What an incredible year it was for Melanie C! For one, 2019 saw the reunion tour of what’s still considered as the ultimate and unrivaled ‘90s girl group, the Spice Girls. And Melanie — a.k.a. Sporty Spice — couldn’t be more grateful.
“I’m most thankful this year just for the amount of love and affection that was shown to the Spice Girls in the shows,” she told The STAR in an exclusive phone interview on Monday. “And I know what I’m looking forward to next year — getting out there and seeing those fans who always make the journey to London, to the UK. I’m looking forward to bringing new music to my fans, internationally. I love traveling, I love performing, I love meeting my fans. So, that’s what 2020 is for me.”
With that said, you’re reading it first here, on STAR, that Melanie C is coming to Manila in 2020 for the first time ever to meet her Filipino fans and perform her brand-new music. These include High Heels, an anthem about “self-love, community and holding on to the good times,” which was produced by Grammy-winning DJ/producer Alex Metric and co-written by Melanie with Rae Morris and Fryars. This also marks a career milestone for Melanie C, as it’s been 20 years since she went solo via Northern Star, the biggest-selling solo Spice Girl album to date.
Here’s the rest of our 15-minute interview:
What was the inspiration behind your new song High Heels?
“I started the year actually, before I started working with the Spice Girls, I was in the studio. And I met a wonderful, creative collective called Sink the Pink a couple of years ago. And it’s a really outrageous nightclub here in London. There are drag queens and everybody dresses up and it just looks incredible. And I went along and performed there a couple of years ago. And I just found the environment so inclusive and so much fun that I wanted to write a song about how it made me feel. And I performed with the drag queens from Sink the Pink a few times and it being so beautifully received by the audience just went crazy.
“So, we wanted to do something bigger. And then this summer, we made a plan to travel and perform at Pride all over the world. And I just thought it’d be really, really lovely to have a song specifically for that. That’s how High Heels came about. And this song is really about having an amazing night out with your friends and just that feeling of, you know, joy. And I think there’s lots of ladies and guys that can identify with getting those high heels off and going crazy, jumping around. So that’s how the song was inspired.”
Is it going to be part of a full-length album?
“Yeah, well, this song (High Heels) is quite specific but the rest of the album is still electronic… There’s definitely some more dance-y tracks on there, but there will also be some more chilled out moments and more thoughtful things. I’m planning to drop a new song in March and to be doing that traveling, and it’s my hope and my intention to come to the Philippines for the very first time in my entire life. So, I’m very, very excited and looking ahead to do that.”
A few years ago, you were a judge on Asia’s Got Talent, and you must have already met some Filipino talents.
“I did. There’s incredible talent from the Philippines. There’s such a high standard of singers from there, isn’t it? It was something I didn’t know. And (fellow judge) David Foster said to me, whenever we had a Filipino contestant, he would say, she’s going to be an incredible singer. And he was always right. It’s just amazing how you produce so many great singers. So that was, you know, lovely for me to really experience so many different parts of Asian culture. And I can’t believe I’ve never been to the Philippines so I can’t wait to get there. We’re planning to do it quite early next year because I’d like to do the next single.”
Would there be more reunion tours for Spice Girls?
“And I would love to do more. There are no plans at the moment. But you know, the Spice Girls are, we are we’re very difficult and things change all the time (laughs). And so, you know, this (reunion) show was amazing and I’d love to travel with the show and get to territories like over there in the Philippines that we never got to as a band, but yet, it kind of we need everybody to agree on something and it takes us a long time to get to that point.”
What’s your attitude now towards music-making, compared to your time with the Spice Girls in the ’90s and during your first solo outing with Northern Star?
“I think, in many ways, it’s the same. I love to be creative and to collaborate with great songwriters and artists and producers. And I think, you know, things have just evolved with my experiences, both musically, professionally and in my personal life. And I just feel like it’s a journey. I feel like I’ve kind of grown up in the industry, and there’s so many exciting things and it’s changed a lot as well, from the way we make music, technology has changed the recording process, all the way through to how people think music and how people consume it.
“I think working on music now, you have to be very open to change because it really isn’t the same as it was in the ’90s and I found that really exciting and so that’s kept things really fresh for me and, you know, kept me really motivated to keep wanting to make music.”
You’ve done a lot as a solo artist, but how do you feel about fans who will always remember or consider you as Sporty Spice?
“Of course and goodness, you know, I’d be surprised if it was different. The Spice Girls was huge. You know, I will never do anything as a solo artist that would be bigger than the Spice Girls and I just feel very lucky that that is a huge part of my life. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I am Sporty Spice, I am Melanie C, I am a mum, I am a girlfriend, you know, I am all of these things every day. You know, I will always be Sporty Spice and I’m very proud of that fact.”
Can you imagine the Spice Girls in this day and age of social media?
“I feel really lucky that there is no such thing as social media when Spice Girls came out because I feel for artists now, I feel like there is so much exposure. You know, when we started and obviously, you’re in the media, you’re in newspapers and magazines, and that’s weird, you know, that’s something you have to get used to.
“But I think for young people now, the pressures of being on social media, it feels like there’s almost no escape. People have to not only expose themselves professionally, but it’s almost like there’s an appetite for people to expose their personal life. And I think that can be very dangerous, because, you know, what, if you’re young, we all make mistakes when we’re young, we all do things that we might regret when we’re older. And it’s all documented now and because of the Internet, it’s there forever, and I just think it’s kind of... you have to be more careful and when you’re in the public eye more than ever before.”
You’ve become an important voice on mental health, depression, girl power and body positivity. As an artist, do you feel you have this responsibility to talk about these issues through your music?
“I think every artist is different. Personally for me, I kind of use my music to give myself strength. There are certain things in my life that I want to explore through writing songs, and it’s almost like a therapeutic thing. And I grew up listening to music and you know, especially when you grow up in your teens and things can be difficult. And I found artists and music, and I found comfort in that and strength in people’s music. And I now do that for myself. And I hope to do that for people who listen to my music.”