Melanie C has finally “made peace” with always being a Spice Girl.
The 52-year-old singer shot to fame as a member of the girl group alongside Geri Horner, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham, and it took until the band’s fourth and most recent reunion tour, in 2019, for her to understand that Sporty Spice will always be a part of who she is.
She told Rolling Stone magazine: “When we did the stadium shows, it just finally hit home. I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my God, how does a 40-something jump around as Sporty Spice to ‘Wannabe’?’ But as soon as we started rehearsing, it was just there: Sporty Spice isn’t somebody I become. It’s within me.
“I really made peace with being a Spice Girl every day. Even when I’m onstage as a solo artist, I have to embrace the Spice Girl in me because she never goes away. She’s always there, and I felt so much more comfortable.
“I think as a young person, a lot of us make the mistake of looking outside to discover who we are when we’re always there.”
While Melanie refused to be drawn on speculation that there will be another Spice Girls tour, she revealed her favourite tracks to sing with the group because of the response they get from fans.
She said: “It’s funny because what I used to call the silly songs — a song like ‘Wannabe’ or ‘Spice Up Your Life’ — they’re the ones that really take the roof off. They’re the ones that people just go nuts for.
“So, I think for the experience of that and seeing other people’s joy, it would have to be ‘Wannabe’ or ‘Spice Up Your Life’.”
The Northern Star hitmaker released her ninth album, Sweat, earlier this year, and she delved into a vast range of personal feelings while writing the songs because some were inspired by the end of her long-term relationship with former manager Joe Marshall, while others were penned after she had just married Chris Dingwall.
She said: “I had all of these things going on, all of these phone conversations and arguments and all of this anger to get out, but then I also met somebody and I fell in love with the man that went on to become my husband.
“I feel like [the album] crossed such a range of human emotions. It gave me a great journey to go on through the record.”