love in some different way and it touches you very much.''

The album was recorded with Jorgen Elofsson - who has worked with artists including Westlife, Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson - and Agnetha, 63, admitted she had to brush up on her vocals before recording.

She said: ''I could feel that I had lost some energy in my voice and you get easily tired. But everywhere it sounded good. It got better and better. I took some singing lessons too. That was mainly because I felt rusty. It was easy to get into it again.''