A*Teens on ‘perfection’ of new festive single: ‘We’re manifesting Christmas No1’

A*Teens are back with their first ever original Christmas single “Merry Christmas To You” – and they’re “manifesting” that Christmas No1.

The Swedish pop group, consisting of Dhani Lennevald, Sara Lumholdt, Amit Paul, and Marie Serneholt, best known for their songs “Upside Down” and “Halfway Around The World”, returned this year with their first original music since 2004, with “Iconic”.

Now, after a huge year, which also included a return to the Eurovision sphere with their finalist placement at Sweden’s Melodifestivalen, they’re back with “Merry Christmas To You”.

Speaking to PinkNews, the group dove into how their Christmas song happened, their Eurovision return and why nostalgic comebacks are the moment.

PinkNews: “Merry Christmas To You” is out now. Why did you decide now was the time to release an original Christmas song?

Amit: When we took that huge leap of thinking about making new music again after all this time, and really made that decision, one of the things we were semi-joking, semi-serious about was, we need to do this for real, and it needs to include an original Christmas song, because we haven’t done one before. It was fun that we were able to plant that idea with the “Iconic” team during Melodifestivalen, during the after party. One of the main songwriters was like, ‘I have it, I have the song, it’s going to be called “Merry Christmas To You”, and then four weeks later, it juts dropped into our mailboxes and there was was in all its Christmassy perfection.

PinkNews: How was the fan reaction been so far?

Marie: It’s been amazing. I mean, it’s still early for Christmas songs, but the response has been amazing. A couple of days ago, we found out we were No1 in Chile with the song, which is amazing. We’re so excited for it to be the season soon for Christmas songs. I don’t know how it is in the UK, but we have radio stations that only play Christmas songs for a month.

PinkNews: As soon as Halloween ends, it’s Christmas in the UK! How would you feel if you got Christmas No1?

Dhani: I think that’s a tough one, because there are so many incredible Christmas songs that have already established themselves over decades.

PinkNews: Well, Kylie Minogue got her first Christmas No1 last year, so who knows! It’s been a huge year for you in general, how does it feel to be back?

Dhani: It feels absolutely amazing. It feels a bit unreal, because if you’d have asked us slightly over a year ago if we would ever release new music, we would have laughed. But here we are with new music and it feels so good, we have so much fun. The response from fans has been just absolutely unreal, to be able to come back now, 20+ years later with new music. It’s very early to say, but the small hints we’ve got from people over the Christmas song have just been incredible, so we hope for the best.

PinkNews: And how did it feel to be back in the Eurovision universe this year? (The group reached the final of Sweden’s selection competition Melodifestivalen in 2026, while Lumholdt and Serneholt each competed as soloists in 2011 and 2009 respectively.)

Marie: For Amit and Dhani it was their first time. Me and Sara have been part of that universe before, so we kind of knew what it was all about. The last time I was part of that show was 14 years ago or something, and I swore that I was never ever gonna be part of that show again. Like, I was done.

Sara: Yeah, I said the same thing.

Marie: I swore I wasn’t gonna do it. It just felt so right to do it with the group. It was so much fun. I have never had so much fun at that show and to share that whole experience with the rest of the group… we just enjoyed it, and that’s quite hard when you’re in that competitive bubble that soaks you in. But I think we just managed to go through that whole experience in such a great way. We had fun. We were serious about our performance, but we didn’t take it too seriously. We didn’t expect it to be as big as it became, we never thought we would get to the finals. We went to No1 in Sweden with “Iconic” and we had not had a No1 here in Sweden since “Mamma Mia” (1999).

Sara: Doing that together strengthened us a lot as a band. Yes, we did the reunion in 2024, we had an eventful year, I had a baby, we got together, we were doing this for real. This time it was real, and to do that again and get to do that event together just strengthened us as a group. We felt like the floor was vibrating when we were going up there, because when we get on the same stage, something clicks. It’s magic. It’s something you can’t really put a finger on. We were just hoping that our joy and love for the music would shine through – and you don’t really know if that’s happening or not. What’s cool about looking back at it is just our genuine shock when we go forward to the final. We were in our own bubble, and the expression on all of our faces is such. genuine shock. After that, it was like, enjoy the ride, like, we are just gonna have fun with it and enjoy every single second of it.

PinkNews: I’m sure you know the UK doesn’t do very well at Eurovision… how do you think we can do better?

Sara: You have a bit of a different way of getting there. The way you scout the songs and place the artist is a little bit different than a lot of other countries. I’m not sure if turning it into Melodifestivalen in the UK would work, but maybe get more public voting, or a jury from other countries to vote.

Amit: I mean, we have some great songwriters we could recommend….

Sara: Sam Ryder did well though with “Spaceman”, that was a good year for the UK. I was proud to be living in the UK then.

PinkNews: You’ve mentioned your comeback in 2024, and now you’re back with new music… why do you think so many iconic groups have been reforming over the past few years?

Amit: Something we’ve talked quite a bit about is this notion of the times we’re living in – there’s a lot of fairly dark stuff going on, to say the least, and there’s a certain weight and gravity of this moment. I think the end of the ’90s held a lot of possibility, and a different vibe and type of emotion. I think it might also be a very simple, generational thing. But I really do think it has to do with this moment. For us, at least, we made a commitment when we started, that we’ll do this for as long as it’s fun. I feel very proud about bringing the vibes in a genuine way, but also doing it with a flavour of what’s going on now with more maturity. I think it’s a bit of nostalgia, and trying to do that responsibly has been our ambition, and it feels like we’ve been able to do that. I’m really proud of our journey over the past few years.

PinkNews: Amazing! Looking forward, what can we expect from you next year?

Amit: Except for the Christmas No1? I’m just kidding.

Dahni: It’s gonna be more shows, some more music.

Sara: We’re not stopping now, this is just the beginning!

Dhani: We’re just gonna keep riding this beautiful little love train we’re on, the A*Teens love train we’re on.

PinkNews: Well, I can’t wait to see you get your Christmas No1!

Dhani: That’s the spirit, I love it!

Sara: We don’t want to jinx it.

Dhani: We are manifesting it!

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

“Merry Christmas To You” is out now.

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