Piers

Mel continues to be fab, but the competition is getting tooough. I think Mel landed in, like, 7th place this week based on the judges' scores. I thought her Mary Poppins routine, in particular, was undervalued. But then, I'm also aware of how hard she's pushing herself. Beats me how she's faring with the votes. "Sporty Spice" is a far more known name in the US than, say, Peloton trainer Cody Rigsby. But the DWTS voting audience may very well be the types to be fans of Rigsby or an influencer like Olivia Jade. I continue to think this is Jojo Siwa's to lose, but Melora Hardin has emerged as the judges' favorite. She's definitely very good...though I'm not sure I follow why she gets better scores than several of the others. But. Hey. The judges are professionals. Not me. But beyond the judges' support, Melora has something else going for her. She was on The Office...which was a popular show in its original run...but today? The show has risen to obsession-level in the US. So. She's likely got both the judges and the public on her side. One to watch out for.

I guess I had far lower expectations for Geri's debut than most others here. I liked Geri in the group and also liked her bits on Spice and Spiceworld...but I never thought her voice could carry a solo album (I thought the same about Victoria). So, yeah. I was actually really surprised by how well it turned out. I get that Geri often struggles to sing live and has a limited vocal range, but I actually find her voice on Schizophonic to be mostly very warm and distinct. I like the majority of the songs. And perhaps most importantly, the material is HER. I have no doubts she was behind the steering wheel in the creation of the songs. As for her antics in promoting her records...I'm not bothered by them at all? Frankly, in the wake of Lady Gaga in her prime and Lil Nas X today, I find Geri's promotions to be downright...quaint. (to be clear, I have no issue with anything Gaga or Lil Nas X has done either) If Geri's whole Chris Evans relationship was faked for the sake of Lift Me Up...I don't care? Celebs do that all the time. I actually think she's taken an unusual amount of heat for something so common. And as for her parading out dozens of pink speedo-clad men to promote Bag It Up...nope. Not bothered by that either. I would've added more.

The big thing for me is...Mel has danced beautifully and has come across great with these first three weeks. The competition is going to be tough, though. Granted, it's been a lot of years, but I remember thinking pretty early on that Mel B pretty much had it in the bag in her 2007 season...and that only one of the Cheetah Girls seemed to be challenging that (she was sent home surprisingly early). Granted, Mel B took second...but she was legitimately a better dancer than the winner. It strikes me that the competition is a lot tougher for Mel C this year. There are a lot of them who are uniformly good and likable to boot. To me, there's a pretty wide gap of what gets a 7 on the show. A few of the men seem to be letting their partners do all the work...and just rip out the abs at the right moments. (not mad at them...they're still better dancers than I'll ever be, and if I had abs like that, I'd be breaking them out too) Ultimately, I think this is Jojo Siwa's to lose. She's the one who first came to the public's attention as a dancer, and she's still got the youthful energy of a teenager. You could say the deck's stacked in her favor a bit...but on a 'making television' level, I get that if they were going to have historic same-sex dance partners, it couldn't be left to fail with a less skilled dancer. I don't have very clear predictions of how far Mel goes, but she should be proud of everything she's doing.

A few have asked if people in the US know the contestants. And. Well. Kinda? I think they're a bit short on household names this season. JoJo Siwa's a bit of an unusual case as someone who gets on these Most Influential Stars lists...yet I wouldn't be surprised to meet people who haven't heard of her. Sunisa Lee's a recent gold medal Olympian, so that name's probably out there. I don't know if "Martin Kove" is a name everyone knows, but people are definitely familiar with his face through Karate Kid and the hugely popular Cobra Kai series. Brian Austin Green was a 90s heartthrob. The others...kinda cover the niche audiences there for a sports star/country star/reality star/talk show host/etc, I think. I realize people arrive to fame in very different ways these days, but I'll admit I raised an eyebrow at one of them being described as a Peloton instructor. I've never heard of Cody Rigsby, but he's got a huge following. So. What do I know? And beats me what to make of Olivia Jade being included. She's mostly known for her college emissions scandal, so I'm not sure about the morality behind handing another grand opportunity to her. But. I find most of these shows like to cast someone who's not exactly...beloved. Anyway. While "Melanie C" may not immediately be known to everyone in the US, I would actually say "Sporty Spice" is the closest to a household name of the whole bunch. Honestly. The Spices owned an entire year in the US in a way that JoJo never did...though I'd still say JoJo will the biggest force to be reckoned with as a vote getter in the cast.

In her clues, the US football is throwing me off a bit. But maybe that's as simple as someone on the show asking..."Mel, what emojis should we use for you?" "A football!" And then they just posted that. But if it IS her for Dancing With The Stars, I actually really like this idea. It's rather unusual how this worked out. In the UK, the music sales/chart success for the girls would arguably go Mel C - Geri - Emma - Mel B - Victoria (I realize you could argue the placing of those last two). Meanwhile, the US profile/level of fame would actually go the polar opposite. Victoria - Mel B - Emma - Geri - Mel C. Mel C's presence in the US has largely been nonexistent...with the reception to Northern Star being especially tragic. That album boasted an amazing roster of producers and an appearance by Left Eye (who was on fire that year). Mel herself had even been part of a huge tour just the year before. And the album still couldn't crack the top 200 in its debut week. Oof. So. Yeah. I'm all for her getting people here talking about her again. No, she won't set the US charts on fire or whatever. But this is still a hit show...even after this many seasons. And if it can grow her small US following just a bit, then cool. I'm just glad the US exposure isn't from a judging gig. I much rather the girls be actively competing in something.

^ Really interesting to watch all those old press conference vids! A few interesting things from them. It's cool to hear them talk about the sign language interpreter on the tour screens (the only time I think I've heard them actually discuss that). Geri also talks about their gay fanbase, which she often did, really...something that was fairly rare at that time for an act geared toward kids/teens. There's one point Mel C dispels a rumor that they'd recorded a song called Desire...a song which had (according to the tabloid) made Geri cry. Interesting coincidence that Geri, of course, *would* record a Desire years later. They must have been quite exhausted. I know they liked to say the operation never ran smoother than in the months following Simon's firing...but I feel their energy as a group was never lower than the two months before Geri left. There are a lot of these sorts of appearances from then where they just seem...over...it. It doesn't help that Geri and Mel C are so overtly scolding the press here. I mean. I'm sure some of them in there deserved it. But...they did have lots of lovely articles in that era too? It's a really downbeat presser.

I haven't watched the Something About Geri documentary in ages, but from what I remember...it's a super unusual piece of television. She doesn't do/say anything outrageously offensive. It's just...going out of its way to find things that are mildly unflattering? She doesn't have a bag to pick up dog doo. She haggles the price of something at a market. What purpose did the show have other than to paint someone in a bad light? It's certainly not good television or worthy of air. Production quality is unusually poor. There are moments here and there where she's mildly egotistical...but in an age where artists pride themselves on their titanic egos, I think it's relatively quaint that Geri merely acknowledges her #1s and is a little upset her family can't come to a show.

We do actually know the writers. It's the women behind Legally Blonde and 10 Things I Hate About You. I think that was the last story I read about the animated movie production...from June 2019. In all fairness, the writers of Legally Blonde *do* seem to be a good match for a Spice film. A large part of my concern is...it's just so unprecedented. To me, an animated film is very much what a current act would do, not a group who got their last US top ten in early 1998. Sure, there are plenty of biopics and jukebox musicals out there...but what other film is comparable to this specific concept? I can't come up with anything. I mean, if it honestly does happen, I'll support it. I just can't help but think that if an announcement came out that New Kids On The Block were coming out with an animated movie, I'd just think..."well...that's about three decades too late..." I feel like that perception will haunt this film too. But. If I turn out to be wrong, I'll gladly admit it. A biopic of the Spice Girls makes more sense to me, really. They made enough of an impact on the 90s to deserve one. I could see a big, fun, quirky film that covers their main years of the 90s...and then concludes with an epic recreation of the Olympics performance. And I think a biopic is a better fit for their fanbase.

Honestly, I've been expecting this project to quietly get cancelled ever since it was announced. Yes, film projects take time...but I don't believe we've heard a peep about the production for well over two years. Maybe the filmmakers are seeing something here that I'm not...but I view this as a major gamble. I can understand the girls' interest in it...as a means of getting their music introduced to a new generation. Here's my concern. An animated film is generally going for kids. Others may catch it. But kids are the ultimate target... and they'll be quite a bit younger than who the group's actual core audience tends to be. There are film/TV properties that can get introduced to kids and experience a renaissance. We just saw this with the Looney Toons and the new Space Jam. I'm just not convinced this applies to music acts. When I was a kid in the 90s, would my friend circle have gone to an animated film of, say, the Bee Gees? Not a chance. We knew a few of their songs. We liked a few of their songs (I did, anyway). But ultimately, our generation had their own music acts. The girls still have a core audience out there, though they're largely in their 20s, 30s, and 40s...and I think the only majorly successful projects they're going to manage at this point will be tours.

I like Move Over, but I think there's a fact that's been somewhat lost to time. That main hook of the song existed in a Pepsi commercial before the Spice Girls and their team took it...and built the rest of the song around it. I might feel differently if this were a situation like Madonna and Like A Prayer...where the song was created on its own and just so happened to be used in a Pepsi commercial. But since Move Over's life began as a soft drink song? Nah, I prefer that it wasn't ever a single. As soft drink songs go, though...I think it's about as good as they come. If you weren't around in the 90s, I'm sure you could listen to the album and have no idea about the soft drink connection. As for Step To Me, I believe I remember hearing it got 'okay' radio play in the UK (lower top 40, I think?). For me, it'd be a little unusual for them to have left Step To Me off the first album (it's among their early demos), only to later decide to release it as a single. On the plus side, the song plays well to the stronger performers in the group...and may have allowed for some more good live performances. That's where that song really came into its own anyway. Would whatever they released at that time been a hit? Probably. But I'd also argue the nine singles they released from 1996 to 1998 were all really strong. And for me, it's probably for the best they never tried out anything weaker. I figure the closest thing we got to the group trying to carry a 'meh' single during Spice mania was their involvement with How Does It Feel To Be On Top Of The World (though I'm aware they're only featured on that)

I actually do remember this. Virgin's deal wasn't with Napster. It was with RealPlayer. I used to play all my stuff on it...and for a short stretch of time, there was a little ad on the player where you could watch Spice Girls Forever content. I'm pretty sure you could watch the videos for Let Love Lead the Way and Holler...and behind-the-scenes videos set to Tell Me Why and Right Back At Ya. The behind-the-scenes videos weren't much. Just some hastily-edited together looks at their photoshoots. It was the usual "lowest-effort-possible" product that often plagued them during the Forever release. I figure cutting those videos was an intern's assignment for a day... The leak of the whole album was on Napster, of course. At the time, I remember a lot of fans blaming the album's disappointing sales on Napster.

I've always assumed they didn't actually record it...just because Mel B talks about Teddy Riley having preconceived notions about her when she went in to record her Hot material. If they had a previous recording relationship, I don't think it'd be a matter of "preconceived notions", and they'd already know each other's dynamics in the studio. I do think they were scheduled to record it at one time, though. The Boyfriend/Girlfriend story was being reported by MTV and actual reputable sources that probably got it from a legitimate press release. I definitely don't know this for sure...but my guess is the pregnancies probably got in the way of recording the song/promoting it/shooting a video/etc. I do wonder if the Spices would have changed the song from how we know it now. I don't think Mel B has inhibitions about song content, so she'd probably be down to sing whatever. But I flat-out can't imagine the other three singing a chorus with the phrase "ready to bone". Sure, the group sang about sex...but they tended to be a *little* more discreet than THAT (hey, Feed Your Love...)

I guess Riley did nearly work on some material that could have wound up on Forever...if that rumor's true that Boyfriend/Girlfriend was meant for the Spices (and I think it is true). I think I'm ultimately glad it didn't work out. People thought Holler was an abrupt change. Beats me what the world would think if the Spices unleashed Boyfriend/Girlfriend...with its references to coke and hoes. The song does have an energy I kinda like...but I don't think much of anyone would class it as better than "okay". It's probably telling that even Janet Jackson, who still very much had her midas touch at the time, couldn't propel it to being a big hit. But in a best case scenario, I could see where a Spice Girls/Teddy Riley collab could have been great. Riley did some work on Michael Jackson's Invincible...an album that I tend to associate a bit with Forever because of the time frame, the heavy Darkchild influence, and the less-than-stellar reception to both. Riley has a song called Whatever Happens on Invincible, which is easily my favorite song on that album. It's beautiful, and it also shows how Riley could pull off a lot of genres. He was a far more varied producer than Darkchild was at that time. I think Riley pretty willfully gave Mel his scraps.

This is kinda my thought about a world tour too. Obviously, I'd love it if they did a big tour...both because I'd love to see them again...and to build up their reputation as an act that puts on a fun live show. Plus, Emma and Mel C only seem to get better as live performers as the years go on. But. Beats me if that'll manage to be in the cards. To me, only Mel C seems truly built for a massive world tour. Mel B and Emma are both total stars and are fab on stage...but I don't know they have the sort of attention span for a long tour. I'll preface anything about Geri by saying...I'm about as big a defender of her solo music career as they come. But. I feel like every time she's feeling uncertain or lacking confidence, you can really read it on her. I don't really mean to psychoanalyse a person I don't know at all, but my guess is all these years of criticism of her voice and dancing has made her self conscious and stilted in her performing. I'm not sure she can still let loose and just have fun on stage. Can someone like that be convinced to do an extensive world tour?

Right. I did hear I Know Where Its At a bit on the radio in the months before Never Ever came out. They also had a commercial for the album using IKWIA that ran on MTV quite a bit. Honestly, I think that commercial was my main familiarity with All Saints early on...and it's what got me to buy their album. I'm just not aware of even any attempt by them to follow up Never Ever in the market. Considering how huge a different cover of Lady Marmalade would be a few years later, I guess (in retrospect) their cover may have been a good one to try in the US. Honestly, that first album has several songs that seem like they'd fit on US radio. spiceboy, I actually had no idea C'est La Vie by B*witched managed to get to #9. I literally never heard the song on the radio, though it was clearly playing somewhere. I actually first became aware of it because I was on a flight to London that spring, and that song was one of the things you could listen to if you bought headphones. I do remember them being featured pretty heavily on the Disney channel with some live performances and such. I guess that counted for something.

It's always been odd to me how rarely these UK girl groups manage to crack the US market. The Spices obviously owned 1997 in the US, but even by 1998, their radio play was nearly nonexistent...even when they had two albums sitting in the top 10 at the same time. All Saints is a really curious situation. Never Ever was HUGE here. In fact, I'd say I heard Never Ever get more radio play than any Spice single, bar Wannabe (though it's possible this was just the situation in my part of the country). However, despite Never Ever being everywhere, I never heard a follow-up single on US radio. Did they try anything else after Never Ever? Also. Never Ever seems to be one of those curious cases of a song that was enormous for a year...but people my age don't seem to especially remember it? After that, it's been a hodgepodge. I heard Scandalous by Mis-Teeq on the radio a bit back when it came out. Little Mix has had two albums in the top 10 here...though none of their singles have had an impressive showing on the Billboard chart. Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud, and Sugababes didn't crack the market much at all, I don't think. That observation doesn't have anything to do with music quality. I think most of these groups had songs worthy of charting just about anywhere. Just curious that UK solo acts and boybands crack the US pretty regularly...but girl groups so rarely make it...

As far as I know, Teddy Riley never spoke publicly about Mel. Mel was who said they didn't get along...and that he apparently had preconceived ideas of her. Jam n' Lewis did an interview saying they had to build Mel's confidence back up because another producer told her she couldn't sing. They didn't say the producer by name...but I think it had to be Teddy Riley. Anyway. I definitely understand Mel/Virgin's logic in getting Teddy Riley on board the Hot project. He'd produced absolute classics for Michael Jackson like Remember the Time, and (at least here in the US) his No Diggity may arguably be THE r'n'b song of the 90s. There was a lot of reason to believe his material for Mel would be stronger than, say, ABC123. What I don't totally follow is...if Riley so desperately didn't want to work with Mel...why'd he do it? The guy had some of the biggest hits of the 90s under his belt and was still working with music's biggest names. I have a hard time believing he worked with Mel cause he needed the money. He was still a very prominent producer in 2000.

One other thing. I know this is going back to a conversation from a few days ago, but I think there's a bit of important context with the GEM songs. If memory serves correctly, those weren't especially created as a big pop comeback. Weren't they just for use in a TV show pitch that never got off the ground? Wasn't the plan to have GEM choosing everyday women to be Spice Girls in a performance or something? An "everyone can be a Spice Girl" thing? If I were to guess, we'd see busy moms as contestants, balancing work and kids...and loving the chance to break loose and perform on stage. Within that context, I think Song For Her makes sense...and also the title of this other track.

I'm hoping it's your option #1. I guess it's all depending on whether "Spice 25" is viewed as a 25-year celebration of just the Spice album or (how I'd prefer it) a 25-year celebration of all things Spice Girls. If Biff's live stream from the other day is any indication, it would seem like things are leaning to the former. He said if his unreleased Forever material were to come out, it would make the most sense to happen at the 25-year anniversary of that album. Granted, he may have said that to throw us off the track of what they're doing. But really. There will be little interest in a 25-year anniversary edition of Forever. I feel like this year is the time to go ahead and get out all the good unreleased material. Frankly, I don't need every last bit of music they ever recorded. I don't think the girls or their producers have ever had anything nice to say about Likely Stories. Strong Enough can stay a leaked demo. However, the Eliot Kennedy leaked tracks from the Forever era ARE a good example of material that's good enough to be out there in some official capacity. The tracks have quite a few views on YouTube. Might as well be benefitting from that in some way on Spotify, right? Biff seems to like several of his unreleased Forever tracks. I feel like it very rarely gets mentioned, but Can't Stay Tonight...is there a group version of that in the vault?

I adore this song...and it was honestly the one-two punch of NGUOTGT and Viva Forever on Spiceworld that elevated me from "fan" to "lifelong devotee." These two songs were just next level from what pop groups were doing in the 90s. Now. Here's a controversial take. I would have preferred the Spice fairies in a video for NGUOTGT. I'm glad there are so many fans who like the Viva Forever video. But for me, it's probably their only single where I don't immediately think of the video when the song is mentioned. There's just a disconnect for me. I'm fully aware that the video doesn't need to be a literal translation of the song. But the contrast of a deeply romantic song...put against a video that's essentially about puberty...sorry...it's weird for me. Tag to that, even though this isn't the intent, I've never quite shaken the appearance of the Spice fairies seemingly luring a kid into a box for some murky fate. I like the Spice fairies in general. They're designed well...their personalities are conveyed well...and I like the animation of them. But...I think the weird fit with Viva Forever is why they didn't really stick in the public's minds in the way some of their other videos did. The single cover certainly doesn't convey the feeling of the song. You know what song that cover would match? NGUOTGT. I think I just would have preferred them in an upbeat NGUOTGT video where they're flying around...visiting people in live action scenarios, brightening up their gloominess and what-not. It'd allow them to be more fun...be more funny. Controversial opinion over.

I'm glad someone asked about this. I've always wondered about it myself. I believe he's telling the truth...and perhaps nothing was ever officially said. But I feel there must have been some unspoken lines drawn in 1998, though. The group...along with Mel B, Mel C, Emma, and Victoria as solo artists...all worked with Biff. None ever released any material with Absolute (I use the word "released"...because I *believe* Emma did record one unreleased track with them during the Life in Mono era). Then, a substantial part of Geri's career is produced with Absolute...and she never worked with Biff as a solo artist. There's got to be *something* to that. Also interesting to hear Biff's favorite Forever song is Let Love Lead the Way...and he was really impressed by it when hearing it for the first time. I've always felt the girls like that one better than the fanbase generally does. Interesting to know Biff's on the same page with them.

I've been able to get in a bunch of listens to Feed Your Love in the past 24 hours. I really like it. It's yet another testament to how often the girls and their collaborators were able to make magic during the Spice recording sessions. Would it have been too racy for Spice? I'm not sure I especially see it that way. The song's definitely about sex, but I'm not sure I would have taken away that it's specifically about giving a blow job without that being spelled out for me by Biff's past interviews. I'm not sure the world would have paid a ton of mind to the song in 1996...unless Mel B was blurting out what it was about in interviews or something. In terms of the Spice album, I wouldn't want Feed Your Love to haven taken the place of anything already on the album. The ten songs there are already too strong. However, 12-track albums were a bit more common in that era. And knowing what they had available to them at the time, I actually think Spice would have been just as strong with Step To Me (probably placed after 2 Become 1 and before Love Thing) and Feed Your Love (after Something Kinda Funny and before Naked) included. 12-track album. Is that a controversial take? I don't think Feed Your Life is the great lost single, but I do feel it would have been a solid album track.

I actually think I would have known that was Mel B before she even sang. Even those voice disguisers can't quite obscure Mel's very distinct accent and speech patterns. Plus, the Clue Package has video of Medusa's suitcase with animal print tops. I mean. C'mon. I wish she wasn't doing such listless performances on these shows. She proved with the 2019 tour that she's just got as much fire as she ever did. Someone who has such fabulous stage presence really shouldn't just stand there singing a snoozer of a song. She continues her long-running trend of performing songs that are all wrong for her voice. The good news is the song's prerecorded, because I think it's too far out of her range to do it well live. If she'd just strut out and do a rock song, I'm sure she could slay it. But. Oh well. By the way, two judges guessed Eva Longoria and Paris Hilton...the other two judges both guessed Geri. After the Geri guesses, they blasted Wannabe (so of course, it's Mel herself that we're hearing in that moment...)

I can't say I keep up with British tabloids...but doesn't The Sun just make up stuff about them constantly? Clearly, they wouldn't be setting a second movie into motion when they're still attempting to get this animated film off the ground. I'm 95% sure the animated film will never get made either, but at least we do know there's a confirmed effort to do that one. And I feel like The Sun wrote this article with a very 90s understanding of the group. Geri's been occasionally uncomfortable in the spotlight for a while now. She wouldn't be the one to spearhead a project like this. If I were making up an article from thin air (which is what I think The Sun did), I would claim Mel B was behind it. All that said, I do wish the girls as a group would do a fun cameo in a film like Wilson Phillips in Bridesmaids or the Backstreet Boys in This is The End.

Over the years, I've heard the criticism quite a lot that this was the first album where Madonna chased a trend rather than set it. I've never thought that was an accurate assessment. I think there's some similarity with Hard Candy and Bedtime Story. Similar to Hard Candy obviously being work by Timbaland and Pharrell, you clearly can tell that a lot of Bedtime Story is Dallas Austin and Babyface. Their sound had dominated 90s r'n'b for years by the time Bedtime Story came along. Most of Bedtime Story's tracks could have belonged to a lot of other 90s acts. Beyond that, some reviews at the time claimed Confessions on a Dance Floor fit into a particular dance sound that'd been around for years...and wasn't hugely dissimilar to some stuff by people like Kylie. Love Song obviously sounds more Prince than Madonna. Anyway. Point being, to me...Madonna's actually had a lot of eras that were informed by what was big at the moment, so I don't single out Hard Candy and fault it for that. The album itself, I mostly like. Several big, catchy songs. 4 Minutes remains epic. The album derails a few times (hey Incredible). I put it somewhere in the middle of her discography. It's certainly more lightweight than her best albums. But in a way, I do feel her making an attempt to do a very of-the-time, radio friendly album was somewhat subversive for her age. It's an obvious attempt to be seen as a peer of the then-current class of pop stars. I don't find that desperate. I actually think it's a strike against ageism.