Piers

I kinda hope they're not really saying that behind the scenes. Here's the deal. If I'm not mistaken, none of them (in addition to Biff) have ever said anything good about Voodoo. They also removed the song off the 2007 tour setlist...with Mel B claiming it was because they were struggling with the choreography. If they really did believe in the song and wanted to showcase it, they could have pretty easily changed the choreography. The steps weren't commanded to them by the gods. And it's not like it would have been out of character for them to just wing the performance. So. They clearly didn't feel much more strongly about the song than the fanbase. Song For Her? Wasn't the TV show idea long abandoned by the time its theme song leaked? It's not like they were so proud of this that they were making any efforts to get it heard. Feed Your Love? I don't remember the overall reaction to this being negative, really. It was about right for a pretty good (but fairly low-key) little unreleased song that was part of a somewhat muted rollout. So it really comes down to the Headlines reception. From what we've heard from behind the scenes, the girls and Biff honestly did really like this track at one time. So. Okay. They may have been disappointed with how the fans perceived this one song..........15 years ago.

I'm halfway into the second episode. I would never watch this without the two of them involved, buuut....I do have to say Mel and Emma seem to be having a blast and are really funny on it. The set-up of the show plays well to their personalities. They're being forced into challenges...and having to think on their feet...and their scrambling to figure out what to do is actually really cute. I mean, yeah, I'd rather them be recording music or touring...but I do prefer this over another judging gig. For me, it's a better use of their vibe. As for the show, one thought keeps coming back to me. The rest of the cast is fairly young, and it's pretty well established that they...um...er...well. Let's just say I don't think they're going to know much about music from before 10/15 years ago. Are they even going to know who the Spice Girls are? The Spices' US exposure isn't great these days. Wannabe's here and there...Mel B had the stint on Got Talent...and the Beckhams pop up now and then. But. I feel like you kinda have to seek out the Spices a bit these days. So. Beats me how it's all gonna go down on this show...

Yeah. I'll admit that my first thought on seeing this trailer's quick glimpses of the two of them was..."wow. They look fab. Wish they were lookin fab in some sort of music project..." The show doesn't look like my sort of thing at all, but I will watch it for the two of them. I do think there's a silver lining to this...and that's having some Spices associated with a juggernaut like Netflix. Could this partnership...maybe...lead to a more interesting project down the road? That's my hope anyway. And I will say I have several friends who are obsessed with this show. It has its following. I do rank this a bit higher than the Coinmaster thing.

Yeah. The subject of how the music industry could make or break an artist at their will has always been an interesting subject to me. To me, the Spices' US career trajectory has a lot in common with Cyndi Lauper's and Paula Abdul's. All three exploded onto the scene with huge first albums with multiple hits. That initial fame seemed to propel them through second album eras. Then...all three had third album eras that were doomed...despite the fact they all carried very commercial material. It just seemed like the promotional machine of MTV/radio had quit on all of them. You could claim the audience moved on. Or was their fate being controlled? I get the Spices' situation with Forever is a complicated one with a few factors at play...but I literally never heard Holler on the radio and MTV definitely didn't give it an inch beyond (a probably contractually required) debut on TRL. Then, TRL turned around and named it the worst video in their history which was absurd. Anyway. It's not that I think a whole doc should be about that angle. But if they did a little multi-part series...maybe the Spice Girls story could be a springboard to look into a few subjects relevant to music in general...the evolution of commercial endorsements, industry reactions to an act being so outwardly pro-woman and pro-LGBT, how the music industry makes or breaks artists, etc.

The documentary idea does have a bit of "least effort possible" feel to it...which is, of course, par for the course with them. However. I do agree with Jay that they need to up their global visibility...and a doc on Netflix honestly would do it. I've been in a few stores lately...checking out all the graphic ts..and it's really striking to me how much more stuff there is for the other 90s pop acts over the Spices. There were shirts for the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney, Hanson, New Kids On The Block, En Vogue, TLC. Action figures and bobbleheads for most of the same acts. Granted, nearly all of these acts (except Britney and NSYNC) have toured through my city recently...or they're about to. But it's also noticeable that BSB still gets I Want It That Way played in major commercials...like the song never went out of style. If you go to my downtown, the music pouring out of all the bars is NSYNC, Britney, and BSB. By comparison...the Spices just have the Lego thing and these Coinmaster ads...which...don't seem to have been noticed by much of anyone but the fanbase? Point being. Somebody's doing a pretty good job of keeping these other acts' legacies alive. And the ball's getting dropped on the Spices.

Also. As much as we'd like to think that M's legacy of amazing songs/videos will outlast anything that's happening now...I'm not sure that's quite how history works. Maybe this is overthinking it, but I'll lay it out anyway. I've always found a lot of parallels between Madonna and 1930s film star Mae West. Madonna released the Sex book. West wrote and performed the play, Sex. Both were beautiful women challenging censorship and pushing the limits of society's views on sex. They fought for their art. Both had/have huge gay followings. Both had brains to back it all up. Madonna wrote the majority of her hits. West wrote her films. But what eventually happened with West is she became something of a parody of herself. Her appearance became bizarre. Her films became terrible. She was overtly nasty to up-and-coming actresses. The oddity of her behavior on set and in public became legendary. 40+ years after her death, West's bizarre later years are honestly as famous as her screen legend early years. It might not go the same way for Madonna. But...it could...

I'm admittedly not up on my British newspapers/tabloids...but...is Daily Mail especially reliable? If JJ Abrams was really shopping around a Spice Girls doc to Netflix, I'd kinda think a Hollywood Reporter or Variety might report on it. But. Anyway. For now, let's just pretend there's some truth to this. I'd be a little split on yet another documentary. I feel like Giving You Everything delivered as much as we can honestly expect out of a group so guarded. I feel like the story of them has been told...a lot. So a doc would need to dive into some interesting new territory. To me, one interesting angle of their story that no one's ever tackled is their forced fall from success in the US market. In 1998, they had two albums sitting in the top ten albums chart...and US radio, MTV, and VH1 was basically pretending they didn't exist. Radio/video play was nearly nonexistent for the clear biggest pop act in the country. The thought of any of them having another US hit by 1999 seemed impossible. What happened? My guess has always been that record companies for the homegrown upcoming pop acts knew the Spices were their competition...and worked behind the scenes to remove the threat. Whatever the case may be, there has to be some interesting dynamics in the 90s pop music world to explore there. Furthermore, what was at play in the Grammy's public refusal to nominate them? Their other pop contemporaries of the time got nominations.

I mean. I've got no inside scoop on what happened...but I never especially thought that Geri's team intentionally copied Victoria's video. Honestly, I figured both teams were probably just inspired by Mariah Carey's Heartbreaker video..which was still somewhat recent at that point...and featured a fight scene between a good Mariah and bad Mariah. The good girl/bad girl thing has always been fairly common in pop videos. The very next year after SIYWGF and NSAIG, a good Madonna was fighting a bad Madonna in the Die Another Day video. Nicole Scherzinger did the good girl/bad girl thing in Poison. Those are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a ton more examples. I mean, yeah, there's also the flying bikes thing. But. Geri took pics on a flying bike even in the album photoshoot...which came a good while before the eventual SIYWGF video shoot. So. I dunno. I land on coincidence. Plus, the motorbikes were employed very differently in the videos...and the good girl vs. bad girl thing is far more integrated into Victoria's concept than Geri's. (I'm not sure I was aware the two Geris were even rivals in the Scream video until the final seconds...)

One last thought. I don't think this is getting much discussion in the world...but I do think Madonna's struggled to sing for several years. Yes, everyone ganged up on her after that Eurovision performance...but the broad perception out there was that she can't sing...or was especially bad that night. The fact is...she was a rather good, disciplined singer for a lot of her career. I think something has genuinely happened to her voice. Whether she'd acknowledge such a thing, I don't know. You could argue her age just naturally changed her voice...making it harder to sing those early songs. But that doesn't explain why she doesn't even attempt her new songs without major distortion to her voice. I guess you could argue that distortion is only for the effect of the songs...but I'm not so sure. The fact vocals from her concert tours and Eurovision performance were doctored to the point of sounding nothing like the original vocals implies her team's aware something's up.

Just like you, I'm a die-hard fan...and nothing going on right now is going to change that. But yes, her image has been in a bad place for a while now. Some of it should have been avoided. Obviously, she didn't need to take an Aretha Franklin tribute and turn it into a rambling speech about herself. Die-hard fans may understand that she puts on shows hours and hours after the stated start time, but most people attending are just going to view it as poor form. Her takes on COVID were shallow and often bizarre. As for what people perceive as desperate attempts to be young...I tend to be split on that. My feeling is that age shouldn't stop an artist from pursuing a sound that speaks to them. Her defiance at what people think a person her age should say/wear...is, to me, often a strike against ageism...and a stance that's very in line with her character. Buuut. While I'll defend a chunk of Rebel Heart as pretty good...and say that MDNA and Madame X have the occasional good song, her musical quality has unquestionably dropped. Yes, ageism stopped her from getting hits for several deserving songs over the past decade. But, realistically...(except for Crave), nothing off Madame X would be a hit for anyone. So. When you're without the substance of amazing songs, you're kinda left with someone showing up to events just to flash the latest reinvention of her butt. And. I never thought she'd come off as that shallow. I'll never stop being a fan, but she has become her public perception's own worst enemy...and does need something to remind the world how she became such a titan of the industry. A biopic has the potential to do it...but not with her directing.

I'm happy to get anything from any one of them, really...but I'll go in on what I wish we could see in the (unlikely) event the group were to record again. I can't especially imagine Victoria as she is now taking part in music. So. Four piece album. All four must be in the room together for writing sessions. I'd build the writing team out of the girls and Biff...with perhaps a reunion with Cathy Dennis. I'm pretty sure everyone in here knows who that is...but if not, she wrote a ton of hits for a while including Can't Get You Out of My Head and Toxic. She also cowrote Bumper to Bumper with the girls...and she worked with Melanie C and (I think?) wrote My Love Is For Real for Victoria. She hasn't been as present in music for a few years, but this might be the right project to employ her skills. Then, I'd bring in Mark Ronson and Stuart Price as producers. Ronson because he can pull off so many genres of music (something key to the variety of the group)...and Price because the work he's done with Madonna/Kylie/Dua Lipa seems about right for where the girls' sound should be today. After that, I'd just say to create an album that encompasses who they all are now. Some big dance tracks...some throwback 60s sounding stuff...some lush ballads...something a little guitar-y...something a little electronic. An album even more varied than Spice World. Play up the 'All Are Welcome' angle with the promos and videos. People of all backgrounds. All stories. All ages. (maybe even throw in some of the original Spice Boys as dancers alongside the younger ones?...never too old to do what you love). Something like that.

If she were to go the series route, I feel one hour episodes could be the way to go...looking something like this; Episode 1: Beginnings Childhood and impact of mother's death. Establish important relationships (like the dynamics with her father and brother Christopher). Go into what sparked her love of performing. Cover her move to New York...the odd jobs...her Breakfast Club days...the recording of her first album. Episode 2: Breakthrough The ascent to superstardom. First MTV performance. Live Aid and a stadium tour puts her on the global stage as one of the biggest stars on the planet. The volatile Sean Penn romance. Desperately Seeking Susan seems to promise success in film...but the failure of Shanghai Surprise, Who's That Girl, and a stage play show she's not invincible. Episode 3: Controversy Like A Prayer/Pepsi controversy. Blonde Ambition tour met with both praise and heavy criticism. M brings gay culture into a more mainstream place...including the Vogue release. Erotica album. The Sex book. Body of Evidence. A Letterman appearance goes off the rails. She's shattering taboos...but is that causing a backlash? Episode 4: Motherhood An intentional attempt to soften her image after Erotica comes with the release of BedTime Stories. Evita is a new bid for credibility...and is met with some career-best reviews...but is also an Oscar snub. The birth of her daughter brings new perspective to her world. Episode 5: Acceptance Ray of Light brings the best reviews of her career...including Grammy attention. The praise continues with Music. The industry is giving a respect she's never felt before. Drowned World tour is a huge success. Guy Richie relationship seems to bring new level of happiness and stability. And all was well forever...? Episode 6: Ageism Ray of Light/Music did not signal a permanent acceptance by the music industry. Guy Richie was not the one. Her life and career continue ups and downs. Going political with the American Life album campaign is met with division. The hits dry up. Ageism is at work. M does what she always did...refuse to do what people expect of her. So. Maybe I feel like six one-hour episodes could cover it (you can tell I didn't have enough to do this morning).

I should reword what I said because...no, I don't think the Damon Dash stuff would have charted well either...though there may have been an interest in what Resentment was about. My thought was more...could My Love Is For Real have gotten her a bit of traction? I just base that on how I remember people reacting to her during that time. A lot of people in the US were talking about the Beckhams...and it was the sort of people who wouldn't know the real names of the other four Spices...and wouldn't even recognize the other four walking down the street. For them...the Beckhams were relationship goals. Victoria's face was all over Times Square. The late night shows talked about them. The fascination was there...even without the Beckhams trying especially hard (there was something of a push for exposure in 2007). Would that have translated into music sales? Maybe not. But I'm thinking if she'd released My Love Is For Real...accompanied with a sexy video featuring David (think the 2007 W magazine shoot in video form)...maybe? She did have Simon Fuller on her side at the time...

If I'm honest, I remain puzzled how she could be working on the script this long and be "tweaking" it...yet still be uncertain if this is a single film or a series. I feel like the format should have been set long before two screenwriters took a crack at it. Does her distributor not have certain expectations? I remain torn on all of this. In all likelihood, I still think her directing is going to end in disaster. With her sensibilities these days, I think she's going to create something overly pretentious with chaotic, hard-to-follow music sections. Hers is a story that belongs on the big screen. But I really wish she were collaborating with a solid, established director. It could be the re-establishing of a grand career. The flip side is...an artist directing their own music autobiography IS an interesting concept...and no matter how it turns out, it won't be dull. With her at the helm, I lean toward her doing a series. I think the world is more forgiving of that format. Plus, if the appeal of this project is to get the major events of a career...through the eyes of the artist...a series is just going to allow her to cover all the important beats. An eight-episode series sounds about right to me. Netflix hopefully...to reach the most eyeballs.

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.

I know I just said 'last thought'. But here's another last thought. Though it defies logic from a music quality standpoint, I do get her thinking on going solely with the Damon Dash material if her sole intent was to break the US. And I might get some debate on this, but my interpretation is that with a decent song, Victoria would have the best chance of the five girls to make an impact on the US charts...AND a better chance at chart success than even a Spice Girls comeback would have had by the early 2000s. The Spices were perceived as yesterday's news by that point, but there was a very real fascination with the Beckhams. Victoria definitely wasn't viewed as an annoyance in the way the British tabloids were playing her. She and David were seen as a beautiful power couple...and I do think around 2001-2007, she could have struck and capitalized on it. Could any of the Damon Dash material have taken her there? My thought is This Groove was too subtle to launch her in a new market. Resentment might have played out okay as a follow-up single to something. Going outside the Dash stuff, I think My Love Is For Real might have stood a chance at getting a respectable spot on a chart.

A few thoughts about the scrapped material. So, we know My Love Is For Real is from a third set of recordings for Victoria's album. A third change of direction? I've heard fans claim over the years that Shake It was also from the third sessions...but beats me if we know that for sure. Do we know if the intent was to start completely fresh with recordings a third time? I'm not sure I follow why she was trying to entirely dump all her pop material in 2003 in favor of the Damon Dash stuff. The pop recordings are so obviously stronger than, say, It's That Simple, That Dude, and Valentine. Was it out of the question to just combine the best of all the sessions? To me, the thing to do by 2004 would be to take the best pop tracks (especially the five Biff songs), pair them with This Groove, Resentment, and So Cold from the Damon Dash material, and lastly add My Love Is For Real and Shake It. It would have made a rather strong solo Spice album, I think. Better than the VB album, for sure. Last thought. I admittedly don't know enough about releasing music to gather when payment for a song sample takes place...but I've wondered if the samples Damon Dash used contributed the most to what bankrupted Telstar. A lot of Victoria's recordings with Dash rely heavily on famous song samples...the most prominent cases being The Beatles' Come Together and George Michael's Freedom. There's no way those rights came cheap...especially for what was supposed to be a smaller record label. Granted, the fact Victoria recorded A LOT of material with several high profile collaborators could have played the bigger role in Telstar's demise.

There are a number of things that I hope she addresses. Yes, the split from Virgin (and the general behind-the-scenes conflict behind the Reason album) could be really interesting. I've also wondered if she might address the subject of Goin Down. The rumor mill back in 1999 was that the song was about Robbie Williams. I haven't found much out there about Robbie and Goin Down since then, though. Has Mel herself ever explicitly said it's about Robbie? Anyway. Could be a juicy tidbit...if it honestly is about him.

Yeah. I've been similarly conflicted about the leaks. Ultimately, the songs are Geri's work...Geri's art...and even as a fan, I'm not owed that. On the flip side, for her to spend years and years playing bits of songs in baking videos, doing interviews to tease new material, and then releasing snippets to YouTube with her talking over them...*is* odd and confounding. I don't actually think she was trying to troll anyone. My guess is she was trying to generate enough interest in her work to get a more traditional album release deal. If memory serves correctly, she has been offered digital-only releases for this material...but she kept holding out to release a physical album. As an aside, to my ears, Geri's leaked material from a few years ago sounds more finished than the unreleased Victoria material. My guess is the Geri stuff was pretty much ready to go...just waiting for a proper avenue to get out there...while Victoria's stuff is demos. Last thought. How did the collection of songs get dubbed Man on the Mountain, anyway? I feel there are several of her song titles that better sum up the full work...

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.

I guess my first familiarity with Meat Loaf was hearing I'd Do Anything For Love. Loved both the song and video as a kid. Next...I would have caught him in Spice World. I started watching Rocky Horror Picture Show not long after that (I'm a bonafide fan of the film today). Actually, an actor who played Meat Loaf in a VH1 TV movie used to come speak to my high school every year. He shared the story of hating having to say the line..."So, you mean to tell me after 20 years...I have the #1 record?!" Meat Loaf also has a pretty memorable part in Fight Club. He really was a very varied guy...and I'd credit him with being someone who redefined what a rock star could look like. I like that his music was kinda halfway between rock and Broadway musical. His role in Spice World is a fairly random thing, I think. There's part of me that thinks the musicians in it should have all played themselves...instead of getting Elton John as Elton John...and Elvis Costello and Meat Loaf as whatever rando roles they could shove them in. But. Nonetheless, I see Meat Loaf's presence as further proof the filmmakers of Spice World knew it would be a movie for kids in 1997...and a midnight cult film in the decades to come.

I'm pretty positive we'll never see the Man on the Mountain tracks again in any new form. I viewed the YouTube Channel as our last chance to get the songs in better quality and in full...and...well...we saw how that went. A few of the originally leaked songs are a bit wishy washy for me (namely Beautiful Life, If You Love Someone, and I'm Older Now). But if she'd replace those with the likes of the stronger Rainbow Woman and Traveling Light, I actually do think she'd have a rather good set of songs. I listen to Love and Light, Phenomenal Woman, Deep Down, Without Love (both versions), and Man on the Mountain quite a bit, really. Am I under any confusion an album would do well on the charts? Not especially. I get that Emma and Mel C have charted decently in their first weeks recently...but I'm not sure if that would extend to Geri. And that's why I thought the YouTube page actually was the best way to go for releasing music.

So. This is off-topic. But. With nearly 17 years of retrospect...what's the general feeling out there in terms of how Mel should have handled LA State of Mind? I'll say this. I recently did a re-listen...and the album does sound better when taken as a whole. I think most of it sounds remarkably cheap as isolated tracks (especially Music of the Night). I just don't know if the situation should have been this bleak for Mel in 2005. The other four girls managed to have top 10 singles between 2004 and 2005. Mel herself was coming off from a (miscast...but still high profile) run in Rent. The thing is...I can't really claim LA State of Mind was undervalued on the charts with its #453 placing. Though I think several of the songs actually could have been pretty good with different production (In Too Deep especially)...the album we have is an extremely uncommercial release. On the flip side, though...I think it's a little admirable that Mel wanted to give her producer friends a moment in the spotlight. And if Mel wanted a musical outlet and a chance to work with her friends...why shouldn't she do that? I think I land on...maybe she should have made the tracks available for free on her site? Either that, or she could have made a legit full-length doc and included the songs on the DVD (similar to what Victoria did with Real Beckhams). It'd have been a chance to get some music out there without the tabloid lashing from the #453 chart placing.

My issue isn't the fact they did commercials for Coinmaster, really. It's the commercials themselves. The Walkers commercials from 2019 and the Tesco commercials from 2007 actually were fairly cute...and played up the girls' individual personalities. On the flip side, if I were in a pitch meeting for these Coinmaster commercials...my guess is the first idea in the first ten seconds would be..."the girls are busy playing the game, so a group of awkward guys fill in for them on stage." It's not funny because it's too expected. It's just not...even trying to throw a twist at us? Furthermore, (and I realize this is thinking deeper than perhaps the commercial deserves) from a purely PR perspective, I'm not sure it's a good look to have your act preferring to play on their phones rather than perform for paying, dedicated fans. Yeah, I know. It's not that deep. No one's going to be offended. But. I'm just saying. If I were on their team, I'd bring up the concern that it's not super flattering. Though. If they really wanted to troll us, they should do a commercial where they're actually in a studio together...but none of them will go into a recording booth cause they're too busy playing Coinmaster. Everyone will just love that.

^ So. Watching these two back-to-back, I kinda realized...I actually do like Ride It better of the two songs. My thought earlier was just that Some Girls would have made the more dynamic reinvention...and maybe would have made a bigger comeback for Geri. That said, I do like both. I'll stick up for Ride It as being rather likable and super catchy. As Geri sang in Deep Down..."maybe I'm not that cool, but I'm cool with that." I relate. But while I like the song, I think it's the promotional stuff that lets Ride It down a bit. I remember hating the video back in 2004...but I guess I've warmed to it a bit over time. I think her previous videos tended to be fairly good, actually (especially Look at Me and It's Raining Men)...and I chalk up the cheapness of this one to her hiring her friend to direct. But. Now, I think some of it's cute. Today, I'm mostly just irked by a few editing choices that are trying too hard (the messy superimposed video section around 2:30...the reversed dancing video toward the end). I also can't quite get past that shot of her butt where her dress flies up...which has always looked to me like she just farted. I wouldn't say the Some Girls video is a big winner here either. It's better made than Ride It's video...but...it's essentially about hordes of beautiful women who live in the sewer (?) and only emerge to be wasteful of bottles of water.