Piers

In all honesty, that's fair. That plan would serve her better...though it seems she feels the public will have more interest in the video content over the new music. That may not be true in this forum. But it'd probably be true in general. Anyway. I'm guessing some of this rollout would be handled by her management company? I won't totally get into the weeds as to why I was there, but about a year ago, I actually made a stop into CTK Management outside of Nashville for work reasons. As far as I know...they still handle Geri. She's still on their site anyway. Their main lobby area actually had a framed shot of Geri at the '97 Brits. But. You could definitely tell the focus of the team was on Dolly Parton. Most of the walls were covered in Dolly material...joined by...oddly enough...things for the band Slipknot. I give the company credit. There's variety. Anyway. I can't totally blame the focus. Dolly is a legend and an empire. But I did kind of wonder how much focus would go into Geri projects...and why Geri would want a management group so far away and out of the country.

In terms of Geri not just putting out music through an independent release...I'd say this. I'm personally always being told...you're creative. Why don't you just quit your job and work for yourself? Straight up. I don't have the organizational skills for that. And maybe (on a far, far, far grander scale) that's Geri too. Geri is a creative with a genuine songwriting ability...but at least from what I can tell...she doesn't have the organization and focus of, say, Mel C. Not every single artist has the ability to create their own label and handle everything on their own. Geri's life must place her ego in a strange place. She had an incredible chart run at one time. She can still sell out stadiums when paired with the other girls. And no record company will entertain the notion of working with her. So. I mean. Whatever bonkers way she wants to get music out there, I'm game for it. Beats me how this whole thing will turn out...but to be totally honest, she's probably got a better chance of bringing attention to her music by doing an out-of-left-field Queen Elizabeth routine than just releasing a new Geri Halliwell album.

One more thought on Forever. I know the general consensus about the album has been..."Holler was the only potential #1 out of the new material." But I've never really thought that. Holler sold below their previous singles...but it also did so with relatively little support from the group...and it arrived in an especially busy era of Spice material. If the Spices had truly decided to hit the brakes on their solo stuff by fall 2000 (no Mel B album, no Mel C tour) and truly throw their support behind Forever, I think they could have racked up a few more #1s in at least Tell Me Why and If You Wanna Have Some Fun. Victoria managed huge sales with Out of Your Mind...a song that's far less commercial than nearly anything on Forever. But. It had the right video...and a strong push from Victoria. Plus, I figure Tell Me Why would have had the added built-in controversy of people speculating..."is it...or is it not about Geri?"

Is the version of IYWHSF that's in the video the same as the radio edit that was sent to stations? Cause. If it is. That effort's a major fail. At a point, it just lurches to the end of the song like the album skipped. Beyond sloppy. Unacceptable. It wouldn't have been especially hard to put together a seamless shorter edit. I don't work in music, and I could do it in probably three minutes. You'd think people in charge of a multi-million dollar project could do the same? And to think this video was sent to MTV. The video irks me too, really. Between Wembley, the Christmas shows, the tour doc, and behind-the-scenes of Holler/LLLTW...there was MORE than enough video of the four-piece Spices to cover a four minute clip. But...instead...half the thing is some weird recutting of history where we pretend extremely famous moments didn't have Geri? It's completely distracting. Anyway. On the upside...20 years later, the actual song's still fab.

I'm still very murky on what all of this is. Is all this stuff of her going on various real-life adventures/recording music/spending time with family...going to be interspersed with the Queen Elizabeth material? I'll take a shot in the dark and say...maybe the show will have historical moments of Queen Elizabeth showing bravery, ambition, etc...and then Geri will try to take on that attribute in a real world scenario? It's a guess, but that'd make the most sense to me in terms of getting the music heard...unless the plan is for Geri's Queen Elizabeth to leap out of a carriage and go dancing through a crowd of peasants singing Get Involved. I remember in the old DenDen, someone in Geri's camp used to come in and post about Geri's various bonkers TV show ideas. I guess this is the one that finally stuck. Credit where it's due. The videography on this show looks sharp. And I like that Love and Light gets a little play in the video. She genuinely does have a lot of unreleased material that deserves to be heard. One other thing. Maybe I just don't totally understand this, but does she not already have control of the Geri Halliwell page with nearly 50K followers? Why start a new YouTube page just for this?

This. And I agree with schizo_spice that Geri was just looking to support a powerful woman with her comments about Thatcher. Geri was in her early 20s. She was a soundbite machine and said lots of somewhat bonkers things. "Thatcher was the first Spice Girl" was a statement that did its job in that...it got people talking. Did Geri understand Thatcher as a very complicated, controversial figure? I kind of doubt it. She was also a fan of Marilyn Monroe without having seen any of her movies. As for her reaction to the Mel B fling...look. I would have also preferred that Geri just laugh it off and embrace the past. But in reality, her embarrassment isn't over the fact the fling's with a woman...it's WHO that person is. Geri readily admitted to having a lesbian relationship for years. But there's a reason "David Bowie slept with men" was a lot less salacious to the public than the claim "David Bowie slept with Mick Jagger." Geri and Mel B were already forever tied in the public eye...and the story of their fling (at least for a while) overwhelmed the attention to the actual reunion tour in the works. No matter how woke we think we are now, the world DID act like this was a huge scandal...and Geri probably knew that would happen. It's no one's place to tell Geri how she should feel about something this personal getting blurted out to the world. As for her standing with the LGBT community, I think it's easy to forget something in 2020. It's a different world now. Pretty much all pop stars embrace their LGBT fans. That was not the case in Geri's late 90s/early 2000s heyday. It's not that pop stars were anti-LGBT (...mostly...). It's just many of them weren't overt in their support, really. Geri? She was never quiet about it. Even said she wrote songs for the gay community. Geri wasn't alone. There was, like...Madonna, for example. But Geri's fans were younger and were more likely to have the cash of conservative parents buying albums/singles. Geri probably had more to lose. Anyway. Her candor about it was something I definitely appreciated at the time.

Yes. It was. It really speaks to their disorganization of the time that 2001 saw the solo Spices releasing a whopping NINE singles...and three albums...plus Melanie C on tour for most of the year...plus the Spice Girls' Forever debacle still fresh on everyone's minds. And then 2002 had...all of one single early in the year and...that's it. You'd think someone would attempt to spread this out. Anyway. I remember 2002-2003 being the time I was least interested in the group. They were suddenly silent for a while...and then Reason just wasn't especially interesting to me (with a handful of song exceptions...that I've mostly appreciated in the years since the release). It kinda took Emma's Maybe and the Free Me album to get me back into all things solo Spice.

The Wiki page I'm seeing says the album was out in July...but that the Say My Name single was released in November. But I don't know if those release dates are the same for every country or anything. Also unusual is that the single was released in November...but the video didn't come out until February 2000 (with the new members). I definitely identify that song as belonging to the early 2000s instead of the 90s. Anyway. What an odd time for that group. Two original group members are on the single cover...two different ones are in the video...

^ It's kinda an interesting timeline. DC's Writings On the Wall album was out in July 1999. Jerkins didn't actually enter the studio with the Spices until several weeks later. However, I believe the girls started taking meetings with him in late 1998. And who knows? Maybe they all went clubbing together in the months following before they got down to work. I remember articles being written about Mel going out clubbing just weeks after Pheonix was born. Side note. While Richard Stannard got a special box seat for the 2019 tour, I wonder if Rodney Jerkins got an invite? It would be a chance to see two songs he wrote be performed at a stadium (...which...honestly, might not be all that novel for him). Despite the girls totally abandoning Forever at the time, it seems that relationship remained friendly. In recent years, Victoria took her son to record with him. Fred Jerkins has wanted to work with Emma again.

I was thinking about this recently. If you were to take the songs from the Northern Star era that DIDN'T actually make the standard issue album (Something's Gonna Happen, Happy Without You, Follow Me, You Taught Me, etc.), I actually think you'd still come up with a stronger album than Reason. I was pretty disappointed in Reason when it first came out. Northern Star was such an interesting, varied album. Never Be the Same Again was followed by Why which was followed by Suddenly Monday. So many musical directions. And Reason was like her spirit was largely gone. She was given two gargantuan hits in Never Be the Same Again and I Turn To You...and it was a bit like she was willfully turning her back on what made her a success. Here It Comes Again was probably the first solo Spice single I actively didn't like. I thought it just plodded along and was too bland for a Melanie C album, much less her big comeback. The song HAS grown on me over time, though...and the video's really nice (though I still like nearly everything on Northern Star better). Other than that...always liked On the Horizon...and thought it was an absolutely vital spark of life on the album. I also think Reason and Melt are really pretty (though the latter's video reminds me of a wedding DVD menu). I think Let's Love and Yeh Yeh Yeh are fun...though I've always thought the "Yeh Yeh Yeh If You're With Me Raise Your Hands" line sounded awkward in an otherwise solid song. I guess where I land with it is...Reason is about half a decent album.

Just listened to the clips. Yeah. I really, really like all of this. Since I've only JUST heard it all, I hesitate to make bold statements...but...I will anyway. I think it's the most consistently strong album she has. Northern Star has some higher highs...but all of this towers over the lower lows of NS (hey If That Were Me). I also adore Think About It, Stupid Game, and a few others from The Sea, but to my ears...she's finally unleashed a set of songs without a single clunker. I agree with the above...Good Enough is the standout for me too. It's fab. I also really like Overload.

I'd definitely say this. The right first step has been taken...bringing in Diablo Cody for scripting duties. She's the perfect person to tell Madonna's story. Equally important will be the right director. Would Patty Jenkins do it...? Anyway. Telling Madonna's story is a tricky one...because there are just more iconic eras and iconic songs to cover...even compared to other legends. If I were plotting it, I think I'd jump around eras quite a lot...and do career beginnings/Like a Virgin at the VMAs...Like a Prayer controversy/Vogue/Blonde Ambition tour...Erotica/SEX book/height of controversy...and first child/critical acceptance with Ray of Light. Then...maybe cap off the film with a recreation of the Hung Up video or one of the song's performances. Maybe all of that's doable in a film? Maybe? I think those moments highlight what I see as the major themes of her career; the constant disruption of music norms, the frustration of being denied critical acceptance, and the way her mother's death shaped her life. As for an actress to play her...I'll float this out there. Florence Pugh? She's proven herself to be very versatile and willing to do edgy work. With the right make-up and minor prosthetics, maybe she could look like M? She also sings. Anyway. That's a thought. It may have to be a relative unknown...and give someone a star making turn like Jennifer Lopez in Selena.

It's actually my favorite of her post-Confessions albums...though it's unquestionably imperfect (and has some lower lows than anything on Hard Candy). I listen to Joan of Arc, Body Shop, and Rebel Heart quite a lot. To my ears, Joan of Arc was an obvious single...and Rebel Heart is a criminally underrated (and really beautiful) career retrospective. I also think Ghosttown is her best single of the 2010s...closely followed by Livin' For Love. But while softer moments on the album work...for me, the harder moments don't. She has every right to record edgy tracks...and not be shamed about it because of her age. Not caving to pressure is very Madonna. Buuut. That said. The edgy songs on this album just aren't very good...and seem to exist only for her to say "hey everybody! I'm still singin' bout sex!" I think there's a really, really good 10-12 track album here. But this needed trimming. And I agree with Euphorique...this album is far more my thing than Madame X.

As a side note, I know this perspective will be different depending on the country where you grew up...but I'd make the argument the Spices weren't *that* overexposed in the US. Oh, they were huge. And Wannabe, Say You'll Be There, and 2 Become 1 were big hits. There was merchandise too. But they were never of the same level of inescapable here as Britney/Backstreet/NSYNC. The Spices performed on a few of the major shows in spring '97...but I wouldn't say they overdid it. In terms of their commercials, the ads for Impulse Spice, Walkers, and Channel 5 (of course) never made air here. If the Polaroid ads ever aired, I never saw them. Really, the only ad I ever saw was the Pepsi one...and even at that, I don't *think* the US had the competition to win a copy of Step to Me/tickets to Istanbul (...but someone in here feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Beyond that, we never got a release of Who Do You Think You Are/Mama. 1997 brought four single releases here. That's definitely a busy year...but it's not unheard of. The only thing that was truly out of the norm was two album releases in 1997. But really, the girls didn't make a single US appearance to promote Spiceworld before the album release. It kinda quietly arrived (with performances in the months following...mostly early '98). Really, their story in the US is nine months of radio play/video support...followed by what seemed like a radio/MTV/VH1 blacklist and the minimal in awards attention. The support wasn't even there in early 1998 when they managed to have TWO albums in the top ten. The music industry was actively ignoring their success. I'm not convinced it was overexposure that was their problem. Maybe some in the business didn't like the competition for their homegrown acts?

^ I wondered this too...if the firing of Simon somehow torpedoed their media support in the US. But. At the same time, Spice Up Your Life was already being denied any airplay/videoplay...even before Simon was fired. And the minimal nominations at the 1997 VMAs also happened under Simon's watch. So. Beats me what was really going on behind the scenes. I was just looking through the wins and nominations for the 1997 VMAs. It's not that the show got everything wrong. Stuff like Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity and Missy's The Rain remain stunning, innovative videos. But there are definitely some head-scratchers. The Spices got shut out of Best Group Video...but stuff like The Wallflowers' humdrum One Headlight video got in. Wannabe and Say You'll Be There had clearly more memorable visuals...visuals that practically define 1997. Viewer's Choice is also an odd one. Did people vote for that? Cause if they did...I'm not sure how The Prodigy would manage to swipe it from the Spices (much less Jewel and Puff Daddy in the same category). But I also think the core audience MTV was targeting was a bit different back at that moment. I'm not taking anything away from the likes of Meredith Brooks and The Chemical Brothers, but they didn't define 1997 in the way the Spice Girls and Hanson did (Hanson managed one nom, no wins). I think it took another two years (with Britney, NSYNC, Backstreet, etc.) for the VMAs to truly become ruled by pop again.

I just read through that. I mean. I think the girls should have been higher on the list...because of course I do. Nirvana's at #10, for example. I'm definitely not taking anything away from the impact of the Smells Like Teen Spirit video. The song/video redefined the sound/look of music in the 90s. But you could argue that while Smells Like Teen Spirit set the business in one direction, Wannabe's single and video was nearly as effective at setting the business in another direction. Not saying the girls should be ahead of Nirvana necessarily. Just saying there should be less than a 70-place gap. It's an American article, so they have less major video moments than in the UK. But at the very least, Wannabe and Say You'll Be There are more iconic than a lot of the artists' videos up through about #20. And I'm not sure I follow why, say, Brad Paisley's so far ahead of them... By the way. They put Michael Jackson at #2. Madonna at #1. I'd probably switch it. No one redefined the music video like Michael Jackson. Though...truly...no one's historically managed to get more controversy out of videos than Madonna.

It's about two hours long, so I didn't listen to the whole thing. Just skipped around a bit so I could find the little section with Geri. There were a few cute moments. A while before Geri came on, Mel played Mi Chico Latino and talked about how gorgeous Geri looked in the video. (I remember Mel even saying back in '99 that she liked Mi Chico Latino) Mel asked Geri what item reminds her of the 90s. Geri replied a baked potato with beans on top. She said that's what the girls would eat between rehearsals during the early days. They also talked about the time they were backstage at a Blur concert...and made a bet they'd rush the stage if Girls and Boys was played next. It was...and security had to nab them. They also talked about Brits '97...and shared a story I hadn't heard before. Geri said the group confronted the president of Sony records backstage and said "You passed on us. BIG MISTAKE." It was nice. I thought both of them came off well. Geri's funnier talking about bonkers things in her past than in her usual well-mannered interviews. They don't talk about touring or any other possible future plans.

A little late to the party to discuss this one...but had a few memories about Out of Your Mind. I remember back when an audio clip first showed up on the Spice fan sites. I totally didn't get it. The mix was a bit different. More chaotic. My reaction was completely...what...is...this...? But. I caught her Party In the Park performance...and I started to come around to the song. Then the video came out and was gorgeous. The rough edges of the song seemed to have been smoothed out, and I ended up really liking it. The chart battle was always a curious thing to me. While I like the song, OOYM didn't necessarily sound like a huge hit to me. Not a #1 contender, anyway. That may be my US perspective creeping in. That style of music never totally took hold of the music charts here. So. To me...it always seemed like an interesting little track...taking on something that sounded hugely commercial (Groovejet). On the flip side, I *did* think Not Such An Innocent Girl sounded like a big hit. So. What do I know?

If we're looking at career runs, I think it has to be Mel C for me practically by default. The sheer amount of material she's released means she just has the most bops total. My assessment is she has about a dozen truly great singles...another dozen that are "fine"...and about a dozen duds (I know the math doesn't quite add up there...but...y'know...estimates...). I'll say this. Out of the material each of the girls had for their respective albums, I think Geri did the best job of choosing her singles. That doesn't necessarily mean I think she had the best songs of the bunch. I think she just did the best job of picking her releases. You may or may not like the Schizophonic material (personally, I do) but she did pick the four songs with the biggest hit potential. I think she did the same for her second album. Scream and Calling may have fallen a bit below her expectations, but I think they did better than anything else available to her would have. Yes, she blundered by not releasing Love Never Loved Me...but...it *was* up for consideration and the fans voted for Desire to be released over it. So. It was the fan pick. I can't totally blame her for listening. The others I just think made some really bad choices. With Mel B, I adore her first four singles...but Lullaby was a song with no audience and was lucky to get the chart placing it did (I still find it hilarious she performed it at GAY). Today was lucky to make the Top 200 of any chart. Emma was too content to release snoozer cover songs when she had incomparably stronger original material in her arsenal. Likewise, I don't think Victoria's absolute best stuff got the single treatment (...or release at all, really...)

I've thought that too, actually. To me...the setlist of the tour seems to have been created with an international audience in mind...with decisions like the exclusion of any solo songs. I don't live there, but my guess is a strictly UK audience would actually know I Turn To You better than, say, Something Kinda Funny. But that wouldn't be the case in the US. So. If the plan is to tour other parts of the world...I guess you wouldn't record one of the earliest dates of the experience. That's one theory. I've also wondered if Geri might have possibly discouraged the idea of a DVD. She was clearly not comfortable on stage for parts of the tour. Would a professionally filmed DVD have put that under the microscope? I admit that's sheer speculation based on nothing, though. And yes, I've also wondered if we'll be getting the same show if they resume. By that point, it will have been two years after the original dates (at the very least). Does it seem like changes should be necessary? I've seen Janet Jackson a few times in the last few years...who seems to keep a lot of elements of her show but makes little tweaks here and there. I rather like the Spice tour, though in a perfect world, I'd kinda like to see them actually perform Move Over (it seems to be remembered well enough). It'd also be nice to abandon We Are Family so the whole show can be originals...and perhaps replace it with a quick little medley of fan favorites? (Right Back At Ya, If You Wanna Have Some Fun, Step To Me, etc...?...)

Based on that tiny snippet of lyrics, it seems her career may have come full circle. Back on Reason, Positively Somewhere sounded like her defiantly shedding her pop roots. Now...maybe she's defiantly reclaiming her pop roots? I mean. I acknowledge I'm just assuming that over very few lyrics here. The song could be about anything. I'm so on board with her current direction, though. Once the day arrives she can actually perform on stage again, I wonder what her show could look like? Would she be open to possibly incorporating some choreography? She did some in her Sink the Pink shows. This album seems pointed in the same direction. Personally, I'd love a show that darts to all her extremes. Have her get up there and do Goin Down...AND Say You'll Be There...AND Never Be the Same Again...AND the new dancey stuff...AND a big show tune (but just one, really...let's not get crazy). Just throw the iamspamspamamisink at it. I'd be up for it.

I get what you're saying, but the release did make sense to me. To me, the two of them have enough of a link in pop culture that a tribute song was appropriate. I'd agree a lot of George fans probably don't care for solo Geri (he's just got a deeper catalogue of songs and a greater mass appeal). But I'd venture to say most Geri fans also like George. I know I certainly do. She'd spoken about their friendship starting in the Spice days and kept at it throughout her career. She famously lived with him after splitting from the group. I would have found it bizarre and desperate for her to pen a song about Prince, for example. But George Michael? There was enough of a background there. I thought the song was genuine. And in my understanding of the situation...George wasn't really close to much of anyone in those last years. Could she have made a bit more of a ripple with a different song? Maybe. I'm not sure the Geri of the past several years has the confidence to pull off another Bag It Up...though I think some of her unreleased material has flashes of the quirk that defines her. Like I mentioned before, I think Love and Light was the strongest thing she had in her arsenal. Could that have at least won her some of the better critical reviews of her career? Who knows. But I do think Angels in Chains was a sweet song, and she came off well in the interviews surrounding it.

It's still a little odd for me seeing people announce tours because I'm like...do you really know if you're going to be able to do that? I realize she just has a month and a list of countries...and that's as specific as it is right now. I also realize May is a long way off. But. Really. I have absolutely nothing on my schedule for the first time in my adult life...because I'm so uncertain of the pandemic's future. My work's told us we won't be back in the building until 2021. They've even deactivated our keys to get in, so no one can slip inside to grab something off their desk if they tried. lol. So. Y'know. With that being the case right now...do I think life will have changed so much in 2021 that I'll be back in crowded concerts? I just don't know. There's also this. I wonder how many venues will be sadly forced to close permanently because of what the pandemic has done to their business. Granted, all of the above comes from the perspective of someone living in the US. Things may be advancing better in your countries. But the problem just keeps getting worse here cause...y'know...a lot of us are crazy as hell.

Thanks for sharing. I haven't actually seen that video before. And yes. I still love Angels in Chains too. I don't share the ire many do for Half of Me. I think it's 'fine'...but it wasn't worthy of being a comeback for her after so long. But I don't think the same about Angels in Chains. I actually think it was an excellent reintroduction to Geri...that's worthy of her singles run. I wouldn't necessarily call Angels in Chains the best thing she recorded in that era. That's probably Love and Light. But I *do* think AIC was the best choice for a comeback. I thought she was very genuine in her intentions, the song is quite pretty, and recruiting George Michael's backup singers was an excellent call. I just wish it had led to a little album release. We don't know what exactly happened behind the scenes...but her story about how the music couldn't be released because of a leak is...bizarre to me. Lots of albums leak. It's no reason to just toss it all. Granted, I realize there are probably greater commercial concerns that had more to do with the album never getting out there. But it is a shame. A lot of the material was too strong to never be put out there officially...and she clearly poured her heart into it. And poor Eliot Kennedy. Another Spice working with him and never releasing the music...just the same as the four piece group, Victoria solo, and GEM.

Right. That's my thought too. I don't dislike Here It Comes Again...and it's definitely grown on me over the years. But I found it rather dull when I first heard it...and was disappointed this was the song she was using to re-emerge after such a long absence. There was nothing to be excited about (though the video, I rather like). To me, Here It Comes Again didn't sound like a comeback single. Think About It does. And, yes, a singles run of TAI, Stupid Game, and Burn could have kept up her history of varied, interesting single choices that she'd pulled off so well in the Northern Star era...instead of...y'know...what we got (going the adult contemporary "respect me, dammit!" route for three albums worth of material) But anyway. I love who she is now. She leaps from genre to genre...and to me, that was always the best thing about her...the fact she's willing to take on anything, and she'll pull it off.