Sweden’s Ace Of Base wasn’t the country’s first major pop export by any means, but the group that saw “The Sign” and made the mightiest splash since ABBA is arguably responsible for how the dance floor sounds to this very day.

The foursome’s beats can be found bubbling around the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Dua Lipa and Robyn, while their own string of pulsating singles that also include “Don’t Turn Around,” “Beautiful Life” and “Cruel Summer” continue amassing global airplay.

Though the original members are no longer together, that doesn’t mean Ace Of Base is silent by any means, especially with the gargantuan 30th anniversary box set “All That She Wants: The Classic Collection,” which features a whopping 11 CDs and single DVD of basically everything imaginable.

After considerable digging, Chicago Concert Reviews reached co-founder Jenny Berggren (also a star recording artist, author and speaker in her own right) to hear all about the comprehensive collection, her commitment to upholding the group’s legacy, surviving a harrowing stalker experience and finding respite in religion.

Does it feel like it’s been 30 years? Has it gone fast or slow?

Jenny Berggren: Well, it’s been fantastic, and it’s been slow, and it’s been sometimes heartbreaking, and sometimes just so amazing that you want to stay in that little air space forever, but you can’t. It’s been up and down.

This interview is on the exact date of the group’s very first concert three decades ago. What do you remember about that day?

Berggren: I remember that I was very nervous. I had high heels on, there was a lot of stuff on the floor and I was so afraid of tripping. Me and my sister [Linn Berggren] were preparing before. We’d been doing some different shows, so we were kind of confident on stage, but the thing was in Gothenburg on the fourth of August 1990, there was this other band called The Rolling Stones playing in the same city! When they [ended their show], the whole, big area here in Gothenburg was just crowded with people that had been to The Rolling Stones concert. So there was a [huge] audience and we were like “they’re not supposed to be here. They’re supposed to be there listening to The Rolling Stones!” But they were just coming back from the concert, and it was just so amazing to see how the songs made people stay, applaud and just be amazed. “Wow, this really works!”

What was it like putting together his box set and what should everyone expect?

Berggren: If you cut a cake, you see what’s inside it. If you describe it before, you could say “there’s raspberries in it,” but you don’t really know what it will taste like and what it will be. And this box is a bit the same. It has a story that it’s based on, more or less, an interview with Ulf [Ekberg] I think, the fourth member. It has songs that haven’t released before because they’re not finished, and like my brother [Jonas Berggren] said, “instead of having them in a drawer for another 30 years, let people listen to it.” Some of it isn’t even properly mastered, but you will hear it. It’s just the beginning of something.

And my hope is that this box will make people who make songs for themselves at home stick with music. [I hope] they will be encouraged because they will see “okay, I’ve got this signing ability. I can do this.” When they hear what we did, then what we became, maybe they will be encouraged and not look down, [even if] it doesn’t sound like Lady Gaga. You have to sound like you. My huge hope is that this box will make people make music and come out of their lives with a lot of music inspiration.

The album that first introduced America to Ace Of Base was “The Sign.” What was it like working on that project and all those amazing singles?

Berggren: We were already going all across Europe and also starting to go to Asia. We were just playing all over the place, doing TV shows like crazy, and then they said “we want to introduce you to the States, but you need some new songs.” Well, we had some new songs and also we did “Don’t Turn Around,” a song that Diane Warren [and Albert Hammond] wrote. I remember when we landed in the States, it was Christmastime in Miami. For us living up north in Sweden, it’s pretty cold and then we came to warm Miami. No snow anywhere! They had palm trees with a lot of colors on them, lightbulbs and “Jingle Bells” everywhere. It was so weird and we were supposed to be recording this video for “Don’t Turn Around.”

I also remember when we did “The Sign.” We were in Cheiron, the studio in Stockholm, our capital. We were in the basement. It was all close and cozy with dark material everywhere that made a very warm feeling. I went in singing and they said “we need an outro of the song.” “I’ve got this choir thing that I can sing. I can just make it up.” “Okay, just sing it.” And then I sang it. “Okay do it again.” And then I sang it again. And it’s like “okay, do it one more time” (laughs). “Can you give me another harmony?”

When I’m out on the road with my show Jenny from Ace Of Base, we always have this problem in the end choirs of “The Sign.” I’m the only one who knows it because it’s so weird. “I saw the sign. I saw the sign-e-in. I saw the sign. I saw the sign-e-in-e-in” (sings). I just remember Max Martin [future Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande producer] was looking at me through the studio window and was like “just do it again. I don’t get what you’re doing, just do it again.” That was quite funny actually.

What did life look like for you then and throughout all your amazing time with Ace Of Base? It must have just been a whirlwind.

Berggren: Well it was. You know when you were a kid and you were making snowballs and [building] a snowman? You have this huge ball, and you try to roll it bigger, and bigger, and bigger. You have a slope that you go down and it grows very big, very quick. It was like we all fell forwards into this little thing that we started with and started to spin, but it started spinning and really didn’t stop. Soon it was consuming us, and we were going down slopes everywhere, but the slopes took us to number one everywhere, so we were very, very happy. We were having a fantastic journey, but at the same time, a little stuck if you see what I mean.

Is there anything you wish would’ve gone differently?

Berggren: Well, I wish I was smarter and took more help. I was a kind of proud person, and also when you become famous like that, you don’t really know who to trust. I didn’t trust anyone. I wish I would’ve let that one go a little bit sooner and been more confident in that. You can really use just going away and doing something fun. But I was afraid of letting the earth below me spin astray because I knew it was so easy to lose your [grounding]. I was so afraid to be ungrounded in this business. I was very tempted to do a lot of stupid things that I didn’t do. Now being able to do these tours and all these things again is so amazing. I’m really harvesting something that we sewed a long time ago.

What does your show and life look like now?

Berggren: Well, it’s a lot of production. A lot of pre-production here, getting to know people, getting into business the other way around, getting to know the record company, how it works, how it’s supposed to sound and why it’s supposed to sound like that. I have a friend of mine, actually my brother-in-law, Simon Petrén [as a collaborator]. He’s one of the pop producers in Seoul, Korea. He was actually head hunted there because he’s been such a good producer. It’s really good to see how everything’s done up the way you want it. If I want to do an album, I have a lot of things in the house, so now I want to control it. Usually when it comes into someone else’s hands, it’s gets out of control making me do things that I can’t be a good mom, I can’t be a good wife, and I can’t be the things that you want to be. [Most important] are my relationships with my children, and my husband, and then I do the other things. It’s really fantastic and it’s really working. I can be whatever I want to be on stage. And I don’t have to think that “oh, no, I’m stepping on someone’s toes” or “I’m taking someone’s place” or “I am too little” or “too much.” I can just be. I just bring along my girls, and my musicians, and we just make the floor dance like we did before. That’s amazing and I think the crowd is really responding.

I’m actually going to Chicago next year cause everything this year has been moved. I’m going to be in a lot of the cities and States, also in Canada I think…We’re still having a lot of thoughts [about] exactly what we want to do, because if you do one year where it’s [one kind of] show, you have to consider you’re maybe not coming back in the same way the next year. It might be better for me to release my book [“Vinna Hela Världen”], which I translated [into English and will be called “To Win The World”] and do some lectures around that book. I’ve been doing a lot here [in Sweden]. I’m actually better at holding lectures than anything I’ve been doing so far I think. Don’t let me know if I’m wrong (laughs).

What do you speak about in your lectures and write in the book?

Berggren: The book is an autobiography. I start when I was a kid and then I finish when I’m not here anymore. I was actually told to develop lectures about my life and I was asked to write a book about it…It’s actually about when a person reaches a goal that is so desired for so many people and just finding out there’s nothing there. Actually, you’re just alone on the top. There’s only one person that can be there.

I remember just the week before we became number one in the States with “The Sign,” I was attacked by a German fan who woke me up with a knife to my throat in my home. [I talk about] the experience, how all the measurements were put to zero and what could make me whole again.

I come from a religious family. I actually found something there that was really, really strong and that could keep me together. That is a journey so many people take. They found out it’s hard when life doesn’t really work. And I’m not interested in talking about what didn’t work. I’m interested in talking about how you get whole again, how to heal yourself, how to get better, do better, cross your own borders, push yourself to a new confidence, and a new faith, or the same faith but stronger.

Are you primarily focusing on your solo career or have there been any talks of you getting back together with the whole group?

Berggren: The whole group will not go back together and it’s not my choice. It’s just the way it is. As long as we’re not all four of us, I think that we will always be a half bird. The minute that everybody wants to get together, I’m there. But before that, I think I can do what I’m doing right now and not be doing anything against wanting to get together in the end since nobody’s doing anything [related to the group] right now.

This box is actually something our record company has put together. They didn’t really ask us. They just put it out, so it’s like “okay, that’s good.” And I really hope people will be inspired by it cause that’s my main [hope]. People are getting so uninspired. They’re getting drained from all the demands around them and me too.

But the Ace of Base question, if we’re all gonna get back together, I don’t see it. It’s not on the horizon right now. I’d be a fool to say “yes, at this time” cause I don’t know it and I don’t see how it will be possible either. Right now, it’s just me. The way the audience reacts to the music and the way we do the show is so much fun. It’s really worth it every time and we’ve got really, really great fans…I feel I have been very blessed. I wish for God’s blessing over everybody. I haven’t talked about that so much, but that is what I want.

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For additional information on Ace Of Base, visit AceOfBase.com.