Videotech: Your last solo single sold quarter of a million copies. Have you been surprised by your solo success?

Mel G: Yeah, I am quite shocked, because every time you do something with the Spice Girls you've got back-up, so when you venture out by yourself it is a little bit like, euurgh, is it going to be alright, and luckily everyone's been pretty cool about it. Because we still manage ourselves it's been nice to be able to say to one another, well we'll get back together in August, do a third album, but in the meantime we can still do our own solo projects, so that's pretty cool.

Videotech: How have your solo projects affected the way the Spice Girls work as a band?

Mel G: No, not at all. Melanie's been doing her album, she's been living out in LA, Emma's been doing a few bits and bobs, with Boyzone and different things like that, and hopefully she's doing the film of Sleeping Beauty, which'll be out quite soon. Vickie's been chilling out, really, with her baby, she's had I think a few auditions for films, but then in August that's when we all come back together and write the third album, and obviously we've got them eight dates in December.

Videotech: What can we expect from the new album?

Mel G: I don't actually know until we get together and start working together, because you never know, because we've all been doing different things, we've all learnt a lot, we've been on tour together, so there's a lot that's happened in between the writing spaces, so it should be interesting. I'm looking forward to it, I really am.

Videotech: You've had an amazing 12 months. How has it changed you?

Mel G: Your priorities change, cos obviously you've got someone else to think about, you've got a little baby there, but I'm still the same person, I've just got more fulfilling things going on around me, which is nice, really nice.

Videotech: The video for Word Up has a lot of references to pregnancy. Was that deliberate?

Mel G: Yeah, cos I filmed that when I was pregnant, with all, like, laser dots on me so they could take my body movements and put it into a computer, so that's why it kind of looks like me a little bit, but it doesn't.

Videotech: How did the idea for the video come about?

Mel G: It was my husband, really, who decided let's do a strange video, and he kind of looked at all the directors' showreels, and he chose Wiz, and he's just fantastic, and he just went for it with the video and story board and all that, and it just turned out brilliant, I couldn't've wanted a better video. But for the children I have done a different video, with the little guy, Mini-Me, from Austen Powers, cos you know the song's on the soundtrack, so I've done one that's allowed to be shown on kids' TV.

Videotech: Have you had difficulty combining motherhood with your globetrotting lifestyle?

Mel G: No, my baby comes everywhere with me. She's not here with me today, she's back at home chilling out.

Videotech: Is there going to be a Spice Girls creche for you and Victoria?

Mel G: Probably, yeah, when we get back in the studio, yeah, definitely.

Videotech: How do you cope with all the press intrusions?

Mel G: Well, the thing is, marriages have ups and downs anyway, it's just that mine always gets reported, not always, mine has unfortunately been reported on, and they have blown it completely out of proportion, but I'm still married and I'm still happy, so there you go.

Videotech: Does it bother you?

Mel G: I've been away for five weeks, so this time I didn't get to see it. And to be honest, I don't look at the papers every day, and if I do look at them I only look at the pictures, I don't really read the content cos it's all a load of crap anyway what they write, I think.

Videotech: It's been three years since Wannabe. Do you still have the same desires?

Mel G: I think we've done it quite well, because now we've given each other the chance to kind of get involved in your own solo projects, so that makes it also more interesting and more exciting when we get back together as a group. So it keeps it kind of spontaneous and alive.

Videotech: How do the band go about writing their songs?

Mel G: With people like Matt and Biff we co-write, with other people we just write the songs and they produce, and with Elliot Kennedy we co-write as well, so it's a real kind of hands on involvement, and we decide what backbeats we want like all together as a group and the people that we work with.

Videotech: So as far from someone coming in and just telling you what you're going to sing...

Mel G: Oh no, it's not like that.

Videotech: And how about your performances?

Mel G: Our live show, we'd already kind of sorted out the routines ourself, we just needed someone to do the show on a whole, which is what Priscilla did, she isn't actually... she choreographed maybe two or three numbers from scratch, but, like, Who Do You Think You Are we kind of did it in our studio when we was writing the song, it kind of all comes together as a picture when you kind of write it, really

Videotech: Do you have plans to release a solo album?

Mel G: Yeah, well, I'm working on it now. I've just been away, I've been working with Jimmy Jam and Tony Lewis for two weeks, I've got a couple of tracks with them, I've just been working with Teddy Riley from Blackstreet, got a couple of tracks with him, so I'm kind of feeling my way around. Snoop Doggy Dog wants to work with me, but I don't know what's going to happen there.

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