melaniec music interviews Virgin Media
Don't call me Sporty...
Amidst a frenzy of press speculation about a Spice Girls reunion, former "Sporty Spice" Melanie C is preparing to release her fourth solo album, This Time, heralded by a cover of The Strangelove's I Want Candy.
We met up for a chinwag about paranoia, Eurovision, Tony Blair and breakfast oats. Yes, oats.
VM: Your new single, I Want Candy, is possibly the most upbeat song that you could ever record. Are you feeling very shiny and happy at the moment?
Mel C: No I feel very black and dark, ha ha. The thing about I Want Candy is that it's specifically for the movie. I really enjoyed the film and it's great to be involved in a British production. I love the song - I remember the Bow Wow Wow version from the Eighties when I was at school, so it brought back some memories. And it was a challenge as well - it's scary to cover a big track that so many people are familiar with. For me it was just a moment of frivolity, having some fun and being poppy.
VM: The video has you writhing around in a leather catsuit - are you sexing up your image?
Mel C: I've never really felt like I want to express myself in that way, I don't think I'm an overtly sexual performer. For this song I just wanted to step out of myself for that moment - I had a choreographed dance routine, and I felt like I was being a popstar for the day.
VM: So do you miss your popstar heyday?
Mel C: I couldn't do that all the time, it would drive me insane. With the Spice Girls everything was choreographed and I felt quite restrained because I like to be free to express myself. It was fun to do it for a change, but I'm not changing my direction.
VM: What's the rest of your new album like?
Mel C: With this album, I really wanted to show a much softer side. My last album, Beautiful Intentions, was quite rock-inspired - I love big guitars, I like rocking out, so I've had a lot of fun doing that but I felt like I wanted a change of pace. I've had a lot of success in Europe in the last two years, I did a big ballad which was probably one of my biggest singles to date. I wanted to do something very beautiful and melodic, with some acoustic moments, some atmospheric moments.
VM: Why is it called This Time?
Mel C: This Time is one of the tracks on the album. Each of my solo records has been a song title. The song is quite sad lyrically, it's about the singer having cheated in a relationship and "this time" they've f**ked it up, basically. But as an album title, This Time feels very positive for me, like "this time, it's going to be great". A new album always feels like a fresh start.
VM: How sick are you of being asked if the Spice Girls are reforming?
Mel C: I'm very very very sick of it. It's so frustrating because there's always a piece in the papers alleging the Spice Girls are getting back together when I'm about to promote something. Maybe I'm being paranoid, and I'm sure it comes up at other times, but it just really p**ses me off when I'm starting to promote an album. Obviously there's a "source" but I don't know what anyone has to gain from continually lying about myself and a Spice Girls reunion.
VM: You've got a huge following across Europe, and this year's UK Eurovision hopefuls included a lot of ex-pop group solo artists - Liz McClarnon, Justin Hawkins, Brian Harvey. Will we be seeing you in next year's Eurovision?
Mel C: I think there'd have to be a huge change in the way we view Eurovision for me to want to enter. It's really good fun and I enjoy watching it, but I don't think it's something I'd like to take part in.
VM: Are you a Scooch fan?
Mel C: No! It's nice that we're going to be embarrassed as a nation once again...
VM: What about reality TV? Is that something you'd consider?
Mel C: Absolutely not. I took part in a show called The Games about three years ago that had a very small element of reality - it mostly concentrated on the events and the training. I thought I'd be able to handle the tiny bit of reality that was in it but I couldn't, I didn't like it, I wouldn't want to do that again.
