Our very first EXCLUSIVE world interview about…..Forever-the third Spice album!

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

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

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

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

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

Why did you come up with the title "Forever"

Mel B: Lots of reasons really. At our shows the fans have always come along with banners saying "Spice Girls Forever" and one of our books was called Forever Spice. Even if the band wasn’t around in ten years time, we hope that no one would ever forget the Spice Girls, because we’ll never forget as long as we live. We’ll always be Spice Girls at heart and our songs will go on forever.

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

What were the other options you came up with?

Mel C: I wasn’t aware of any other names going round. I thought it should be called Forever.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emma: We’re a little bit more grown up because everyone gets older, but there’s definitely a lot of the kid in us. We still like to make up silly rhymes and stuff. A lot of our fans are very young and we wanted to appeal to them as well, do we didn’t want to make the album sound too old. On the other hand, our vocals have really moved on and we’ve worked very hard on them.

Victoria: Yeah, definitely. It’s much stronger, vocally and lyrically. But that’s natural. We’re older, two of us have had babies and got married, we’ve done a huge world tour and we’ve been managing ourselves - loads of stuff really.

Mel B: It’s also because we’ve worked with Rodney Jerkins quite a lot. He’s done some great stuff with Destiny’s Child and gives the album a real R&B flavour, while the four of us give it that pop element.

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

Mel C: No. I think it would be ridiculous even to entertain the thought that we could re-live our former success. At the time, it was a phenomenon, and phenomena don’t happen that often. It should sell well, though, because it’s a good album. We’ve also got really good fans that are so supportive of all our solo stuff as well as the band, even though we haven’t released anything for a really long time.

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

Emma: Because we’ve been working really hard on it and taking our time! The other two albums were made so quickly that we almost didn’t have time to think. I hope when you listen to Forever you really appreciate it and enjoy it. I really love it. I play it all the time, in my car and at home. In fact, I got into trouble the other day because I had it on too loud and the security guy downstairs told me off!

Forever timeline:

November 1998: Goodbye written and recorded (N.B. this isn’t my mistake - it’s in the mag)

14th December 1998: Goodbye released and goes straight to number 1

2 August 1999: Spice Girls go to Abbey Road Studios to write and record new album tracks with Stannard and Rowe.

16th August 1999: Move on to Steelworks Studios to work with Elliot Kennedy

25th August 1999: Start with Rodney Jerkins in Whitfield Street Studios.

21st September 1999: Back to Whitfield Street for a session with Jam & Lewis.

*break*

10th April 2000: Recording with Rodney in Miami

17th July 2000: Final recording session with Fred Jerkins at Whitfield Street.

*Tracks completed*

19th July 2000: Photo shoot with Terry Richardson for album artwork.

24th July 2000: Both videos for double A-side shot in a week

25th August 2000: Album title ‘Forever’ revealed

11th September 2000: First play on radio of Holler

6th October 2000: First play on radio of Let Love Lead The Way

23rd October 2000: Single released

6th November 2000: ‘Forever’ released