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Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:18 PM Post #1
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	Hi, I am sorry it's not a new documentary As I did for the videography topic, I open this new one to collect the info and the stories behind Spice Girls and solo music made by themselves and their collaborators (producers, writers, etc. etc) I hope you'll find it interesting. Thanks


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:18 PM Post #2
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	Spice


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:18 PM Post #3
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	spice


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:18 PM Post #4
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	Hey, do you know what’s so funny about that song? I was with Virgin Records at the time and they didn’t want me to do it. They didn’t think it was the right thing to do, but my reasons for doing it were — and I love Bryan — [that] my mum is his biggest fan. [When] I met him, I was in LA, I was on tour with the girls. I was in the hotel. I got on a lift and a guy got in with a guitar on his back. I kind of thought, “I know him” — I turn around and it’s Bryan. We’d met him at Top Of The Pops a few months earlier, and we just started chatting and I said, “My mum is in the bar downstairs, could you do me the biggest favor and just come and say hi?” And he was so sweet, he went, “Sure. I’m going to put my guitar in my room, and then I’ll come down.” He sat with us all night and we had a few drinks and him and my mum chatted away. [When] I got home to the UK, he called me up and said, “Hey I’ve got this song [‘When You’re Gone’], I’d really love you to sing on it,” and I was like, “Yeah, I’m in,” without even hearing the song. Because I thought, “If I say no to Bryan Adams, my mum would disown me.” Luckily, “When You’re Gone” is a great song, it’s been so successful. It’s the song probably that gets played the most — of all of the songs I’m involved with, the Spice Girls and solo records — on British radio and in Europe. Tell you what’s really funny is, whenever I get in a black cab in London, it’s like the drivers’ favorite, so they recognize me, go, “Oh, I love that song you did with Bryan Adams.” I’m glad I did it. Because working with Bryan was my first solo outing without the girls. He put his faith in me and it gave me that confidence to go on and pursue a solo career. Melanie C - www.stereogum.com - Nov 2021 Matt, Biff and I recorded Goin' Down at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. We went out the night before and the boys got wasted. We got in the next day and Matt was white as a sheet. Biff and I cracked on, as Matt lay on the floor trying to recover. I told Biff I wanted to get into something guitar-based, something along the lines of Blur and Oasis. Biff came up with a riff, and we wrote it wthin an hour. Biff was there playing the guitar, I was screaming into the mic, letting out all the anger and rage, and Matt was passed out to the floor, somehow oblivious to all the noise. We just stepped over him and carried on. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story It was difficult at first to choose writers and producers for my album, initially it was offers that were made to me, I was really flattered being an artist on my own, without the power of the Spice Girls. The first guy to approach me was William Orbit. I was blown away, but he'd read an interview where I'd said I'd listened to a lot of his work, so he called and said why not work together, so that was one thing I definitely wanted to hook up. And then it was Rick Knowles who was over from America and got in touch with my office and said he'd like to meet me and stuff and we got on straight away and I'm a really big fan of Madonna and I love the stuff he's done with her I wasn't really familiar with the other stuff he'd done but he's done a lot of Belinda Carlisle - you know great pop tunes. I initially went over to LA to work with Rick Knowles and that's when I got with all the other people. And then again I worked with Matt and Biff through years of working with the Spice Girls. I couldn't not work with them they are my mates I love to work with them and they have great ideas and we work great as a team. Elliot Kennedy who we worked with on our first Spice Girls album, we didn't actually get to work with him on the second and I felt he's a great writer and he did the Bryan Adams track that I worked on. Phil Thornally who's worked with Natalie Imbruglia, I'd worked with him years ago before the Spice Girls were signed, so we had a good working relationship. Rick Rubin, was very anxious to get me in with a live band and get them down as live tracks, which is something I was really excited to hear. I wasn't afraid of that and spending New Years Eve in the studio doing a lot of stuff on the computer. It was nice being in that environment with musicians rather than having a session in one evening. It's very different from just going in and recording the vocals. It was great, we did four or five of the tracks together and I was there right from the beginning when the band went in there. I even made a demo for the first time and we were strumming it out, working out what the chords were, that was an experience in itself, and I was in there singing along with the band, it was really good fun. Melanie C - Dotmusic, Sept. 1999 The first person who I wanted... at first I wanted William Orbit to produce the album but he actually approached me before I started writing and he'd read in an interview that you know I'd listened to a lot of his music and that I was a fan of his and so he was interested in us working together. Now in the end it worked out he was so busy and I've been so busy we only got together at the last minute and 'Go!', the first song on the album, ironically was the last song that was written and is the only one that was co-written and produced by William Orbit. But you know we hope to work together again in the future. And then other than that, Rick Rubin who's also a producer on the album, since meeting him a year ago with the Spice Girls he's become a really good friend and you know I really wanted him to work on the album. I love all the stuff he's done before and he heard the tracks and he was really into it so we had a great time doing some stuff together. And then there was Marius De Vries as well, I love his work, he's done the last two Madonna albums and also he's just produced a new band called The Lucy Nation which is great. So I got in touch with him, he heard the stuff and he wanted to be a part of it so we did some stuff together, that was cool. And then Rhett Lawrence is the other producer on there and we just done a couple of tracks together, one of them is on the album, and he knows Left Eye from TLC and that's how that came about 'cos I wanted a rap on the song in that style actually. It was funny 'cos they said 'oh I can hear like a TLC kind of rap' and then he goes 'oh I know Left Eye.' And it was like 'uhh?' So that all came together and that was great 'cos she's my favourite out of TLC. In fact most of the people I've worked with on the album I've worked with them because I really like them as people, and then the Left Eye thing because I just admire her so much I think she's fantastic, she's such a great personality you know and she has got such an individual style of rapping, so I'm lucky to have her on there. But I've not got her on as like you know a token TLC rap in it, it's not that at all it's because I really like her. I've done a lot of the writing... well I done some of the writing here in England, in London, and some in Dublin as well. I worked... at first when I started it was like Spice Girls collaborations, it's friends of mine, people who I'm comfortable with, and we got some great tracks. I worked with Elliot Kennedy who done a lot of work on 'Spice' the first album and Matt and Biff who you know we work with all the time and then I wanted to look further afield, I wanted to experiment, I wanted to work with new people. So Rick Nowels was interested in working with me so I met him and we got on very well and then that has become quite a dream collaboration actually, we worked really, really well together and we wrote not only the songs on the album but we've written a lot of songs together. Also Phil Thornally, the Spice Girls worked with him quite a few years ago, about four years ago, we done some work together and I enjoyed working with him. I met him again through Bryan Adams actually and I really loved his work he'd done with Natalie Imbruglia and so we got together and wrote some great songs. It was all quite coincidental, all the people who I worked with it just sort of fell into place and like I say there's people who I want to work with and people who've approached me and hopefully I'll work with them in the future. With the tracklisting and also the songs that appear on the album, for me it was just the running order that felt right, you know, it took you... well hopefully it takes a listener where I wanted them to go with the album. Also, there's so many songs that have been left off the album, not because they weren't of a good enough standard because I just had so much material and just what fit best together eventually made the album. So I'm going to have very strong b-sides and you know, hopefully if the appropriate film should come up I'll be on some soundtracks as well. It was such a hard process deciding what was going to go on the album 'cos as I said before I had what I feel such great songs, songs that I really loved and was sad, you know, not to see them on the album, but I'll find a home for them I'm sure. But as for putting them all together... and also because I've used a number of different producers as well, and that was something that I think a lot of artists fear, you know, is like not having an overall sound, it sounded a bit mishmash. But it's something that I'm not afraid of, I like to listen to a lot of compilation albums and you know in America soundtracks are the big thing and so obviously there you've got different artists, you've got different bands, different producers and so on. I think the running theme is that it's all from me, you know, lyrically and melodically it's all things I've been through, it's my experiences. And then the sounds, I mean vocally I've chosen to use my voice in different ways on different tracks but it's still my voice and I think to someone who's familiar with my voice that's quite apparent and then maybe that is the running theme that holds it all together. Melanie C - Brasian Jan. 2000. People might think Northern Star was about the band but it's about the media: "They build you up so they can tear you down". Meaning: you have to have faith in yourself. "I have learned my lesson well, the truth is out there". Meaning: you f*ers can say what you want and tell all your lies but this little northern star, she'll get trought this. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story I was in LA with a songwriter called Rhett Lawrence, who made Mariah Careys Vision Of Love, and we got to this point with a song that you always get you. It's here but it's not there. You've written a chorus, a pre-chorus, a couple of verses and we arrived at middle-eight, or the bridge as they say in the US. I say to Rhett: "I can hear a Lisa Left Eye Lopes style rap here". Rhett was like: "I know the girls, I'll put a call in". Nex thing you know, Let Eye is on the track. Lisa recorded her part separately. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story I always wanted the royalties to go to charity because the song was inspired by homelessness. The lyrics are simple but very self-explanatory. Myself and my friends give spare change to homeless people but how's that going to help? We need to do something more constructive and help people have more pride in themselves. The charity I'm giving the money to, www.kandu-arts.com, is about getting people back on their feet, it's about music and TV, so they've got something to live for as well as somewhere to live. Melanie C - Worldpop, Nov. 2000 Working on Reason was the first time I met Peter Vettesse, who is someone I've gone on to work with closely over the years. He was based on Battersea, at a studio called Sphere. I was back at the Strongroom with the producer and composer Marius De Vries. Marius played me a track he'd been working on with Dr. Robert from The Blow Monkeys. Here It Comes Again was the first song we wrote for Reason. I worked with David Arnold for the first time at the beautiful AIR Studios in Hampstead, north London. I love David, he's an extraordinary talent and so fun to be around. He also worked with Bjork and Massive Attack so I felt really lucky to work with him. I needed to scratch my LA itch, so I spent another three months there back with Rick Nowels, Rhett Lawrence, Pat McCarthy, and Damien LeGassick. It was all very good, very positive vibes. For the songs I worked on with Pat, he got the most incredible band together for me. It was a really fun process because we we'd rehearse as a band, so the song would evolve before we came to record it. It's a very satisfying way to make a record - the old fashioned way. I couldn't help but let the pressure get to me. thought. How was I going to match up to my debut? I was singing my heart out, but was this music that people wanted to listen to? Would it sell? The team I knew from Virgin were no more. I lost level of support and understanding that I'd had with Ashley Newton. Except for one or two people, it was totally new team over at Virgin. The were very excited and positive but their expectations were high. Because Northern Star had sold over two million copies, they expected Reason to do four million. Napster, among other things, had other ideas. By the time I was getting ready to release Reason in 2003, it was disrupting the whole industry. I can't blame blame Reason's lack of success entirely on people downloading music for free. There are some beautiful songs on there, but it isn't a strong album. It lacked clarity and the ear of an A&R like Ashley. It was also the difficult second record. Many artists have fallen on thatt sword, and I was one of the them. There had also been three-year delay between two records. Because Northern Star had sone so well and for so long, I was touring and prooting that record well into 2001. Because Northern Star had made so much money, Virgin allowed me to spend a ton of cash on the follow-up anf they wanted that money back. I think we only sold around half a million copies. On 1st January 2004, when I was on my arse - literally on my arse - Virgin dropped me. Three months after busting my knee, two weeks before my thirtieth birthday, on the first day of a new year. Happy New Year! Happy birthday! Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story Four months after being dropped from Virgin, I set up Red Girl Records, insipred of course, by the colours of Liverpool Football Club. Having my own label gave me the opportunity to rethink everything. When I began thinking about my third album Beautiful Intentions, I decided to tear up the rulebook. We enlisted independent A&R Morgan Nelson and for the first time I worked with just one producer across the record. I had a lot of anger to express on this album, which inspired me to go into more of a rock direction. I worked with the wonderful Greg Haver, good Welsh stock, who'd previously worked with Manic Street Preachers and Super Furry Animals. It felt exciting. Beautiful Intentions did ok in UK but it went on to do well in Europe. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story I had a deal with Warner Music in Germany, who were distributing my music over there. They had an idea for me to record a song written by Guy Chambers and Enrique Iglesias called First Day Of My Life. They wanted to use it as a theme tune for a telenovela and that ended up being my first German number one in October 2005. It was also used on a telenovela in Portugal, which gave the album success in two territories. It helped to keep me very busy. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story It was 2007 and I was still with Warner Music Germany. They were keen to get another out quicky on the back of the success of Beautiful Intentions. This would be the first album where lots of the songs were written or co-written by a good friend of mine, a great songwriter called Adam Argyle. We first work together on Next Best Superstar. Where Beautiful Intentions had been quite rocky, First Day Of My Life was a big old traditional ballad with strings. Warner were quite keen to go with a ballad-driven album for the German market and they want to do it quickly. This suited me at the time because I realised I really wanted to have a baby, so my mind was elsewhere. But there was no heart and soul in the album, which is called This Time - I found some great songs and put them together but it wasn't a record I devoted my heart and soul. And so of course, the album fell on it's arse, although First Day of My Life was a big hit in Europe. I also knew there was a Spice Girls reunion on the cards. I saw that as a great platform to push my solo record but Warner were annoyed about me going off to do a reunion, so they pulled the marketing budget. They felt if I was doing a Spice Girls reunion I wouldn't have time to promote the record. Thay saw it as a clash rather than a great opportunity for the two projects to feed each other. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story The Sea was a classic pop record, but it was inspired by different generes throught, a little bit like Northern Star. One of the early session fot The Sea album was down in Brighton at Biff's studio which is incredible - it's a great space. I loved walking along the seafront before a session and the title track The Sea, was one of the first song we did, written after one of those walks. The feeling of that song inspired the rest of the album. The Sea was a tricky one because it was a return to form in many ways - it felt like the strongest piece of work I'd made in quite a while. It didn't perform very well but by then the industry had changed so much and maybe we - me and my team - didn't evolve with them. I was spending a lot of money making, marketing and promoting my music with the mindset that I simply needed a good song. That's not how things worked anymore. I was really happy with the album, and I was feeling good with mysef. I felt like I looked the best I'd looked in my career. I was confident in my music, I was confident in myself and for it to not do as well as I hoped was tough. I am always ambitious. I pour my heart and soul into my work. I really thought The Sea was the one. It was hard to pick myself up again after that, but I managed to get over the disappointment because whatever the reasons were that it didn't do well, I knew I'd made a good record. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story I really wanted to make an electronic album, and I wanted to make an album that I would buy now. I’ve always been a pop artist but I’ve experimented in the past. I’ve loved doing a little bit of rock, something more R&B, and acoustic stuff, but this time I was thinking about lots of bands and albums that I keep going back to, like Massive Attack and Portishead and Zero 7. And then I was looking at what the charts are like now, and there’s loads of dance stuff out there. I love The Weeknd, and DJ Snake, and Major Lazer, and Sia, and Jack Garratt, so [I was] just taking all of those elements and being inspired by that. And then, with my voice – which is quite distinctive – it was fun finding this whole new thing that worked for me. There’s a song on the album called ‘Version Of Me’ and I felt like it was a good album title because every time I’ve made a record, it really feels like it’s an expression of myself at that time. As well as that, I feel like we have many versions of ourselves. How I behave in front of my parents is very different to how I behave in front of my friends down the pub, you know? So I do think we have these versions of ourselves and it just felt very fitting for this record. Melanie C - www.uk.7digital.com, Oct. 2016 It's great to have Peter Vettese and Adam Argyle on this record. I like to be very candid and write from personal experience. It's good to be with people I've worked with for a long time. You're exposing your innermost thoughts and feelings so you need to be comfortable. I was super nervous with Sons of Sonix. But we share publishers and they had the idea to put us together. It's not something I would have thought of doing. But the publisher knew us personally and felt it would work. It was great. It may be the only time in history where every session ended up on the record. Everything we did went straight on. Some songs, usually the ones that work out well, happen quickly. The inspiration is flowing and it kinda just comes. Other times it takes days to rewrite a chorus. Melanie C - www.shropshirestar.com, Nov. 2016 As a vocalist and a writer, it feels very natural to me, very expressive, to have those soulful melodies, rhythms and sounds. But, R&B has evolved a lot in its approach, melodically and rhythmically, then how it would have been done in the ‘90s. So, I think that my collaboration with Sons of Sonix was instrumental in that difference (between Northern Star and Version of Me). I’m sure you’re well aware of the grime scene here in the U.K., which is just huge here at the moment and Sons of Sonix have been involved there. It’s a British interpretation of an urban, R&B sound. It was an unusual collaboration for me, but also an interesting meeting of minds. They had been fans of the Spice Girls as kids, even now that they’re these cool guys working in grime music. Melanie C - www.albumism.com, Nov. 2016 I started to to work on a new record, Version Of Me in june 2014 two years before it came out. I went to LA with Peermusic, who were my publishers at the time. I had some bizzarre writing session, which was good because because I didn't have a direction at the time. It was lovely to be back with Rick Nowels again, after a magical time writing Northern Star and I teamed up with a London-based production duo Mo Samuels and Mikey Akin, who together know as Sons of Sonix. Instinctively I knew I would like to go in a more electonic direction. I's always talked about loving trip-hop, band like Massive Attack and Portishead, and I'd always planned to explore that sound. This felt like the time, the album to execute that vision more fully. I didn't just want to do me, I wanted to do, wait for it, a version of me!. I love Version Of Me. It's a bit all over the place, a bit experimental in parts, and all done on a tight budget. It was an important record for me because it allowed me to take a risk. I knew that had nothing to loose. Room For Love was inspired by meeting Joe, the title track Version Of Me is about some of the troubles I had in the band and Blame with Peter Vattese was inspired by the breakdown of the relationship with with Tom. I've written my most personal songs with Peter, he's such an important collaborator. He has real belief in me and he always encouraged me to dig into depths of my soul. Melanie C - Who I Am, My Story Room For Love This particular song, I didn’t expect it to ever be a single. But there was so much love for this song from the fans as I’ve been traveling around and performing the album this year, it kind of felt like we had to do it. As a thank you for all the support over the year. This song is special to me, as it has quite a personal lyric. It was inspired by me reaching a point in my life where I have so much stuff, whether it be materialistic or responsibilities, our lives are just so full! But I was without love. I just got to the point where I had to make room, I’ve had to find some space (for love). To love and to be loved are the most important things for a human being to experience. That is where the inspiration came from for the lyric. And I just love it melodically. It was my first session with Sons of Sonix and it just felt like a magical couple of days in the studio where that song came from. Melanie C - www.albumism.com, Nov. 2016 I wrote this with Biff Stannard, who I've written with since my Spice Girls days, and Bryn Christopher, who I hadn't worked with before. So it was a really nice combination of having that history and the security to be vulnerable, and then having someone new and fresh in the mix. It's about how I've spent a lot of time not speaking up for myself, and now that I do, it confuses people who are used to me going with the flow. Instead of feeling embarrassed or ashamed of those things, it's time for me to own them, and be proud that I overcame them. The whole album is a massive healing process. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 I was bitching and moaning with Niamh Murphy, one of the co-writers, about friends who had let us down, and the lyrics came out of that. It's about having someone who you rely on, and then something happening which rocks your world and makes you think, ‘That was the dynamic of our friendship and I never even saw it.’ I'm not confrontational, I don't really fall out with people, so being able to express those feelings in songs is a great way of getting my emotions out. It's one of the tracks where I've used my voice quite differently—it's a lower tone and a bit more aggressive on the mic than I'd normally be. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 Good Enough I wrote this with Future Cut and Shura, who is an artist that I adore. She's another Northern lass with very similar musical influences to me. It was the first time that the three of us had worked together, so it was a bit like an awkward first date. Again, I was bitching and moaning—I do a lot of that in the studio—about someone who was driving me to distraction, finding fault in everything, nitpicking and saying nothing is ever good enough. Sometimes I feel nervous to do things I deem youthful, because I don't want to be trying to be something I'm not. But working with younger artists has been a great way to push me out of my comfort zone. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 Escape I came into the studio and was having one of those days when I was feeling overwhelmed and didn't know what I wanted. I was feeling like life is such a treadmill, and we're all on it working so hard to achieve certain things. But what if it's all bollocks? What if we just did something completely different? That's where the idea for ‘Escape’ came from. It's weird because since we wrote it, COVID has happened, and we've all had the opportunity to stop, or at least slow down. Now I'm getting back to work, I can identify with the sentiment again. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 Overload I like to have references to my other songs—song titles or lyrics—in my work. And on ‘Overload,’ the lyric ‘I don't want to be your acceptable version of me’ harks back to my last album, Version of Me. It's about feeling under a lot of pressure, and people driving you mad. There's a big theme of people driving me mad on this album (funnily enough, I was writing it during Spice Girls tour rehearsals!). This was written in one of the first sessions, with Jonny Lattimer. I loved his work with Ellie Goulding, so it was brilliant to get in the studio, just the two of us. I've worked in a more modern way on this album, with bigger teams, so it was nice to go back to something a bit more intimate. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 Fearless (feat. Nadia Rose) I'd seen Nadia Rose being interviewed on Kathy Burke's All Woman documentary and kind of fell in love with her. Then I watched her video for ‘Skwod’ and thought she had such a great, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, as well as being a brilliant rapper. About two weeks later I was DJing at a Fashion Week party, and as I was heading for the exit, someone came running after me—and it was her. I took it as a sign that we should collaborate, which she was super excited to do. We set up a session with Paul O'Duffy and drove up to his place in Hertfordshire together, chatting in the car. We were talking about being a woman in music, and how, in order to pursue your dreams, you have to do petrifying things—whether that's going onstage in front of thousands of people or turning up at a stranger’s house for a session. Out of that came the idea of encouraging people to be fearless and go for their dreams, like we both have. I love how lush and expensive this one sounds. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 Here I Am This is a really important song for me. I was in the studio with Tom Neville and Poppy Bascombe to re-vocal something, and when we'd finished we thought, ‘Shall we have a crack at another song?’ I'd had a mad dream the night before where I was tumbling down in water. I could see my boyfriend, but he was obscured and I didn't know if he could see me or knew that I needed help. I'm always reading stuff into dreams, and I thought it would make a good starting point for a song. For me, the dream was about how so often you feel like you can't keep your head above water, but at some point you have to help yourself Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 Nowhere To Run I was listening to and getting quite obsessed with Billie Eilish, so I was inspired to look at doing some darker production. I wrote it with Biff, who also loves to write songs that are very 'up' and dancy, and which then go really dark. Something that I'd never explored in a writing capacity, but which felt comfortable to do with him, was the experience of having panic attacks. We'd written the first verse and chorus, but I didn't have any words for the second verse. I hadn't had a panic attack for months, and then I went out to a restaurant and had one in public for the first time ever, which was terrifying. But as soon as it passed I thought, ‘That’s brilliant, I've got a great idea for the second verse now.’ Weirdly, one of the lyrics that we'd already written was ‘I see exit signs, but there's no way out.’ Then, when I was having the panic attack, I could see the exit, but would've had to cross through the restaurant to leave. So there really was no way out. Life was imitating art. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 In And Out Of Love I wanted to do something really fun and disco. It's about being on the pull, inspired by the days when I had no responsibilities and would go on a night out and find romance on the dance floor. It's super frivolous, which I think is a welcome change of pace after 'Nowhere to Run.’ My daughter is 11 and she's in control of the dial when we're in the car, so I'd been listening to a lot of her pop playlists, a lot of Dua Lipa. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 End Of Everything This was written in an early session with Sacha Skarbek, who comes from a much more traditional songwriting background. Lyrically, it's about all the changes that I've been through, including leaving my manager of 18 years and changing most of my team, and all of the emotions that come with that. I wanted to explore the feeling of something ending in your life and being left void of any emotion. It's an interesting space to inhabit. This song was always earmarked to close the album. Melanie C - Apple Music, Oct. 2020 This post has been edited by Babyboy**: 4th November 2022, 11:02 PM


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:19 PM Post #5
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	The first step was giving myself a test run in the recording studio. I had worked with Absolute production team - Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins - since the early days of the Spice Girls. They had collaborated with the girls and myself on Spice classics like Say You'll Be There and Who Do You Think You Are? and I felt very comfortable with them. I knew I believed I had a talent to make it because they had seen me deliver the goods in the past. I wanted to write and record my solo album with them. When I sat down and heard the completed album, I felt a real sense of achievement. The whole thing had come together very quickly because I was so eager to get it done. I knew it wasn't perfect but I was proud of it. Not bad for a first attempt, I thought. I had hoped that my album would be number one. The Spice Girls had done it and I wanted Schizophonic to repeat the feat so I was pretty gutted when it only made it to number four. It wasn't as big a blow as it had been with the single but it was disappointing because I had very high hopes. I had always know that releasing an album would lay myself open to further criticism so I had a mixture of feelings when the record came out. I was really nervous because I had so much to prove and the songs were so personal. The album reflected all the different emotions and moods I'd experienced in the months since I left the group. On the sleeve I divided the songs into two sides - one red and one white. Red is for hot and for ego, and white is more spiritual and emotional. Look At Me was on the red side but the songs that meant most to me where on the white side like Someone's Watching Over Me which was about dad and my belief that he's up there looking for me. Someone's Watching Over Me The song talks about how I often imagined Dad watching me and how, every time I did something in my career, I'd say: "This is for you Dad". Somehow that helped. Walk Away I always want my songs to be real, so I draw on my life. I really poured my heart into Walk Away which was about my mixed emotions over leaving the Spice Girls. I wanted to express the combination of fear and self-belief I felt as I stepped out on my own. I was saying:"I'm really scared but I think I can make it on my own". There's one line that talks walking away from emptiness. I wasn't saying that the Spice Girls experience was empty because it wasn't but it was an acknowledgement that I felt pretty empty by the end, no matter how much success we had achieved. It was also a song about expressing emotions that had been bottled up. The only time I had been able to cry since leaving was when I was watching a video of Dead Man Walking, the drama about a convict on death row, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. I cried my eyes out, but I wasn't really crying over the movie. I was crying about the girls. Walk Away was my attempt to reflect those feeings. Geri - Just For The Record Look At Me was my choice. I didn't think that I could be shy about my comeback an thought it was a good idea to return with a song that people would either love or hate it but couldn't be indifferent to. Look At Me was in your face and full of attitude and that seemd like the right message to send. At the same time the song appealed to me because it had an ironic sense of humor wich was aimed at myself as much of anyhing. I was aware that I had an image as someone pushy who wanted to be the centre of attention all the time, so the title was intended to show a bit of humor and self-awareness. I thought the song was fun and very playful. I was sick of sensible Geri and wanted to move on and it was perfect vehicle. I rarely let the record company decide what songs I should release as singles. I prefer to rely on the advice of the most honest and intuitive audience avaliable...kids. One day, when he was over for a visit with his mum, I put my little nephew Alistair in to the back on my car and took him out for a spin. He might have thought this was justa fun trip to the shops but I had other ideas. After a few minutes I put a copy of Look At Me in the car stereo and watched how he reacted. Would he bounce up and down? Would he nod his head in time with music? Would he just stare out of the window or, worst of all, put his hands over his ears and scream? It was a relief when his head started bobbing and his legs got going. When that happens you know you've got something catchy going on. Look At Me it was. The song had a big Shirley Bsssey and sixties influence mixed in with a hard-edge dance feel. I hadn't gone with the most commercial single in the world - it's not really a nice and pleasant pop song. We came up with a very dramatic moment in the middle of the song where the whole things breaks down into this weird section with lots of freaky horns and wailing backing singers and when we sent it over to America they just couldn't handle it. They were like "What the hell is this? We can't have this on the radio! Oh my God, this is not working for us!". So we had to cut the middle part for Americans because it was oo much for them to bare! Look At Me got those kinds of reactions but this wasn't a time for half-measures and that's why I choose it. I was draw to the risk. Geri - Just For The Record I had always gone with my instinct when it came to choosing singles. It hadn't worked last time round but I decided to to follow my heart again. The record company wanted me to go with Lift Me Up and the Absolute boys thought Bag It Up but I was convinced that Mi Chico Latino was the one. I played it to a few people to get their point of view and I remember getting the thumbs up from Lisa Anderson's little girl when I did the kid test on her. I had written the song with the Absolute boys in the autunm of 1998. I'd always listened to a lot of latin music because of my mum and I wanted to do something with a Spanish influence for her. That day in the studio, we had a melody but we didn't have any words. So I called my mum from the studio to see if she could help. "Mum", I said "what do you say to a bloke in Spanish if you fancy him and are being romantic? There was a sigh at the end of the line and she said "Oh Geri, I can't remember that far back, it's so long ago". So i asked her to have a look at her extensive library of Spanish language slushy romances and she just read the titles out of me. Eventually she came out with "Donde està el hombre con fuego en la sangre? "Oh, what does that mean, mum? I asked liking the way it sounded. "Where is the man with the fire in his blood?" She said and that was the start of the song. So I had my mum and her romantic paperbacks tot hank for that and I took it from there. Mum loves the song, so it is very special to me. Geri - Just For The Record This post has been edited by Babyboy: 31st October 2022, 09:31 AM


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:19 PM Post #6
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	The album is very guitary but I love all different music so I've incorporated R&B, pop and dance. It's called a Girl Like Me because I really feel like a normal girl. I go through the same emotions as any other girl: we fall in love, we get our hearts broken, we love our mums! I think a lot of different people will be able to identify with it. Hopefully. Unless I'm mad! Emma - Worldpop, Apr. 2001 I'm really pleased with the album because it has got quite a few different sounds on there. I've done lots of guitar stuff, which I love and is my favourite. I've also done some real dancey tracks and a little bit of r&b. I love all different types of music so I put them all on there and I think people will be able to identify with what I've written about 'cos I've written about things that we all go through down to falling in love, having your heart broken, having to tell someone it's over. General things that the girls and boys out there will know exactly how it feels. I knew how I wanted it to sound. I knew I wanted different flavours on there. When I was younger I used to listen to Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, I was a real Motown girl and it always gave me some kind of emotion and I've put that on my album. I really want whoever listens to it to bring something out in them. Emma - Dotmusic, Apr. 2001 I knew What Took You So Long? would be the first single as soon as I wrote it. Writing an album is quite personal and you want every song to be a single because it means something to you but it was a definite when I wrote this track. No offence to men, but it's actually about how men take longer finding out they're in love than women! It's a real feel good track. It's influenced by people like Texas and Gabrielle but it's got sweet melodies and catchy choruses so I would say it's pop entwined with guitars! Emma - Worldpop, Apr. 2001 I've always loved Downtown as a song and I'm really looking forward to putting my own stamp on it. The track's good fun. Emma - www.news.bbc.co.uk, Oct. 2006 There have been other covers; Dolly Parton did one which was cute, because she didn’t even try to sound like my recording. Emma’s was an outright copy, though — the orchestra was even the same. I thought she did it very well. Petula Clark - www.starobserver.com.au, Sept. 2010 People are going to love my album. It's got a real sixties feel to it, which I know people know me for now. Also I've written all the tracks [except 'Downtown' and the title track, obvioously] and they are very personal. I've grown up a lot this year so I think you'll get to know me a bit better Emma - www.popjustice.com, Dec. 2006 The reason I called the album My Happy Place is because my happy place is with my family, with my friends, listening to music and being in the studio. All those things came together on this album. While recording it my kids came to the studio, my friends came down, my mum listened to every song over and over again. Being in the studio I just feel so happy. As you get older you feel more confident because actually your priorities change, and my family have become my focus, but this album is like the icing on the cake. Being able to write, record and perform is definitely that extra sprinkle of magic. Emma - www.attitude.co.uk, Feb. 2019 This post has been edited by Babyboy: 22nd October 2022, 05:06 PM


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:19 PM Post #7
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	I thought it was a joke when Ashley Newton phoned to say that Missy Elliot's record company had got in contact. They wanted to know if I'd been interested in recording a song with her. I'd been a huge Missy fan for a very long time and couldn't believe that she wanted to work with me. I didn't know it at the time, but the track was for a movie about fifties doo wop singer Frankie Lyman called Why Do Fools Fall In Love? Missy was collaborating with a whole array of established black producers and performers on the soundtrack including, Usher, Destiny's Child, Timbaland and Next. When Ashley called me about it, I said I'd have to think about it. This was partly because I was in shock and also because I wanted to consult with the other girls. It was the first time that one of us would be working away from the group and although it wasn't going to disrupt our schedule, it was a new direction and I needed to discuss with them. I was relieved that they were more than happy for me to do if I wanted to. They were very, very supportive. I recorded I Want You Back on one of our days off in New York. The day before I was due into the studio I dropped by to say hello and introduce myself. I coyly introduce myself to Missy, totally in awe, like a fish out of the water in her enviroment. I was really hoping that this was the right move to make at that point in my career, while at the same time I knew that it was a unique opportunity and I had to grasp it. That night in my penthouse suite at Soho Grand I went over and over the song. I wanted to do it proud, I wanted Missy to be pleased with my interpretation, and most importantly, I wanted to feel that it fitted my skin. Originally the track was supposed to start with a rap. There was also some swearing. I didn't like the fact this woman was a complete wreck and out of control without a man and the only way she could express herself was by swearing. She sounded a bit dim to me. On a professional level, I thought that the swearing might offend some of our fans. So I suggested that we make some changes. It was a really difficult subject to broach because it was a Missy's song and you have to respect people's work, but she was all right about it, thank God. When I arrived at 1.30 pm she wasn't around, which was slightly worring because my schedule was so full that I only had one afternoon to put the track. There were two really nice producers on the mixing desk and after I'd explained my predicament we got stuck in to some recordings. Then Missy walked in and the atmosphere changed. Obviously the desks were her domain. She was a powerful woman and her presence was enough, not to frighten people, but t exert ultimate authority. The producers left us alone and we got down to work. I felt a little embarrassed singing in front of Missy but I soon got over it. After I'd recorded the backing vocals and harmonies, Missy asked me to step outside. Why? What's going on? Nerves, fear, anxiousness, sweating came upon me. Oh my God, am I crap? am I good? what does she thinks? She shout the studio door with a bang and I wondered whether I was going to be allowed back there or not. Nobody explained that she needed some time alone to rewrite the beginning of the song. Missy had rewritten the first part of the song, thank God, a big sigh of relief, I can relax now but no. Back in the studio she said: "I want you to do your own thing at the end of the song". "What do you mean my own thing? "Just rap, hust chat". What do you mean chat? In my Leeds accent? Will anybody understand it? oh dear. I got on the microphone and said: "Actually I've been thinking about it. I don't want you back at all. Bye! See ya!". I was taking the piss as usual, but she kept it on the track anyway. She loved it, and funny enough, was fascinated by my accent. Melanie B - Catch A Fire I loved the original version of Word Up when it came out and I've wanted to cover it ever since. It had to be done properly though and Timbaland was perfect, it's very respectful but it has his own flavour on it. I think I hyped him up a bit there's some wicked beats on there, I love the way it's come out. Melanie G - Dotmusic, May 1999 Some of it’s a bit punky, some of it’s a bit piano, acoustic-guitar driven. It’s not R&B whatsoever. I did it in my iamspamspamami with two friends from London – Kevin and Julie. Nobody’s heard it, and I’m not signed to a record company so I wanna test it first before I decide anything and see what the reaction is and see how I like performing it, because I’ve only been there in my iamspamspamami with a microphone singing it! Melanie B - www.pop-music.com, July 2004 This post has been edited by Babyboy: 15th May 2023, 10:27 AM


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:19 PM Post #8
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	Nancy Phillips at the Spice office had been contacted by a guy called Nick Raphael, an A&R man from Arista Records in London. He wondered if I would be interested in singing on a track with Dane Bowers formely of Another Level, a follow up to his hit single Buggin erlier in the year. Nancy put the idea to my A&R man, Paul McDonald and he and everyone a Virgin loved the idead and so I did. Nancy sent me over a copy of the track when I got back from Tuscany - it wasn't perfect but nothing that couldn't be changed and I really like it. The song was called Out Of Your Mind and what made it so exciting as a one-off single for me was that it was like nothing the Spice Girls had ever done and like nothing of the other girls had done indivisually. There were bits of the demo track that I thought could do with improvement, not so much the melody, but the lyrics were a bit repetitive. But that's one thing I've always been quite good on: knowing when something doesn't quite work and then coming up with the answer. I said what I thought about the track, and the changes I would make if it was up to me. And Dane and me sat down and reworked the lyrics and some of the melodies. And that was cool. Everything was so easy and natural that before I knew what had happened, they said, OK, into the booth and let's do it. I still hadn't made a decision, but then I thought, you know what? I'll go in and sing it and if I don't like it, scrap it. In fact it was quite a difficult song for me to sing because it wasn't in my register and I hadn't ever done anything like it before. So after the session I went back and joined the boys for a drink and I was still feeling quite shy and reserved, but I could hear everyone getting really excited. Victoria - Learning To Fly As I worked on my album I began to discover that songwriters and producers were very happy to work with me, and not just because I was a Spice Girl. The stories Melanie B had been telling me about to working in America were a bit scary. I needed to start closer at home to built my confidence. When it comes to confidence-building Elliot Kennedy is king. I had no idea which direction I wanted to go. At the start of working on this album it was real trial and error and that week with Elliot, who I've always liked so much, was a great learning experience for me. We did three tracks, one ballad, one up-tempo and one mid-tempo - quite quitary, but I wasn't convinced. So then I decided I'd try Matt and Biff. I already knew that I wanted to stay true to myself. It might have been great for Mel B to be doing R&B but that's not where I'm coming from. I want to make pop music. But Matt and Biff don't work together any more. Biff now works in Ireland with a guy called Julian and I heard they'd been working with U2, so I spent a week over there which was great - I love Ireland and Biff is such a lovely guy it was almost like going home, there was no pressure and he was great for me. But I still didn't know which direction I was going in. Again, I wasn't convinced. Nothing seemed to work and I was getting quite despondent. I can bring melody ideas to the party, I can bring lyric ideas to the party, what I needed was somebody who was great with music. I can't work the equipment, It's not what I do. Then we tried another track. Virgin and Nancy set up some meetings with songwriters in L.A. The first person I met up was Rhett Lawrence and I talked to him about ideas that we'd had and just clicked. He wrote Never Be The Same Again with Melanie C, which was a huge success in UK and around Europe. He's also worked with 98 Degrees and the Backstreet Boys. A few months later I went back to work with him and we wrote and recorded a song called Unconditional Love. Next I met a guy called Steve Kipner. I knew he'd done Genie In A Bottle with Christina Aguilera and that really impressed me. His studio was out the back behind the house and as soon as he played me some music, I knew instantly that this was the guy who was going to make my album work. And in fact that's exactly what happened. Working with Steve was fantastic, he understood that it had to be poppy but a cool poppy with a slight feel of R&B but not a lot. When I got back to the hotel I was incredibily up. Steve had also given a CD of songs which I listened to on my way back on my personal stereo including Not That Kind Of Girl, which he had co-written with David Frank. Steve told me he planned to come to England to work with Andrew Frampton later in the year and perhaps we could work together? And we did on two songs No Tricks No Gain and Mind Of Its Own. We met up again in spring 2001 when I recorded another song Innocent Girl which went to become my first single. Andrew also wrote with Chris Braide - and I wrote a song with them called I Owe You, which is a ballad all about David. I had only just got back from one of these trips to LA when I had a phone call from Ashley Newton, the Spice Girls original A&R man, who is now based in LA. "I've found this song", he told me, "It's a hit. I love it". Let me know what you think as soon as you hear it. And he was right. I Wish was a good song but the session singer on the demo was a real black R&B singer. Could it really sound right for me? The truth is that if you've got a great song, you can do anything with it. You can make it more poppy, you can make it more R&B, you can make it slower, you can make it faster. If you have the core of a really great song it can sound everything you want. I wanted to change the key. No, the songwriters said, when I arrived at the studio in LA. You can't change the key. They were called Soulshock and Karlin, and were originally from Denmark but had lived and worked in LA for years, writing for people like Whitney Houston. I had felt really comfortable with Rhett and Steve, but this studio was the other end of feeling comfortable scale. It was totally awe-inspiring. The sign on the armour-plated studio door said: Victoria Beckham session, no entry. This was a big time. I said: "I think it's too high for me". It's not too high, it sounds great in this key - and basically just got in there and get it righ, was what they said. They had decided that this was how it was going to work. And as much as I felt sick and all I wanted to do was run away, I decided at last I should go in the booth and try it. And to cut a long story short, I went in, got it right and it sounded great and I went on to co-write another two songs with them What Are You Talking About and Into My Heart. Victoria - Learning To Fly This post has been edited by Babyboy: 1st November 2022, 09:46 AM


spiceboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 01:41 PM Post #9
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 6 September 2017 Posts: 11,840 User: 39,568	When you’re gone was easily the best solo spice decision of them all, still a well remembered song to this day. This post has been edited by Scary Spiceboy: 20th October 2022, 01:41 PM


Voodoo View member profile	20th October 2022, 05:20 PM Post #10
BuzzJack Gold Member Joined: 10 April 2008 Posts: 3,669 User: 5,829	QUOTE(Melanie C @ Oct 20 2022, 04:18 PM) Also Phil Thornally, the Spice Girls worked with him quite a few years ago, about four years ago, we done some work together and I enjoyed working with him. I didn't know that.


Babyboy View member profile	20th October 2022, 06:45 PM Post #11
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	QUOTE(Voodoo @ Oct 20 2022, 05:20 PM) I didn't know that. Melanie said something on her bio too maybe. I have to read again.


Babyboy View member profile	1st November 2022, 01:53 PM Post #12
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	I am continuing to update the first page. I hope you are enjoing the reading.


Mr.X View member profile	1st November 2022, 07:23 PM Post #13
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 5,085 User: 39,587	There's a quote somewhere from Emma about her doing a lot of the Free Me album live with the band too as part of the recording. I will try and find it


Babyboy View member profile	1st November 2022, 08:06 PM Post #14
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 7 September 2017 Posts: 518 User: 39,611	QUOTE(Mr.X @ Nov 1 2022, 08:23 PM) There's a quote somewhere from Emma about her doing a lot of the Free Me album live with the band too as part of the recording. I will try and find it Cool. It's so hard to find about Free Me and Life in Mono. This post has been edited by Babyboy: 1st November 2022, 08:23 PM