The mysterious ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’ alternate mix

On Saturday 5 August 2023 ABBA fandom went into conniptions over an apparent alternate mix of ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’ which appeared in a post on the ABBA Voyage Instagram account, as part of a post “What is your ABBA Voyage Song of the Summer”.

The ten-second sample of the first three bars of the first chorus does indeed sound different from the released version. There are no strings and less vocal harmonies, with Frida’s voice dominant.

Within a few hours, the post was removed and as yet has not been replaced or corrected. Of course, fans had already saved the clip for posterity (UPDATE 12 August: it’s back with the same mix).

Fans quickly theorised that it might be an early mix, or the mix used in the ABBA Voyage concert, or a soundboard recording from the concert, or perhaps a remix album or deluxe version of Voyage with remixes was coming.

It seems unlikely that a social media manager based in London would have any access to alternate recordings held at RMV Studio or Mono Music in Stockholm, or would have easy access to concert recordings, or would be teasing an advance of a new release.

But the mystery may be solved. ABBA fan Willie posted in the ABBAtalk Facebook group that it may be the front channels from the Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio mix from Apple Music. In the sample he posted it does sound identical to the version posted on Instagram. Listen and compare.

Instagram post

Dolby Atmos front channels
Thanks to Willie

There is another video floating around claiming to be more of the so-called alternate mix, but it sounds exactly the same as Willie’s Atmos mix clip.