Welcome to Music Friday, when we feature songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, we revisit Ace of Base’s hauntingly beautiful 1995 ballad, “Experience Pearls.” The Swedish pop group — best known for ’90s megahits like “The Sign” and “All That She Wants” — trades its signature sunny reggae-pop sound for introspection and emotional depth in this jewel of a song.
At first listen, “Experience Pearls” feels like a love song about mending a broken heart. Vocalists Linn and Jenny Berggren tell the story of a woman so devoted that she vows to transform her lover’s tears into pearls.
Later in the song, the duo sing, "I’ll wear your pearls more precious than silver / I’ll wear your pearls so close to my skin." The lines symbolize a deep, almost sacred empathy — a willingness to carry another’s pain as her own.
One interpretation of the song suggests that “experience pearls” represent this emotional transference — the transformation of sorrow into beauty. Much like a pearl forms from an irritant within an oyster, love’s pain becomes something luminous and enduring.
Another interpretation, however, casts the song in a different light. Here, the protagonist isn’t absorbing her partner’s sorrow, but reflecting on what remains after love has faded.
The “pearls” are not literal tears or tokens of shared pain, but memories — small, shining lessons gathered from heartbreak. She can’t undo her mistakes, but she can treasure the understanding that came from them. In this sense, the pearls become symbols of wisdom: hard-won, deeply personal and ultimately beautiful.
Whichever way one reads the lyrics, the message remains uplifting — that pain, whether shared or endured, can be transformed into something precious.
“Experience Pearls” appeared as the 16th track on The Bridge, Ace of Base’s platinum-selling second album. Released in October 1995, The Bridge charted in 19 countries and sold more than five million copies worldwide, cementing the band’s place among pop’s most successful acts of the decade.
According to the band’s official site, the Ace of Base story started in the early 1990s when the three Berggren siblings (Jonas, Linn and Jenny) formed the techno band called Tech Noir. Next to their rehearsal room, Ulf Ekberg played in another band. Soon, Jonas and Ulf hit it off, started to write and produce together, and Ace of Base was formed.
After recording a demo tape of original songs, including the future blockbuster hit ”All That She Wants,” the band went to Stockholm where the members pitched all the major record companies. None showed any interest. The common critique was that their songs were “too obvious” and “too simple.”
Undaunted, the band’s next stop was Copenhagen, where executives at Mega Records immediately saw the band’s potential and loved their positive, uncomplicated and slightly reggae-tinged pop music.
Ace of Base’s very first single was ”Wheel Of Fortune,” followed by the major worldwide hits ”All That She Wants,” ”The Sign” and ”Don’t Turn Around.”
Today, Ace of Base continues to sparkle in the pop-culture memory. In late 2024, the band was inducted into the Swedish Music Hall of Fame and released a three-part documentary, Ace of Base: All That She Wants, chronicling their rise and legacy. Jenny Berggren remains active as a solo performer, bringing Ace of Base classics to audiences around the world.
Exactly three decades after its release, “Experience Pearls” still shimmers — reminding us that from every heartbreak, something beautiful can emerge.
Please check out the audio track of “Experience Pearls.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Experience Pearls”
Written by Jenny Berggren. Performed by Ace of Base.
Give me all your tears
Let me turn them into pearls
Let me turn all the tears
That you have cried into pearls
Hand them over to me
I’m gonna keep
Keep them for you
I want to hold you,
I want to kiss you
I want to mend what is broken.
Love me the way that you loved her, please
Cause now I’m giving it all.
And so I’ve made up my mind,
I’m gonna be yours this time
I’m gonna give what I’ve got,
And get your love in return.
And so I’ve made up my mind, I’m gonna be
Yours this time, I’m gonna teach you to trust
And learn how to burn
Experience pearls
Pearls of experience
Sand strikes up in your eyes
I will cover your face
I’ll plant your desert with roses,
And I’m gonna keep, keep them for you.
And so I’ve made up my mind
I’m gonna be yours this time
I’m gonna give what I’ve got,
And get your love in return.
And so I’ve made up my mind, I’m gonna be
Yours this time, I’m gonna teach you to trust
And learn how to burn
Experience pearls
I’ll wear your pearls more precious than silver
I’ll wear your pearls so close to my skin.
I’d tear myself apart just to get you,
I’d tear myself apart just to get you.
And so I’ve made up my mind
And so I’ve made up my mind
I’m gonna be yours this time
I’m gonna give what I’ve got,
And get your love in return.
And so I’ve made up my mind, I’m gonna be
Yours this time, I’m gonna teach you to trust
And learn how to burn
Experience pearls
Pearls of experience
Experience pearls
Pearls of experience
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com / Cadinho Meireles.