Remember Ace of Base from the '90s Hit 'The Sign?' They're 'Getting All the Dirt Out' in a Fascinating New Documentary (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ace of Base.Photo:Viaplay

Viaplay

Thirty years ago, Ace of Base’s music was inescapable. The Swedish pop foursome, consisting of siblings Jonas, Linn and Jenny Berggren and close friend Ulf Ekberg, was already an international success when their infectious single “All That She Wants” hit the U.S. charts in 1993. The song was certified platinum that November, and a reconfigured version of their debut albumHappy Nation, released in the States asThe Sign, followed, as did more hits, more pressure and a level of fame that would change Ekberg and the Berggrens’ lives forever.Three decades later, Ulf and Jenny are pulling back the curtain on the band’s wild heyday in a three-part documentary.Ace of Base: All That She Wants, streaming exclusively onViaplaystarting Dec. 5, follows the band’s ups and downs, from their humble beginnings in their hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1989 to worldwide stardom and its aftermath.“I think when you’ve been through so much and in such an intense way, you need quite some time to digest everything,” Ulf, 54, tells PEOPLE. “It has taken many, many years to digest different things. Of course, a little bit comes with age and maturity, to get a little distance. It was amazing to go through all the memories, and of course, we all have different memories. Some parts we don’t remember at all.”A clip from the series' first episode shared exclusively with PEOPLE covers the strong familial bond the group forged as teenagers in Sweden, as well as Ulf and Jenny’s brief high school romance.Ulf explains that he’d been looking for a way to commemorate a pair of Ace of Base milestones — “All That She Wants” topping the U.K. charts in 1993 and the band’s breakthrough in the U.S. that same year — when director and former music journalist Jens von Reis approached him about putting together a documentary about the band.“I thought, first of all, it would be important for the legacy, something for my kids, something for my grandkids,” Ulf says. “And also at least this would be a great platform to celebrate the 30th anniversary.”Ulf turned over more than 200 hours of never-before-seen video he’d shot over the years to von Reis, who told him they had a “goldmine” of material for the project.“I was more or less presented with the fact that there was a documentary coming out, because Ulf had sent all the tapes that we made,” Jenny, 52, explains. “I was like, ‘Okay, so what did we film? I can’t remember.’ So, I had to be in the documentary regardless, because I had to see what it was, and rather control the content than be just left out. I thought also that I could contribute with my female side and also my musical side.”Jenny Berggren.ViaplayUlf says he only had one demand: No one in the band would have a say in the end result, giving von Reis complete creative control.“I thought if we came in and cut this and having opinions there would be nothing interesting,” he explains. “We had to get all the dirt out and all the bad and good and get the realistic point of view, andhispoint of view. Maybe not 100 percent our point of view, but his point of view of what happened during that time. And I think he got the story right.”The result is a refreshingly candid look at Ace of Base that doesn’t shy away from thornier areas, like Linn and Jenny’s ambivalence about fame or the fact that, at least in the early days of their success, the two women in the band earned less from album sales than Ulf and Jonas. Both Ulf and Jenny speak honestly in the series about their frustrations with Linn’s increasing refusal to be in the spotlight as Ace of Base’s star continued to rise in the mid-’90s, forcing Jenny to become the band’s sole frontwoman.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Jenny also revisits the harrowing experience of havinga fan break into her family’s homeand hold a knife to her throat in the early ’90s. “I think that was when the star was born in me,” she tells PEOPLE. “I wanted to sing. I had to calculate with all the dangers, and I just realized, ‘No, I want to sing. This is what I want.’ ”Ace of Base’s Ulf Ekberg, Linn Berggren, Jenny Berggren and Jonas Berggren.ViaplayThe documentary also reckons with Ulf’s involvement with a violent Swedish right-wing extremist gang as a teenager in Gothenburg, something he has consistently expressed regret about over the years.“I think it’s a very important topic to talk about, because it is a very angry world we live in right now. It’s much more angry than when I was a teenager and angry,” he tells PEOPLE. “I hope that maybe that part of this documentary can show that even if you are completely lost, you can always find your way and it’s never too late — which, I was blessed with a second chance in my life. You can always change. But there’s a lot of lost kids out there, and it’s very easy to find the wrong path, but it’s always possible to get back and get to the right path. You just have to realize that you are on the wrong path. That’s the critical thing.”Jonas and Linn, however, declined to participate in the series, with Jonas only appearing briefly at an event alongside Ulf and Jenny on the final day of filming.“I think for both of them, maybe they would do the documentary thattheywould like to do, not what anyone else would like to do,” Jenny says.Both she and Ulf agree that Jonas, the primary songwriter of the band’s biggest hits, would likely have preferred to do something more focused on the making of Ace of Base’s music. “His view was that he wanted to do a music documentary, about the music, not about the story,” Ulf explains.Linn Berggren.ViaplayLinn, meanwhile, has been out of the public eye since the early 2000s. She did, however, break her silence for the project, writing a brief letter, which Jenny reads in the documentary’s final episode.“I was just happy, because she’s good with words,” Jenny says.Ulf, however, is more ambivalent about Linn’s contribution. “I found it very weird that she had time to speak to the fans for the first time in so many years and the only thing she spoke about was her siblings,” he says. “Why speak about them, to them in the documentary when she had the chance to talk to the fans? That was a little bit of a shock for me, that she barely mentioned the fans. She could have really said something about the journey and the music and the fans and the experience. But I’m happy she did something.”Still, all these years later, Ulf says he has a new respect for the position Linn found herself in in Ace of Base. “In hindsight, I must say she was probably the strongest person in the band for the simple reason that she wanted to leave already in 1993,” he says. “When we hit in America, it got even worse, because they tried to push her even more to the front when she actually really wanted to be in the back. That was very difficult for her to handle, that was difficult forusto handle. But we did handle it, andshedid handle it, and I must say, that gives her a lot of respect, in hindsight, from me.”Despite the difficult times, Jenny says, “One big truth is that we had a lot of fun. I will forever be grateful for being able to see the world and broaden my views, and loving it so much.”Jenny Berggren and Ulf Ekberg performing live in 2009.Picture Perfect/ShutterstockIn fact, Jenny continues to record and perform as a solo act, playing Ace of Base’s hits live. Her 2009 autobiography is set to be release for the first time in the U.S. next year, and she just released her latest single,“Lion’s Den.”Ulf isn’t done with Ace of Base, either. “There’s a lot of things we haven’t done. We haven’t done a movie, we haven’t done a musical,” he says. “There’s a few things we could potentially do, and probably my creative nerve will be tickling so much that I will need to go back into the studio soon. So, let’s see. Maybe Jonas and I will revisit some of these projects. I don’t really know yet.”Ace of Base: All That She Wantsis out Dec. 5 on Viaplay, which is also available as an add-on subscription onPrime Videoand The Roku Channel.

Thirty years ago, Ace of Base’s music was inescapable. The Swedish pop foursome, consisting of siblings Jonas, Linn and Jenny Berggren and close friend Ulf Ekberg, was already an international success when their infectious single “All That She Wants” hit the U.S. charts in 1993. The song was certified platinum that November, and a reconfigured version of their debut albumHappy Nation, released in the States asThe Sign, followed, as did more hits, more pressure and a level of fame that would change Ekberg and the Berggrens’ lives forever.

Three decades later, Ulf and Jenny are pulling back the curtain on the band’s wild heyday in a three-part documentary.Ace of Base: All That She Wants, streaming exclusively onViaplaystarting Dec. 5, follows the band’s ups and downs, from their humble beginnings in their hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1989 to worldwide stardom and its aftermath.

“I think when you’ve been through so much and in such an intense way, you need quite some time to digest everything,” Ulf, 54, tells PEOPLE. “It has taken many, many years to digest different things. Of course, a little bit comes with age and maturity, to get a little distance. It was amazing to go through all the memories, and of course, we all have different memories. Some parts we don’t remember at all.”

A clip from the series' first episode shared exclusively with PEOPLE covers the strong familial bond the group forged as teenagers in Sweden, as well as Ulf and Jenny’s brief high school romance.

Ulf explains that he’d been looking for a way to commemorate a pair of Ace of Base milestones — “All That She Wants” topping the U.K. charts in 1993 and the band’s breakthrough in the U.S. that same year — when director and former music journalist Jens von Reis approached him about putting together a documentary about the band.

“I thought, first of all, it would be important for the legacy, something for my kids, something for my grandkids,” Ulf says. “And also at least this would be a great platform to celebrate the 30th anniversary.”

Ulf turned over more than 200 hours of never-before-seen video he’d shot over the years to von Reis, who told him they had a “goldmine” of material for the project.

“I was more or less presented with the fact that there was a documentary coming out, because Ulf had sent all the tapes that we made,” Jenny, 52, explains. “I was like, ‘Okay, so what did we film? I can’t remember.’ So, I had to be in the documentary regardless, because I had to see what it was, and rather control the content than be just left out. I thought also that I could contribute with my female side and also my musical side.”

Jenny Berggren.Viaplay

Ulf says he only had one demand: No one in the band would have a say in the end result, giving von Reis complete creative control.“I thought if we came in and cut this and having opinions there would be nothing interesting,” he explains. “We had to get all the dirt out and all the bad and good and get the realistic point of view, andhispoint of view. Maybe not 100 percent our point of view, but his point of view of what happened during that time. And I think he got the story right.”

The result is a refreshingly candid look at Ace of Base that doesn’t shy away from thornier areas, like Linn and Jenny’s ambivalence about fame or the fact that, at least in the early days of their success, the two women in the band earned less from album sales than Ulf and Jonas. Both Ulf and Jenny speak honestly in the series about their frustrations with Linn’s increasing refusal to be in the spotlight as Ace of Base’s star continued to rise in the mid-’90s, forcing Jenny to become the band’s sole frontwoman.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Jenny also revisits the harrowing experience of havinga fan break into her family’s homeand hold a knife to her throat in the early ’90s. “I think that was when the star was born in me,” she tells PEOPLE. “I wanted to sing. I had to calculate with all the dangers, and I just realized, ‘No, I want to sing. This is what I want.’ ”

Ace of Base’s Ulf Ekberg, Linn Berggren, Jenny Berggren and Jonas Berggren.Viaplay

The documentary also reckons with Ulf’s involvement with a violent Swedish right-wing extremist gang as a teenager in Gothenburg, something he has consistently expressed regret about over the years.

“I think it’s a very important topic to talk about, because it is a very angry world we live in right now. It’s much more angry than when I was a teenager and angry,” he tells PEOPLE. “I hope that maybe that part of this documentary can show that even if you are completely lost, you can always find your way and it’s never too late — which, I was blessed with a second chance in my life. You can always change. But there’s a lot of lost kids out there, and it’s very easy to find the wrong path, but it’s always possible to get back and get to the right path. You just have to realize that you are on the wrong path. That’s the critical thing.”

Jonas and Linn, however, declined to participate in the series, with Jonas only appearing briefly at an event alongside Ulf and Jenny on the final day of filming.

“I think for both of them, maybe they would do the documentary thattheywould like to do, not what anyone else would like to do,” Jenny says.

Both she and Ulf agree that Jonas, the primary songwriter of the band’s biggest hits, would likely have preferred to do something more focused on the making of Ace of Base’s music. “His view was that he wanted to do a music documentary, about the music, not about the story,” Ulf explains.

Linn Berggren.Viaplay

Linn, meanwhile, has been out of the public eye since the early 2000s. She did, however, break her silence for the project, writing a brief letter, which Jenny reads in the documentary’s final episode.

“I was just happy, because she’s good with words,” Jenny says.

Ulf, however, is more ambivalent about Linn’s contribution. “I found it very weird that she had time to speak to the fans for the first time in so many years and the only thing she spoke about was her siblings,” he says. “Why speak about them, to them in the documentary when she had the chance to talk to the fans? That was a little bit of a shock for me, that she barely mentioned the fans. She could have really said something about the journey and the music and the fans and the experience. But I’m happy she did something.”

Still, all these years later, Ulf says he has a new respect for the position Linn found herself in in Ace of Base. “In hindsight, I must say she was probably the strongest person in the band for the simple reason that she wanted to leave already in 1993,” he says. “When we hit in America, it got even worse, because they tried to push her even more to the front when she actually really wanted to be in the back. That was very difficult for her to handle, that was difficult forusto handle. But we did handle it, andshedid handle it, and I must say, that gives her a lot of respect, in hindsight, from me.”

Despite the difficult times, Jenny says, “One big truth is that we had a lot of fun. I will forever be grateful for being able to see the world and broaden my views, and loving it so much.”

Jenny Berggren and Ulf Ekberg performing live in 2009.Picture Perfect/Shutterstock

Picture Perfect/Shutterstock

In fact, Jenny continues to record and perform as a solo act, playing Ace of Base’s hits live. Her 2009 autobiography is set to be release for the first time in the U.S. next year, and she just released her latest single,“Lion’s Den.”

Ulf isn’t done with Ace of Base, either. “There’s a lot of things we haven’t done. We haven’t done a movie, we haven’t done a musical,” he says. “There’s a few things we could potentially do, and probably my creative nerve will be tickling so much that I will need to go back into the studio soon. So, let’s see. Maybe Jonas and I will revisit some of these projects. I don’t really know yet.”

Ace of Base: All That She Wantsis out Dec. 5 on Viaplay, which is also available as an add-on subscription onPrime Videoand The Roku Channel.

source: people.com