Wrap Your Arms Around Me
| Wrap Your Arms Around Me | ||||
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Original vinyl cover (Some CD versions have minor differences) | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 30 May 1983 | |||
| Recorded | 20 January – March 1983 | |||
| Studio | Polar Music Studios (Stockholm) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 46:20 | |||
| Label | Polar | |||
| Producer | Mike Chapman | |||
| Agnetha Fältskog chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Wrap Your Arms Around Me | ||||
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Wrap Your Arms Around Me is the seventh studio album, and first English-language album, by Swedish singer and ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog, first released on 30 May 1983 in the Netherlands, followed by an international release a day later, by Polar Music Records, and 8 August in North America, by Polydor Records. Following the break-up of ABBA in late 1982, she met with record producer Mike Chapman in London, known for his work with Blondie. He began collaborating with Fältskog to take role by coming up with the album title and produced it thereafter. As with post-1979 ABBA releases, recording for Wrap Your Arms Around Me took place at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where Fältskog collaborated with songwriters and ABBA studio musicians to complete the album. The recording lasted for a span of three months during that time.
The album marked a significant step in Fältskog's solo career, resulting in a shift in musical style from the pop-oriented sound of ABBA to a more adult contemporary and soft rock aesthetic that established Fältskog's conventional sound following her later solo albums until I Stand Alone. The stripped-back approach accesses theme implications of ballad-tempo driven by an energetic, introspective sensibility, following as a pre-cursor to album-oriented rock, while retaining elements similar to Europop. This eventually helped secure Fältskog's reputation as a solo artist, growing more independent from the ABBA clout. Despite limited international chart-topping success compared to ABBA, the album remains an important part of Fältskog's musical catalogue, marking a new chapter in her career.
Following its release, the album became a commercial success across continental Europe, topping the charts in Sweden and Norway. However, it had only modest success overseas in North America, including United States and Canada, charting at 102 and 79, respectively. Four singles—"The Heat Is On", "Wrap Your Arms Around Me", "Can't Shake Loose", and "Man"—were released throughout various countries to promote the album. It has gone to attain sales certifications in Netherlands and the UK. It has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.