ilovepollo

So I’ve listened to all the previews now… and I have to say, I’m a bit underwhelmed. There’s not a single ballad in sight. The whole album leans heavily into that pop/dance sound and while it’s polished, a lot of the tracks blur into each other. Nothing really stands out or hits emotionally, at least not from what we can hear so far. It’s a shame because I’ve always loved Melanie’s softer side. Songs like You’ll Get Yours, or even albums like Reason, This Time or The Sea… that more intimate, emotional sound is what really made me connect with her as a solo artist. The direction she’s been taking lately just isn’t really my thing, and I never thought I’d say that about a new Mel C album. It feels strange not being excited this time around, but honestly… I’m just not feeling it.

Look… I’m disappointed, yeah. And I’m hurt, but precisely because I love all five of them. There are moments when they annoy me, when I feel let down or even abandoned… but I still love them regardless. It’s complicated. It’s a bit like a divorce. They’ve been such a huge part of my life, for better and for worse, and even if right now I feel more distant from them than ever, I could never just erase them. That’s impossible. That being said, I don’t think they deserve to be torn apart like this. They’ve given us far more good than bad over the years. Are they doing nothing right now and driving us mad? Yes. Absolutely. But from there to disrespecting them like this… that’s just not it.

I don’t know, but my “Spice feeling” is at an all-time low right now. I feel more disconnected from them than ever. Maybe it sounds dramatic, but after so many let downs over the years, I’m genuinely starting to question a lot of things. This week I even removed all their songs from my playlists. Not as some kind of boycott or to be petty, it’s just… I don’t feel like listening to them anymore. That spark just isn’t there right now. And honestly, it’s their 30th anniversary. Thirty years of being a loyal fan to a group that has, what, three proper albums and keeps recycling the same songs over and over… I don’t know, it just feels like it should have been more by now. My interest in them is just fading more and more, to the point where I’m starting not to care anymore about what they do next. Maybe I’m just tired. Or maybe it’s just one disappointment too many.

What a mess… fans have been obsessed with WOMAN for years in one second she just completely shuts down all that excitement. Honestly, I don’t even know if these girls think about their fans anymore. A lot of us are tired of them living off the first two albums and never even trying to give us something new or put a bit of effort into doing something different. It’s always the same cycle. And the worst part is, they know how long we’ve been waiting for WOMAN. They know it would mean so much to fans, even if it was released in some unfinished or demo form… and instead she talks about it like it’s below Voodoo. That’s just baffling. With each passing day I feel more and more disillusioned with all of them. At this point I don’t expect anything anymore. We’ll just keep living off the nostalgia of the first two albums… because even Forever seems to be completely dismissed now.

Honestly it’s not just Asia she’s skipping… she’s leaving out a big part of Europe too. No Spain, no Portugal, no Italy, no Scandinavia… which is kind of surprising considering she actually had a fair amount of success here both with the Spice Girls and as a solo artist. I mean, First Day Of My Life was huge across Europe back in the day, especially in countries like Spain and Portugal. So it’s a bit disappointing to see the tour basically reduced to the UK, a handful of central European cities and that’s it. I get that touring is expensive and maybe she’s playing it safe after what happened with the cancelled European dates years ago, but still… it feels like a lot of places that supported her for years are just being ignored this time. To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with the tour overall… and so far I’m also not loving what I’ve heard from the new album either.

It’s a shame really, people should avoid sharing the clip as much as possible so it doesn’t affect the release, and I’ve already seen it all over Instagram and TikTok with the song playing… not great.

Honestly… I had zero expectations for the new album 😅 But after hearing that little clip of “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” my Sporty Spice heart is beating at full speed again. You only need a few seconds to realise this one is the real deal. Still very dance, but with a fresh, current pop feel that actually works. It sounds confident, catchy and very Mel C being Mel C (in the best possible way). I’m officially excited now and I need to hear the full track ASAP!

Reading through everyone’s collections made me think it would be fun to see some photos of the rarest or most special Spice items we own. For me, one thing that’s become really hard to track down lately are the individual Viva Forever singles. Years ago you could still find them for around €50–100 (except Geri’s, which was always pricey), but now I’ve been looking again and I can’t see any under €200… it hurts a bit 😭 I collect items from all the girls, but my main focus has always been the group as a whole and Mel C solo. That said, I definitely regret selling some things over the years that are now really hard (and expensive) to get back, like Emma’s Cricket Sings for Anamaria CD singles, or those Spiceworld: The Movie VHS tins where each tin represented a Spice. Big collector regret there. Some of the rarest items I own are Japanese editions of singles and albums — things like Let’s Love by Melanie C, which is still one of my all-time favourite singles of hers. And probably the most special item in my collection is something I actually won rather than bought. A few years ago UNICEF did a blue vinyl of Spice, and you could enter a raffle by buying small donation entries (I think it was around £5 or even less). I completely forgot about it, and then one day I got an email saying I’d won one of the vinyls. I never win anything, so honestly it felt like winning the lottery 😄 So yeah, would love to see what everyone else considers their most precious Spice item, the hardest thing they’ve managed to find, or even something they were lucky enough to win rather than hunt down. Edit: I completely forgot to mention another rare item I have, the Melanie C The Sporty One audiobook, which comes on 11 CDs 😄 I guess I’m just lazy and prefer having Melanie read it to me rather than doing the reading myself.

Sharing a few pages from the Vogue Netherlands special they did back in November. It’s always really nice to see that, even after all these years, major magazines still look back at the Spice Girls and acknowledge everything they achieved. Time passes, trends change, but their impact clearly hasn’t been forgotten, and that’s pretty special.

Still celebrating Forever 25 over here

I love Mel and I’ll always support her, but if I’m honest I’m really not connecting with this new era so far. Sweat was already one of the first singles I’ve listened to the least out of her whole career, and the remix hasn’t changed that for me at all, it just doesn’t grab me in any way. I didn’t have huge expectations for the remix to begin with, but even so it feels very flat and forgettable to me. It’s a bit disappointing because her music has usually really excited me, and this time it just… doesn’t. I don’t feel that spark or passion I used to, and right now I’m not even sure I’ll feel the urge to go back and listen to it again anytime soon.

That bit about Geri’s mum co-writing most of the Spanish verse honestly surprised me 😅 She’s Spanish, and… sorry, but the Spanish in that song is rough. It’s not a case of “oh, it sounds a bit foreign” or slang being cheeky, in Spain we’re VERY familiar with rude language and that’s not the issue at all. It’s just badly constructed. Some of the phrases are plain weird and not things a Spanish person would naturally say. The grammar and flow feel off in a very non-native way. So yeah, I really struggle to believe her mum actually signed off on those lyrics. If anything, I can imagine her helping with how to say one specific word (🍆), but writing or approving the whole verse? I’m not convinced.

Happy New Year all! 🎊🥰 Let’s hope 2026 brings us good news…

Just wanted to share something quite special (and a bit heartbreaking, to be honest). Yesterday, all the MTV music channels across Europe were shut down. MTV 80s, MTV 90s, MTV Hits, Club MTV… the lot. Each channel chose one final music video to close with, and for MTV 90s, the last video ever aired was "Goodbye" by the Spice Girls. That genuinely feels like a moment for the history books: the final video shown on MTV 90s in Europe. Such a thoughtful choice to represent the decade, and honestly, I can’t think of a more fitting one. Still, it does make me really sad to see the end of the music channels altogether. Feels like the end of an era.