Melanie C is out Oct. 2
For Melanie Chisholm, aka Melanie C, the music hasn’t stopped just because the world has. The Spice Girl has spent most of the pandemic performing new music, thanks to Instagram Live. “It’s been a really great way to connect with fans around the world, especially as I can’t tour like I’d like to right now,” Chisholm, 46, tells WHO over a Zoom call from her home in London. “I needed to get my gig fix, too!”
Chisholm’s also been busy finessing her eighth solo album called Melanie C. “Every album has been a real reflection of a time in my life,” she explains. “But the past few years, I’ve been through a shift personally. Last year was such an incredible year for me: I toured with the Spice Girls, did Pride shows and I got to the point where I thought, ‘Wow, I truly feel comfortable in my own skin.’ Sadly, it’s taken this bloody long, but I finally got here and so that’s why I called the album Melanie – it doesn’t get much more ‘this is me’ than that!”
CYou’ve really connected with your fans directly recently. How has that been? After being in the public eye from a really young age, I’ve always been quite protective of my personal life. But now we’re all experiencing something very similar so I just felt really compelled to reach out to people. It’s been a really challenging time so I did some online Q and As and then did some performances from home, and the response from fans was so great. It was wonderful to have that support.
Tell us about your new album …
It’s full of proper bangers. You can have a dance – it might have to be a kitchen disco but you can still dance to it. It’s definitely the most honest and open I’ve been lyrically, too. I’m really proud of it.
The Spice Girls promoted girl power. Do you think that message still resonates? Definitely but it’s evolved, too. It was so incredible to see how that resonated with the fans when we toured the UK last year. We were playing at bigger venues than we did in the ’90s. Predominantly the audience consisted of women in their 30s and one of the most special moments was during ‘Mama’. We’d look out at the audience and just see a sea of mums, daughters and granddaughters having a moment during that song. We’re so proud of the legacy we’re leaving with our girl power message, but now it’s taken on new life.
Please tell us you’ll bring both that tour and your own tour back to Australia!
Mel B and myself will go on and on forever if we could, and we’d love to get down there. We would like to do more Spice Girls shows. I’m in constant contact with the girls. We actually all caught up – yes, all five of us – for the first time in a couple of years. But we
Melanie found fame with the Spice Girls in 1996. And despite the fact Victoria Beckham didn’t join their reunion Spiceworld tour last year, all five Spice Girls recently met up “for a cup of tea”, says Melanie, at Geri Horner’s home. didn’t end up talking about the tour, sorry. Going through the pandemic has made us all re-evaluate everything so we wanted to check in with each other. It’s hard to go out so we met at Geri’s country place. It was about reconnecting. It was really special. What’s next for you?
I’m doing a live stream show to promote the album [at 8pm AEST on October 2]. It’s killing me not being able to perform this album live. I’m just a tour whore – I want to be out there playing. But this will be the next best thing!
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THE POP SUPERSTAR SPILLS ON HER FRESH NEW SOUND AND TOURING WITH THE GIRLS
For anyone itching to hop on a plane, Todd Sampson provides the perfect antidote with his extreme travel adventure series, Body Hack. Four years after he first set out to explore the world’s most extraordinary people, Sampson, 50, heads to Utah in the US to examine the intriguing world of extreme drivers and why they risk their lives for their passion.
After exploring the power of speed at the Bonneville Salt Flats land-speed racing event, Sampson joins a father-and-son team of demolition derby champions, before heading across the world to understand the disciplinary work of Japanese martial arts. But this season will see Sampson put himself through his toughest challenge yet – getting initiated into a voodoo religious sect. “I wanted to understand voodoo from the inside, so I got initiated into the religion. It was wild, scary and wonderful,” he told WHO.
What does your wife and kids think of the crazy things you put yourself through on Body Hack?
Neomie and I have a deal: she doesn’t want to know what I’m doing until it’s done. As she says, “I don’t have time to worry about your silly things. I’ve got a family to run.” My kids, they look at everything I do and tell me how they could do it better. My family is a great leveller; I love them for that. The two words that are dear to Neomie are “life insurance”. I understand that. Is there anything you set out to try on Body Hack that you’ve turned down?
Not really because I choose what I do based on how best to understand the subjects. I refused to hunt a giraffe in Africa but then went on to eat a baboon and sloth.
Did the pandemic have any effect on the new season?
Yes. We were emergency evacuated out of Rio de Janeiro, where we were filming the fourth episode. We got the last flight out and never finished it.
What would be your next dream film project?
To explore the people living at the International Space Station. (Watch Tue., 7.30pm on Network 10)