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The talent of composing of the members of Ace Of Base seems to be innate. Especially Jonas always has some striking ideas for a great song. This is what is different about the Swedish charts attackers compared to the many competitors who are dependent on extraneous compositions. That is a good requirement for a successful future: Ace Of Base don't have to rely on other people's ideas and can decide on their own musical direction. But eventhough the music of the band sounds so easy-nonchalant, the songs don't develop so easily in Jonas Berggren's idea-workshop. He commits that it isn't always easy until a title is done. Especially when composing the lyrics, he works very carefully. But despite all joy of life - Ace Of Base don't want to spread banalities. "I just let myself get inspired by everyday situations", describes Jonas his way of work. "There are two ways of writing lyrics: Either in three hours or in three weeks. For Happy Nation for example I needed 14 days. I found it really hard to deliver the message, and the words have to be easy to sing."

For Jenny it is really hard to find the right words for the optimal melody: "When you write poems it doesn't depend on whether the words are good to pronounce or not. When you sing it does. A lot depends on that." Once in a while she backs Jonas up when Jonas has some bigger problems with a text: "Sometimes I need to help him. Then we both file at the words until they are one unity with the music", says Jenny. "Jonas can write very lyrically and usually he succeeds in writing singable poems. The Sign is the perfect example, I believe. It's a poem."

The lyrics of The Sign are very autobiographical. Jonas doesn't keep it as a secret. In the youth magazine BRAVO he confessed: "The text is about a big love, which broke up some day. The symbol on the cover is the Old-Egyptian symbol of life and is supposed to say that it goes on after a low. This is about an old relationship and it often happens that a past love is always idealized. Then when you think about it realistically, you realize that it was important and right to break up. Some magic or even divine sign caused the break up at the right moment". Also in the video the personal is expressed. "In our video Ulf and Malin and also Jenny and Andreas, an actor student, play two courting lovers. At first they are in love, hold hands, the boy brings a rose to the girl, then suddenly a magic sign appears, the girl recognizes it and leaves the boy. The Sign is my favourite song because I've always been interested in mystic things, and I find it fascinating why one acts like that and not differently in a specific situation."

Sister Malin also knows the content of The Sign because of her own experience. After all she broke up with her boyfriend of many years, when her career with Ace Of Base startet off. "I can identify myself with the lyrics easily because I was in such a situation myself - but I don't reveal more", she says. Anyhow, the video-clip gave rise to speculations among the fans. The way Malin and Ulf act in this music film and how they hold each other's hands during the following photo session suggest the speculation that there is more between Ulf and Malin than just a good friendship. However, both reject the rumours. "The love scene was ordered by the script for our video", tells Malin. And Ulf also guards agains speculations about a possible love-affair: "We get along with each other really well but are just very good friends." To have such an enormous success like Ace Of Base something else is hardly possible. Because you can only be together day and night when you don't break at small differences and you can talk about everything in a friendly way.

* Click on the pix to enlarge them