Entertainment journalist and filmmaker Jens von Reis (Young Royals) goes on an answer-seeking journey in Ace of Base: All That She Wants, a new three-episode docuseries about the Swedish pop quartet, whose earwormy singles once dominated radio and MTV. “I had always been curious about Ace of Base,” von Reis says in one of his voiceovers in the docuseries. “As a pop band, they never really fit the bill, but they made songs that got under your skin. So what happened? How did they become the biggest band in the world?” Featuring von Reis’s interviews with Ace of Base members Jenny Berggren and Ulf Ekberg, All That She Wants also includes appearances from Clive Davis, Wyclef Jean, music critic and chart expert Chris Molanphy, and Swedish music scene notables like Kayo Shekoni and Rasmus Lindvall. The doc also teases an important question: Where are the other half of the band, Jonas Berggren and Malin “Linn” Berggren?
Opening Shot: Stockholm, Sweden, 2023. Ulf Ekberg says he’s been in regular contact with his old friend and bandmate, Jenny Berggren. But what of the other Berggren siblings, who completed the original Ace of Base lineup? “Jonas and I used to talk quite often, until just a few years ago,” Ulf says before trailing off. “I haven’t seen Malin in a really long time…”
The Gist: Did you see “The Sign”? Millions and millions of people did in the pre-social media musical landscape of the nineties, when that single and tracks like “All That She Wants” and “Don’t Turn Around” were inescapable, combining electrified, reggae-inflected grooves laid down by Jonas and Ulf with catchy singsong harmonies from sisters Jenny and Linn. Like a lot of giant music industry moments, legendary record executive Clive Davis played a big part in making Ace of Base a chart success, especially in America. But the quartet was already becoming a global phenomenon by the time Davis got onboard. As All That She Wants explores, the band’s sudden and massive rise was both the answer to their dreams and a resulting nightmare.
All That She Wants bounces von Reis’s new interviews with Ulf and Jenny off existing material featuring contributions from the whole band, like label publicity and TV appearances from back when and – particularly from the group’s earliest days – a lot of cool bits of audio and video culled from Ace of Base’s personal archives. (Such as VHS live footage from 1991, when they were still called Tech Noir after the club in Terminator, and sounded more like their heroes in English electronic duo KLF.) But amid the commentary about the quartet’s hitmaking rise, which began in earnest with 1992’s Happy Nation, what’s missing is input from Jonas and Linn. This remains a theme through all three episodes of the docuseries.
Naturally, when Ace of Base got huge, big money rolled in. Ulf says he bought fast cars and homes all over the world. But of course, what also rolled in were hurtful squabbles over who was getting paid and how much, made worse by the fact that the quartet included three siblings. Wth the group’s global splash also came uncomfortable questions about Ulf’s involvement with Swedish skinhead gangs as a youth, plus a life-threatening encounter with a stalker that was a significant factor in Jenny’s wish to walk away from the Ace of Base limelight, perhaps for good.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? A sense of ’90s nostalgia drives a lot of documentary content these days, but that doesn’t mean it’s a look back with all sweetness and light. As Ace of Base: All That She Wants probes questions about personal conflicts of interest and fights over compensation, Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam explores what was really going on with Backstreet Boys and NSYNC impresario Lou Pearlman. And with All That She Wants at times suggesting the format of the groundbreaking nineties anthology series Behind the Music, keep in mind that it’s been revived.
Our Take: Ace of Base: All That She Wants occasionally takes on the feel of a reported story, in the sense of director Jens von Reis’s first-person voiceovers, his appearances on camera, and when he’s walking to an interview or sitting across from his subjects. But it also upholds that classic arc of the music documentary, as a band confronts the highs and lows of their lifecycle while reminiscing a little, regretting a little more, and ultimately finding some resolution in personal reunions.
But also interesting here is the positioning. Ace of Base made their splash when the Internet was barely up and running, and social media didn’t even exist. The influence of radio and MTV dictated starmaking, and Ace of Base were a band that seemed to have developed the right sound at the right time, even if prior to their popular rise, labels refused to sign them because their plastic-y reggae sounds and melodic lilt were decidedly not in vogue. (Early on, the docuseries includes a snippet of Green Day, newly-minted rock stars at the time, poking some light fun at the quartet’s bubbly, catchy pop sound.) Ace of Base: All That She Wants offers nostalgia – from like 1994 to 1997, their singles were omnipresent – but it provides proper context, too, from an industry standpoint and a personal one, as Ulf Ekberg conducts a kind of apology tour, and Jenny Berggren becomes the defender of her sister Linn’s decision not to participate in anything related to Ace of Base.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: “I knew when we started to have hits that I’d have to speak about this. It was just a matter of time.” All That She Wants sets up its second episode with quotes from Ulf Ekberg referencing his past involvement with Swedish neo-Nazi groups.
Sleeper Star: Writer and former MTV presenter Steve Blame lends some insight to the layers that added to the Ace of Base mystique. “For me, they always appeared like a sort of band from the suburbs. Not that interesting, didn’t really have the edge of other pop music. But, like the suburbs, what lies underneath is somewhat different and darker, and the story then gets much more interesting.”
Most Pilot-y Line: Jenny Berggren describes how unexpected Ace of Base’s rise to stardom felt, even when she was inside of it. “I was so convinced that I would never, actually ever, be a pop star, even when I was a pop star. That was something that was just fun. You did it with your left arm. I knew I’d be forgotten the next week, so I could go back to school. Even when we were 2 and 1 in the charts at the same time, both me and my sister were at university Monday through Thursday.”
Our Call: Stream It. Ace of Base: All That She Wants channels nostalgia with the sounds that made the Swedish quartet global superstars. But it searches for meaning, too, especially as at least half of the group considers where the experience of sudden pop stardom has left them.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.