And if the album was to feature more pop AND r'n'b sounds...could If You Wanna Have Some Fun have been in consideration for the lead...just because it's kinda at the midway point of the pop and r'n'b sides of the group? But then, Mel C doesn't like that song for whatever reason...sooo...

 

She doesn't!? This is the first I've heard of this (actually the first time I've heard of any of the girls saying anything about IYWHSF -- is it mentioned in her book?)

 

I only heard Emma referencing it as one of her favourites back in the 2000 interview with all four (the one where they are laying a bed before the album launch party), never heard anything from the others. Emma also mentioned Oxygen as one of her favourites in 2019 during the MHP promo.

 

Mel C mentioned Time Goes By as a possible Christmas #1 on that same bed interview.

 

Have any of the others mentioned tracks individually? I honestly cant remember...

Edited September 5, 20231 yr by Mr.X

I only heard Emma referencing it as one of her favourites back in the 2000 interview with all four (the one where they are laying a bed before the album launch party), never heard anything from the others. Emma also mentioned Oxygen as one of her favourites in 2019 during the MHP promo.

 

Mel C mentioned Time Goes By as a possible Christmas #1 on that same bed interview.

 

Have any of the others mentioned tracks individually? I honestly cant remember...

 

I think they say something in their magazine.

 

I found this on spicenews:

Spice Girls Insider Spice - 9/21/00

 

Whatís your favourite song on the album and why?

 

Mel C: I think Goodbye is a special favorite because itís already been a hit and it was released about the time Geri left us, so itís quite a special song. I really like the new style that weíve worked on, especially with Rodney Jerkins and everybody at Darkchild. I like that modern R&B sound. Holler is a good dance track and Let Love Lead The Way is a really good ballad. Thatís why weíre going to release them both on the first single.

 

Emma: Oxygen is probably one of my favorite tracks. When you listen to this song it kind of takes you to another place. Itís just an amazing track and Iíd really like everyone to sit and listen to it, because there are lots of harmonies and secret bits, which you may miss first time. Itís very uplifting, yet sad at the same time. Itís just very emotional.

 

Victoria: Mine is If You Wanna Have Some Fun, because itís got such an old school kind of swing beat, and also because itís been written by Jam and Lewis, who Iíve always been big fans of. Theyíve done everything with Janet Jackson.

 

Mel B: Itís so hard to choose. I really like Weekend Love, a song about a relationship between a boy and a girl which goes against stereotype. Basically, itís the boy thatís looking for it to turn into something bigger, but the girl just says sorry, "a weekend love is all it was."

 

Why did you come up with the title Forever?

 

Mel B: Lots of reasons really. At our shows the fans have always come along with banners saying "Spice Girls Forever" and one of our books was called Forever Spice. Even if the band wasnít around in ten years time, we hope that no one would ever forget the Spice Girls, because weíll never forget as long as we live. Weíll always be Spice Girls at heart and our songs will go on forever.

 

Mel C: Also, at the end of Viva Forever, when I start singing my ad libs, I sing "Viva Forever, Iíll be waiting". But when we sing it live, I always sing "Spice Girls forever". Itís just kind of been a fan thing for ages!

 

What were the other options you came up with?

 

Mel C: I wasnít aware of any other names going round. I thought it should be called Forever.

 

Victoria: A lot of people seemed to think it would be called Third Time Around. Not sure where that came from!

 

Are there any lyrics from the new songs that you particularly like?

 

Mel C: There are loads really. Because the albumís a bit more mature, a lot of the songs are quite sexually-orientated and Iím not a big fan of explicit lyrics, really. I get embarrassed easily! There are some lovely lyrics in Tell Me Why, itís got a lot of emotion in it. And, of course, Let Love Lead The Way, we all need something to help us and love should be able to conquer all. Itís just a story about all of use feeling let down by all the devastation in the world.

 

Emma: I love "If You Wanna Have Some Fun" because itís very old-school and very cheeky. The chorus goes, "If you wanna have some fun, track me down and get my number, you could be the one," then later it goes, "wink, wink, nudge, nudge". Itís brilliant!!!

 

A lot of people say the album has a much more mature sound, would you agree?

 

Mel C: I think itís more mature in the way that itís the year 2000 now and music has changed, so itís a lot more modern and has a more fashionable sound. Still, the topics we sing about are quite girly, because when weíre together we act like weíre a lot younger! The singing is much better because weíve had a lot more experience in doing vocals.

 

Emma: Weíre a little bit more grown up because everyone gets older, but thereís definitely a lot of the kid in us. We still like to make up silly rhymes and stuff. A lot of our fans are very young and we wanted to appeal to them as well, do we didnít want to make the album sound too old. On the other hand, our vocals have really moved on and weíve worked very hard on them.

 

Victoria: Yeah, definitely. Itís much stronger, vocally and lyrically. But thatís natural. Weíre older, two of us have had babies and got married, weíve done a huge world tour and weíve been managing ourselves, loads of stuff really.

 

Mel B: Itís also because weíve worked with Rodney Jerkins quite a lot. Heís done some great stuff with Destinyís Child and gives the album a real R&B flavor, while the four of us give it that pop element.

 

Do you think it will sell as many as the previous albums?

 

Mel C: No. I think it would be ridiculous even to entertain the thought that we could re-live our former success. At the time, it was a phenomenon, and phenomena donít happen that often. It should sell well, though, because itís a good album. Weíve also got really good fans that are so supportive of all our solo stuff as well as the band, even though we havenít released anything for a really long time.

 

Why has the Spice album taken so long to come out?

 

Emma: Because weíve been working really hard on it and taking our time! The other two albums were made so quickly that we almost didnít have time to think. I hope when you listen to Forever you really appreciate it and enjoy it. I really love it. I play it all the time, in my car and at home. In fact, I got into trouble the other day because I had it on too loud and the security guy downstairs told me off!

 

On the hunt for their comments on Forever tracks, found this:

 

 

It is funny how they constantly give general 'all the songs are great' when asked about specific tunes lol However, Mel C mentions Tell Me Why as 'one of our favourites, a very passionate song', whereas Emma and Mel B rave about If You Wanna Have Some Fun.

 

I also found on SpiceNews Archive the following:

 

Emma states that she prefers "Let Love Lead The Way" over "Holler" (WTF Bunton...!!))

 

Victoria says 'If You Wanna Have Some Fun' is her favourite on Forever (August 2000 interview with dotmusic and also in the transcipt below)

 

Mel B states (in this transcript of an interview on Insider Spice magazine) that Weekend Love is her favourite!

 

Mel C's favourite is Goodbye. She also says ' There are some lovely lyrics in Tell Me Why, it’s got a lot of emotion in it. And, of course, Let Love Lead The Way, we all need something to help us and love should be able to conquer all. It’s just a story about all of use feeling let down by all the devastation in the world.'

 

Some other infos I found on SpiceNews.com Archive from that time between July up till around the album's release:

 

There is a song called 'Why' which was apparently heard by Much Music Canada (reported on September 2nd) and is described as a ballad with a Victoria lead :blink: I think this might be Tell Me Why though but to be described as a ballad is quite something lol :teresa: It is probably the hardest beat of the whole album :blink:

 

As well as the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff (Wales) it is reported that the group will be playing Palais Omnisport in Paris for two nights in May 2001. So potentially the rumours of a tour being planned were very true... damn :angry:

 

In July, Mel C states they still have two weeks of recording to do to complete the album and that the first single has not YET been chosen! :wacko: Somehow I highly doubt this... Maybe the interview was done a few months before it was published?...

 

Around July they were also rumoured to go to battle for the Christmas #1 with a supposed scheduled release for 19th December 2000. This is probably due to Let Love Lead The Way being first considered as a stand alone single. Mel C also states elsewhere that LLTW will be the first single. Im kind of glad it wasnt to be honest, but maybe it could have had a better video if it had been a stand-alone one?...

 

Also in July, Emma mentions at this stage that WOMAN is still going to be on the album (in an interview with Popworld)

 

Mel B and Emma talk about going on a World tour, with Mel B stating they will be touring Asia and Australia in Spring/Summer 2021

Edited September 5, 20231 yr by Mr.X

Sorry BabyBoy, didn't realise that we posted quotes from the same interview ^_^

 

OK some other tid bits I found interesting but never had heard before:

 

A Spice video was shot in Spring 2000???? :o Mel C says to TOTP Magazine in May 2000: "We've also just finished the third Spice Girls album and shot the next video. The album should be out in maybe October or November." IMAGINE!!! I doubt this is true... we would have known, right? lol...

 

Apparently Forever was set to release June 1st 1999 :o while early in the year Mel C even saying, on the occasion of being challenged about a potential delay to February 2000 that the album was finished :o :o :o

 

The LA Frontier(newspaper) caught up with Mel C in LA as she is there recording and asked her about the reports. Melanie is quoted as saying: "Our album IS coming out June 1st. Don't listen to the media! And what's with this "a close friend" business? We've already finished most of the record. As soon as Melanie and Victoria have their babies and loose a few kilos we'll put the finishing touches on it.

 

So maybe this is where the 5 tracks they did with Biff in Autumn/Winter 1998 came into, potentially with some solo tracks and covers added? Wild that Mel C said that, I had never heard of a set date for 1999, I always thought they hadnt recorded any more, certainly not enough for a full album... Wasnt that also aorund the time Phoenix and Brooklyn were born too? :???:

 

Mel B states that there would now be a Christmas single and the album would come out late 1999, certainly with the Christmas tour making sense for that plan...

 

Around March 1999, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis stated they had recorded a song with Baby and Sporty and it turned down really well. This would have been before the known recording dates! Would this be a THIRD track with them at least? Cos I was always under the impression that Jimmy and Terry had attended the shows in 1998 then agreed to work together and then they all recorded together Oxygen and IYWHSF, and it was only ever those two songs?...

 

This would make sense remembering that Baby and Sporty also went to America following the sessions with Biff and Matt after the Spiceworld tour in Autumn 1998... hhhhmmmm :arrr: :arrr: Maybe they hang out and this song came out of those studio sessions?...

 

There's potentially a lot of demos from Autumn 1998 into Spring 1999 that we might not know much about at all and it is starting to make sense :P

 

We need Forever25 to bring THE VAULTS OUT :w00t: :cheer:

Edited September 5, 20231 yr by Mr.X

I only heard Emma referencing it as one of her favourites back in the 2000 interview with all four (the one where they are laying a bed before the album launch party), never heard anything from the others. Emma also mentioned Oxygen as one of her favourites in 2019 during the MHP promo.

 

Mel C mentioned Time Goes By as a possible Christmas #1 on that same bed interview.

 

Emma's comment about Oxygen: agreed, fully!

 

Melanie's comment about Time Goes By: girl. Delusion; convince yourself. That song is (a) nowhere near the quality of 2B1, Too Much, or Goodbye, (b) on an album that signaled the end of the 4 piece, and © if b-sides are b-sides for a reason...I think Time Goes By is the perfect place to start.

 

I said. What I said. :teresa:

OK some other tid bits I found interesting but never had heard before:

 

A Spice video was shot in Spring 2000???? :o Mel C says to TOTP Magazine in May 2000: "We've also just finished the third Spice Girls album and shot the next video. The album should be out in maybe October or November." IMAGINE!!! I doubt this is true... we would have known, right? lol...

 

Apparently Forever was set to release June 1st 1999 :o while early in the year Mel C even saying, on the occasion of being challenged about a potential delay to February 2000 that the album was finished :o :o :o

 

The LA Frontier(newspaper) caught up with Mel C in LA as she is there recording and asked her about the reports. Melanie is quoted as saying: "Our album IS coming out June 1st. Don't listen to the media! And what's with this "a close friend" business? We've already finished most of the record. As soon as Melanie and Victoria have their babies and loose a few kilos we'll put the finishing touches on it.

 

So maybe this is where the 5 tracks they did with Biff in Autumn/Winter 1998 came into, potentially with some solo tracks and covers added? Wild that Mel C said that, I had never heard of a set date for 1999, I always thought they hadnt recorded any more, certainly not enough for a full album... Wasnt that also aorund the time Phoenix and Brooklyn were born too? :???:

 

Mel B states that there would now be a Christmas single and the album would come out late 1999, certainly with the Christmas tour making sense for that plan...

 

Around March 1999, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis stated they had recorded a song with Baby and Sporty and it turned down really well. This would have been before the known recording dates! Would this be a THIRD track with them at least? Cos I was always under the impression that Jimmy and Terry had attended the shows in 1998 then agreed to work together and then they all recorded together Oxygen and IYWHSF, and it was only ever those two songs?...

 

This would make sense remembering that Baby and Sporty also went to America following the sessions with Biff and Matt after the Spiceworld tour in Autumn 1998... hhhhmmmm :arrr: :arrr: Maybe they hang out and this song came out of those studio sessions?...

 

There's potentially a lot of demos from Autumn 1998 into Spring 1999 that we might not know much about at all and it is starting to make sense :P

 

We need Forever25 to bring THE VAULTS OUT :w00t: :cheer:

 

I certainly don't know everything from behind the scenes...but...I've long been under the belief that a lot of what the fan sites were reporting in 1999/2000 was made up. I was checking the fan sites daily in that time. I was a kid...and it was an earlier time for the internet, so perhaps I was pretty naive. But I did believe the fan sites had real scoops. They had me convinced in the spring of 1999 that a new Spice Girls album was going to drop any week...an album to be called The Great Divide. I was kinda floored to learn that summer that the 3rd album recording sessions hadn't even happened yet.

 

Anyway. Those Melanie C quotes about a new album being completed in spring 1999 are a fairly odd thing. But. The fan sites were often run by teens. Were they all above making up the occasional quote? Could they have been taking news from unscrupulous tabloids? I can't find anything on the existence of an LA Frontier newspaper, for example. I do remember it just being a wild time for rumors.

 

She doesn't!? This is the first I've heard of this (actually the first time I've heard of any of the girls saying anything about IYWHSF -- is it mentioned in her book?)

 

I don't remember the specific interview, but I'm pretty sure it was during the Reason promo. Mel was asked to reflect on Forever. She said the album had beautiful ballads, but she didn't like all of the material on the album...and she listed If You Wanna Have Some Fun as her example.

I'm sure this quote:

 

"Our album IS coming out June 1st. Don't listen to the media! And what's with this "a close friend" business? We've already finished most of the record. As soon as Melanie and Victoria have their babies and loose a few kilos we'll put the finishing touches on it."

 

...is fake. To me it reads like a young fan with an imagination. "Loose [sic] a few kilos" :lol: :drama:

I'm sure this quote:

 

"Our album IS coming out June 1st. Don't listen to the media! And what's with this "a close friend" business? We've already finished most of the record. As soon as Melanie and Victoria have their babies and loose a few kilos we'll put the finishing touches on it."

 

...is fake. To me it reads like a young fan with an imagination. "Loose [sic] a few kilos" :lol: :drama:

 

A young fan living in a country that uses the metric system. While I doubt they'd say anything close to a quote like that, if they did they'd say "pounds".

LOL I mean, fair dues... All of these do have old expired links to the source so whilst they *did* provide a source at the time we cant really access it so who knows if they were true at all but yeah some of it like the lost video and the 1999 June 1st date sound really outlandish...

 

I DO want to believe in the third Jimmy + Terry song though. I will just believe it and take that with me :P

LOL I mean, fair dues... All of these do have old expired links to the source so whilst they *did* provide a source at the time we cant really access it so who knows if they were true at all but yeah some of it like the lost video and the 1999 June 1st date sound really outlandish...

 

I DO want to believe in the third Jimmy + Terry song though. I will just believe it and take that with me :P

 

Isn't the third track called "If Ya Do" ?

 

I certainly don't know everything from behind the scenes...but...I've long been under the belief that a lot of what the fan sites were reporting in 1999/2000 was made up. I was checking the fan sites daily in that time. I was a kid...and it was an earlier time for the internet, so perhaps I was pretty naive. But I did believe the fan sites had real scoops. They had me convinced in the spring of 1999 that a new Spice Girls album was going to drop any week...an album to be called The Great Divide. I was kinda floored to learn that summer that the 3rd album recording sessions hadn't even happened yet.

 

That album title, I remember, was actually mentioned on radio stations here in Canada a few times once Goodbye hit the airwaves. I'm pretty sure I have a cassette recording of one of the radio plays of Goodbye that says "that was Goodbye by the now 4-piece Spice Girls, taken from their forthcoming album The Great Divide, due out in summer 1999."

 

 

I don't remember the specific interview, but I'm pretty sure it was during the Reason promo. Mel was asked to reflect on Forever. She said the album had beautiful ballads, but she didn't like all of the material on the album...and she listed If You Wanna Have Some Fun as her example.

 

Wow. That makes me sad. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but, she's wrong on IYWHSF -- it definitely woke me up (a bit) when I played Forever from start to finish the first time.

Isn't the third track called "If Ya Do" ?

 

Was that ever known as a Jimmy and Terry track?

That album title, I remember, was actually mentioned on radio stations here in Canada a few times once Goodbye hit the airwaves. I'm pretty sure I have a cassette recording of one of the radio plays of Goodbye that says "that was Goodbye by the now 4-piece Spice Girls, taken from their forthcoming album The Great Divide, due out in summer 1999."

 

That's right! I forgot to add that. At the time, even MTV mentioned that title and that tehy would be releasing the album in Summer 1999. But I never heard of a set date :blink:

 

To be honest, I wouldnt be surprised if the press was just making shit up... I don't believe the Great Divide would have been a Spice Girls title, at all...

Sorry BabyBoy, didn't realise that we posted quotes from the same interview ^_^

No worries :heart:

 

I don't remember the specific interview, but I'm pretty sure it was during the Reason promo. Mel was asked to reflect on Forever. She said the album had beautiful ballads, but she didn't like all of the material on the album...and she listed If You Wanna Have Some Fun as her example.

I think that interview was from the Beautiful Intentions era. I remember the quote about Forever's "beautiful ballas", but I don't recall her ever singling out If You Wanna Have Some Fun. :thinking:

I think that interview was from the Beautiful Intentions era. I remember the quote about Forever's "beautiful ballas", but I don't recall her ever singling out If You Wanna Have Some Fun. :thinking:

 

Yeah she often said the 'beautiful ballads' thing about Forever, which is probably why I was surprised that she picked Tell Me Why as her favourite at the time, it was jarring finding that out yesterday to be honest :teresa:

 

I also dont recall her saying anything ever about If You Wanna Have Some Fun, only Emma mentioning it a few times as her favourite.