I remember trying hard to like this album back in 2001. I gave up quickly. To be honest, in terms of music, it was my first first frustration from a spice girl. I was in a high expectations waiting for a pop/rock upbeat album. Listening again after all these years my thoughts remains the same. Hotter should have been a single. The first single. It is the best track. Actually, Hotter and For once in my life are the only songs I can listen from Mel B. I don’t get why she was so “irresponsible” with her solo music career. Shes a great and talented person.

Finally listening to this properly after finding it in a bargain bin - honestly, the album starts so strong with Feels So Good and Tell Me, but then comes Hell No and a random ballad section with it and Lullaby which just seems misplaced on the album. It sort of never recovers after that. I think this is an album that probably could use a re-jigging of the tracklisting.

Ok, Feel Me Now is just a bunch of rambling. In all honesty, there's a half-decent album in there somewhere and it certainly didn't deserve to flop the way it did. Oh well.

Yeah. I do stick up for Hot on occasion. I *love* I Want You Back, Tell Me, and Feels So Good. I think Hotter, Step Inside, and Lullaby are strong tracks. I'm indifferent to the other five songs. The album's not what I'd truly call a bust.

 

I was disappointed in it in 2000, though...just because of my expectations for it. Up until the album release, what we'd heard from solo Mel was I Want You Back, Word Up, Sophisticated Lady, Tell Me...and the chorus of Feels So Good. I loved all of it and assumed Mel was just knocking it out of the park every time she walked into the studio. Tag to that, Hot had the most impressive roster of collaborators of any Spice-related project. The Christmas in Spice World shows seemed to show her at a new performance peak. I assumed Mel was primed to become the best solo pop star of the group.

 

I do think the self-destructive release date was the key problem...but I'd be curious to have an inside peak at the album creation itself. Of course, she should have kept recording until she had stronger material...but with collaborators that prolific, I do wonder if there were pressures to just accept what she'd been given.

Yeah. I do stick up for Hot on occasion. I *love* I Want You Back, Tell Me, and Feels So Good. I think Hotter, Step Inside, and Lullaby are strong tracks. I'm indifferent to the other five songs. The album's not what I'd truly call a bust.

 

I was disappointed in it in 2000, though...just because of my expectations for it. Up until the album release, what we'd heard from solo Mel was I Want You Back, Word Up, Sophisticated Lady, Tell Me...and the chorus of Feels So Good. I loved all of it and assumed Mel was just knocking it out of the park every time she walked into the studio. Tag to that, Hot had the most impressive roster of collaborators of any Spice-related project. The Christmas in Spice World shows seemed to show her at a new performance peak. I assumed Mel was primed to become the best solo pop star of the group.

 

I do think the self-destructive release date was the key problem...but I'd be curious to have an inside peak at the album creation itself. Of course, she should have kept recording until she had stronger material...but with collaborators that prolific, I do wonder if there were pressures to just accept what she'd been given.

 

 

Basically everything you just said... although I kind of think by the end of 2000 to 2001 anything the girls released album wise was going to struggle. If Forever the group album couldn't sell that well of the back of the Spice Girls as a HUGE name and having a decent selling #1 single then what hope was there for any of them? I think Mel should have held off and released in 2001 and with a better release schedule (Feels so good, Hotter, Tell Me singles in that order without such huge gaps) but even then she probably wouldn't have achieved much more than 100,000 copies.

 

I think the evidence is seen with Geri and Emma who also released albums a few months on in 2001 and both had big #1 singles and then more top 10 hits to follow yet their albums only sold in the 120-150,000 mark.

It's definitely been discussed before, but sometimes I wonder if this album would have done any better for her if it had had a "family friendly" artwork. Obviously we can't say for sure, but I do lean towards yes, alongside a better timed release, and off the back of a better song... but that's certainly a lot of 'what if' scenarios!

 

Imagine if she'd called the album 'Feels So Good', releasing it after 'Feels So Good' the song, and had used one of these pictures for the album cover (or if not these specific photos, other shots from these sessions that we haven't seen... maybe there were some shots that would have made stronger album covers~) -

 

Bigger pictures here: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/15012a_1...57deeb3~mv2.jpg

 

The album cover we got... don't get me wrong, it's a rather stunning/striking picture of her... just not the best choice for the cover? That's my firm belief anyway. Honestly we could come up with numerous reasons why this album failed commercially (#28 and 7,419 first week sales... horrendous for the time!) and it probably is a mix of every reason we can think of.

 

I wonder how Mel felt when she saw the midweeks and the eventual #28 position? That couldn't have been her expectation, and surely she must have cared. I can't recall if she touched on this in her first book?

 

It's frustrating, looking back. Out of all the Spice Girls, I really think she had the best all round potential to be "the full package" and succeed as a solo artist... it just didn't quite work out that way. There were glimpses of it. 'Feels So Good' the single was a great direction in sound and image.

I mantain that Mel B has the best run of initial singles leading up her debut album, of any Spice Girl. That bombastic run of I Want You Back - Word Up - Tell Me was f***ing ace and gave light to a really great pop star in the making...

 

Just a shame it was all released in the way it was. I agree with Jay - the cover did not help, in my opinion. And she should have released the album in Spring 2001 after Feels So Good. Those were her biggest downfalls, for me...

 

(it also sometimes pisses me off that both the Mels were busy with their solo stuff during the Forever era... if there was ever an indication it was the end, that should be it to be honest...)

 

 

I mantain that Mel B has the best run of initial singles leading up her debut album, of any Spice Girl. That bombastic run of I Want You Back - Word Up - Tell Me was f***ing ace and gave light to a really great pop star in the making...

 

Just a shame it was all released in the way it was. I agree with Jay - the cover did not help, in my opinion. And she should have released the album in Spring 2001 after Feels So Good. Those were her biggest downfalls, for me...

 

(it also sometimes pisses me off that both the Mels were busy with their solo stuff during the Forever era... if there was ever an indication it was the end, that should be it to be honest...)

 

 

I (and most of the public it seems) disagree. Melanie C and Geri had a better or more cleverly thought out run of singles throughout their first album campaigns. Melanie covered such a range of genres it obviously enabled her to reach a range of audiences that none of the other girls ever achieved with album sales, then Geri followed the Spice formula with hers slightly out there song love it or hate it, safer melodic song touching another genre, ballad, stomper final single with BRITS performance.

 

Mel B's run was a fantastic first single, a second cool single but too out there for her fanbase (at the time) then a ok single but totally wrong one to launch the album. Tell me was too "personal" when she was already attracting a lot of negative press from her marriage / divorce and while it has a decent beat plods on a little bit too much. Then after the initial "floppage" she couldn't claw it back, especially not when she decided to go with Lullaby over Hotter, plus the huge long gaps in her single releases did nothing to help keep the album sellling.

 

(yes I am aware you said run up to the album I got carried away :lol: )

 

I think Jay's ideas could certainly have made a difference and resulted in higher sales... whether it would have been much higher who knows???

Word Up wasn’t a great single choice for me.

 

I really don’t like the way she sings it either quite an unpleasant vocal arrangement in my opinion.

I do like Word Up, quite a lot actually (a lot better than the Little Mix cover) and I can understand why they saw it as a good opportunity with it being included on the Austin Powers soundtrack (even though Beautiful Stranger was the "official movie single) but it was not a good single choice for the follow up to I Want You Back. Not being helped with her re-branding herself as Mel G and the video... It really is a shame as it was an uphill battle from there onwards. Tell Me is a fantastic song but unfortunately couldn't help the album. Mel was always going to have a harder time as some of the other girls, especially in the 90's and early 00's but it definitely wasn't because of her talent or potential.

I (and most of the public it seems) disagree. Melanie C and Geri had a better or more cleverly thought out run of singles throughout their first album campaigns. Melanie covered such a range of genres it obviously enabled her to reach a range of audiences that none of the other girls ever achieved with album sales, then Geri followed the Spice formula with hers slightly out there song love it or hate it, safer melodic song touching another genre, ballad, stomper final single with BRITS performance.

 

Mel B's run was a fantastic first single, a second cool single but too out there for her fanbase (at the time) then a ok single but totally wrong one to launch the album. Tell me was too "personal" when she was already attracting a lot of negative press from her marriage / divorce and while it has a decent beat plods on a little bit too much. Then after the initial "floppage" she couldn't claw it back, especially not when she decided to go with Lullaby over Hotter, plus the huge long gaps in her single releases did nothing to help keep the album sellling.

 

(yes I am aware you said run up to the album I got carried away :lol: )

 

I think Jay's ideas could certainly have made a difference and resulted in higher sales... whether it would have been much higher who knows???

 

Just because it was varied, doesnt mean it was good lol :teresa: Melanie and Geri were to my opinion really bad. The only great song Melanie released then was Northern Star in my opinion. Obviously they had success and good for them. Post-Forever though, their success also almost completely dwindled so I think it was a matter of them releasing first out of the whole group...

 

I Want You Back is excellent. So is Word Up, Tell Me and Feels So Good. They were all quite left-field songs and good for her to experiment with her sound.

 

Just a shame the strategy to release it all was terrible. She deserved much, much better!

Just because it was varied, doesnt mean it was good lol :teresa: Melanie and Geri were to my opinion really bad. The only great song Melanie released then was Northern Star in my opinion. Obviously they had success and good for them. Post-Forever though, their success also almost completely dwindled so I think it was a matter of them releasing first out of the whole group...

 

But that's just an opinion, isn't it? I think generally speaking, people would say Mel C and Geri had the strongest singles run and their chart success proves it. NBTSA and ITTY were both brilliant songs (in my opinion..) and proved to be very strong single choices as both were massive. Geri made some very smart choices to release songs that were the closest to the Spice experience and give the public what they were expecting / waiting for.

But that's just an opinion, isn't it? I think generally speaking, people would say Mel C and Geri had the strongest singles run and their chart success proves it. NBTSA and ITTY were both brilliant songs (in my opinion..) and proved to be very strong single choices as both were massive. Geri made some very smart choices to release songs that were the closest to the Spice experience and give the public what they were expecting / waiting for.

 

Oh sure, I wasnt stating that the public prefered Mel B's singles at all.

Ok, Feel Me Now is just a bunch of rambling. In all honesty, there's a half-decent album in there somewhere and it certainly didn't deserve to flop the way it did. Oh well.

 

Hard disagree on that one. Feel Me Now is probably the most honestly sensual tracks from a solo Spice Girl aside from Emma's Free Me (and maybe a couple others from that album).

Edited February 3, 20223 yr by Equinox8

Just because it was varied, doesnt mean it was good lol :teresa: Melanie and Geri were to my opinion really bad. The only great song Melanie released then was Northern Star in my opinion. Obviously they had success and good for them. Post-Forever though, their success also almost completely dwindled so I think it was a matter of them releasing first out of the whole group...

 

I Want You Back is excellent. So is Word Up, Tell Me and Feels So Good. They were all quite left-field songs and good for her to experiment with her sound.

 

Just a shame the strategy to release it all was terrible. She deserved much, much better!

 

Couldn't agree more with this! I received 'Hot' for my birthday the year it was released in Canada. It didn't hit me off the cuff with a WOW factor that I was expecting (especially with that album cover)! However, after repeated plays, it became one of my favourites. The tracklisting, I agree, should be rearranged in some places, and Word Up should have been included on the record. I really like the energy of that Word Up cover; I prefer it to the original, and Mel's energy in the video is just spot-on with the whole quirky vibe of the song. Mel B has such natural star power and charisma; it's just a shame the label tossed her solo album into the fire. I imagine things would have turned out much MUCH differently had she assembled the album right off the success of I Want You Back around the time the Spiceworld tour ended.

 

Hot had a Parental Advisory on it, didn't it? I mean, Mel was a grown woman and had every right to express herself however she wanted...but it probably didn't help her business-wise. Her fanbase was still very young...and a lot of Hot's promotion was happening on kids' shows. I'm not sure if having some fairly adult material was helping from a strictly commercial standpoint...not in 2000, anyway.

 

As for the thought of her delaying the release until 2001, I think anything would have been better than releasing within a month of Forever. But. It still would have been one of five Spice-related albums to be released in the course of a year. I've always wondered if it was more a case of interest in the girls dwindling by 2001...or all of their projects just starting to cancel out each other's success.

 

I feel this is where Virgin should have stepped in. I get that all of the girls were trying to strike while the iron was hot. But it's super messy that five Spice albums would come out from October 2000-October 2001...and absolutely nothing would come out for a year after February 2002. Asking the fanbase (a mostly young one that probably had limited funds...or were asking parents for money in a lot of cases) to buy five albums from the same camp in a year was kinda...nuts. My feeling is they should have coordinated things enough to where it was two albums tops in the span of a year.

 

Moral of the story. There was A LOT working against Hot.

Hot had a Parental Advisory on it, didn't it? I mean, Mel was a grown woman and had every right to express herself however she wanted...but it probably didn't help her business-wise. Her fanbase was still very young...and a lot of Hot's promotion was happening on kids' shows. I'm not sure if having some fairly adult material was helping from a strictly commercial standpoint...not in 2000, anyway.

 

As for the thought of her delaying the release until 2001, I think anything would have been better than releasing within a month of Forever. But. It still would have been one of five Spice-related albums to be released in the course of a year. I've always wondered if it was more a case of interest in the girls dwindling by 2001...or all of their projects just starting to cancel out each other's success.

 

I feel this is where Virgin should have stepped in. I get that all of the girls were trying to strike while the iron was hot. But it's super messy that five Spice albums would come out from October 2000-October 2001...and absolutely nothing would come out for a year after February 2002. Asking the fanbase (a mostly young one that probably had limited funds...or were asking parents for money in a lot of cases) to buy five albums from the same camp in a year was kinda...nuts. My feeling is they should have coordinated things enough to where it was two albums tops in the span of a year.

 

Moral of the story. There was A LOT working against Hot.

 

All of this to be honest. Even Emma and Geri's album in 2001 didnt exactly set the charts alight. The 'Spice flame' was already quite tame by the time 2000 came to an end. Market saturation and an array of bad press too didnt help.

 

Hot got the biggest snub, followed by Victoria's... Emma and Geri had the advantage of having one big-selling lead single, but everything else also stalled...

Feels So Good was released 21 years ago, 19th February 2001! :drama:

My review for Mel B's debut solo album Hot




01. Feels So Good - 10/10
The album opens strong with this catchy number with a thumping bassline and smooth beats running throughout. The production is slick and perfectly utilises Mel’s deep husky vocals. This was a perfect single choice and perhaps her greatest solo track.

02. Tell Me - 6/10
The lead single and switches the tone drastically from the previous track with its bitter lyrics, shouty chorus and fractured R&B beats that gives a slight nod to the UK garage scene. The track feels very dated and a little unfinished. Other than that, the song is okay, just okay.

03. Hell No - 6/10
Slowing things down now with the first ballad on here which gives Mel plenty of room to show off some nice vocals. The mellow basslines, tinkling pianos and acoustic guitars adds a nice warmth to the slow number. But overall not very interesting.

04. Lullaby - 7/10
A very tender mother to daughter song with acoustic guitars, light percussions and a mellow mid-tempo beat that goes great with Mel’s vocals and gives this track a nice warm soothing sound. Although this was still a very strange single choice and perhaps would have been better staying on the album.

05. Hotter - 9/10
The tempo picks up again with this sexy R&B jam, laden with killer basslines, funky guitars and thumping beats. This was due to be a single but was scrapped due to poor album sales and the previous track flopping. Not sure if this would have saved the album, but it’s a decent track nonetheless.

06. Step Inside - 5/10
The hypnotic beats and chugging basslines are quite catchy, and the vocals are strong, but other than that this track doesn’t do anything for me, it feels very basic and lightweight.

07. ABC 123 - 8/10
Back to the more R&B sound now with its funky rhythms and seductive beats that flows quite well with the drums. But the vocals feel a little restrained on here and overpowered by the production and the rap by Screwface was quite fun.

08. I Believe - 6/10
This feels very experimental with the slight Eastern feel with the beats and the sample of someone singing gives this a rather odd feel. The vocals sound soft and rich, and the track has a nice mellow feel to it.

09. I Want You Back - 10/10
Mel’s very first single released 2 years before the album even came out and it’s a total bob. Helmed under the watchful eye of Missy Elliot, her presence is all over this with its addictive rhythms, staccato violin strings and sparse beats, the track is catchy yet brilliant and Mel’s confident vocals really brings this to life.

10. Pack Your Shit - 4/10
An angry mid-tempo R&B track full of cringey swear words. The production is decent, and the vocals are okay, but this track is filler and even guest vocalist Eric Williams can’t elevate this above mediocre.

11. Feel Me Now - 5/10
The album ends with this seductive R&B slow jam with Mel’s slinky vocals against the heavy beats. Not entirely interesting and not a strong end to the album.


Avg.6.909

My review for Mel B's debut solo album Hot

 

01. Feels So Good - 10/10

The album opens strong with this catchy number with a thumping bassline and smooth beats running throughout. The production is slick and perfectly utilises Mel’s deep husky vocals. This was a perfect single choice and perhaps her greatest solo track.

 

02. Tell Me - 6/10

The lead single and switches the tone drastically from the previous track with its bitter lyrics, shouty chorus and fractured R&B beats that gives a slight nod to the UK garage scene. The track feels very dated and a little unfinished. Other than that, the song is okay, just okay.

 

03. Hell No - 6/10

Slowing things down now with the first ballad on here which gives Mel plenty of room to show off some nice vocals. The mellow basslines, tinkling pianos and acoustic guitars adds a nice warmth to the slow number. But overall not very interesting.

 

04. Lullaby - 7/10

A very tender mother to daughter song with acoustic guitars, light percussions and a mellow mid-tempo beat that goes great with Mel’s vocals and gives this track a nice warm soothing sound. Although this was still a very strange single choice and perhaps would have been better staying on the album.

 

05. Hotter - 9/10

The tempo picks up again with this sexy R&B jam, laden with killer basslines, funky guitars and thumping beats. This was due to be a single but was scrapped due to poor album sales and the previous track flopping. Not sure if this would have saved the album, but it’s a decent track nonetheless.

 

06. Step Inside - 5/10

The hypnotic beats and chugging basslines are quite catchy, and the vocals are strong, but other than that this track doesn’t do anything for me, it feels very basic and lightweight.

 

07. ABC 123 - 8/10

Back to the more R&B sound now with its funky rhythms and seductive beats that flows quite well with the drums. But the vocals feel a little restrained on here and overpowered by the production and the rap by Screwface was quite fun.

 

08. I Believe - 6/10

This feels very experimental with the slight Eastern feel with the beats and the sample of someone singing gives this a rather odd feel. The vocals sound soft and rich, and the track has a nice mellow feel to it.

 

09. I Want You Back - 10/10

Mel’s very first single released 2 years before the album even came out and it’s a total bob. Helmed under the watchful eye of Missy Elliot, her presence is all over this with its addictive rhythms, staccato violin strings and sparse beats, the track is catchy yet brilliant and Mel’s confident vocals really brings this to life.

 

10. Pack Your Shit - 4/10

An angry mid-tempo R&B track full of cringey swear words. The production is decent, and the vocals are okay, but this track is filler and even guest vocalist Eric Williams can’t elevate this above mediocre.

 

11. Feel Me Now - 5/10

The album ends with this seductive R&B slow jam with Mel’s slinky vocals against the heavy beats. Not entirely interesting and not a strong end to the album.

Avg.6.909

 

Appreciate you taking the time to write this up!

I never knew the name of the male vocalist on PYS until reading this -- I remember 'back in the day' some people thought it was Sisqo LOL.

 

The only pieces of your review that I feel differently about are:

 

Tell Me: I'd rank as 8/10 (the Silk's House Workout Remix is my preferred version to the album version)

Feel Me Now: I'd rank as a full 10/10 (I'd play this before Feed Your Love). I said ... what I said. :dance: