Sporty Spice has shown a candid side to herselfin a personal essay written for U.K.’s Love Magazine. Melanie Chisholm, known to fans as Mel C – confirms she won’t be in any rush to join her former bandmates Geri Halliwell, 44, Melanie Brown, 41, Victoria Beckham,42 and Emma Bunton, 40 for a musical reunion.
Chisholm’s piece begins as the 42-year-old pop star reflects on fame and the changing environment of the music industry.
“You’re not going to get me complaining about my life – it’s brilliant. I know some people complain about the attention – but I wanted to be famous from the start,” she wrote. “Like the rest of the Spice Girls I learnt very early on that you can’t take one slice of the pie when it comes to fame. You have to eat the whole thing… Let’s have a think about the word ‘celebrity’ in the old days. Remember when a little bit of mystery and intrigue ensured our famous faces were true stars. When we didn’t know what they were eating via social media, where they were or who they were hanging out with? Those were the glory days of the modern celebrity world I adored. There was glamour, excitement and you looked at your idols in a completely different way.”
The also touched on her relationship to fame – one she formed as the pop sensations sold over 80 million records worldwide.
“You see, I’m a singer and songwriter. Not a celebrity. The two are very different things. You can earn a fortune being a ‘celebrity’ depending on how much dignity you want to keep in tact,” she said, referencing the immense pressure she’s often under as fans continue to ask her about a potential Spice Girls reunion. “The fascination with the band never seems to go away. It’s a blessing and a curse all at the same time. Daily I’m asked ‘are the girls getting back together?’ Then it’s When? How? Why? When we reunited in 2007 the questions stopped momentarily. We had done it – the fans were happy and we were happy. But the minute that tour ended it started again.”
Chisholm’s solo career took off in 1999 and the star has since released six albums on her own. Despite solo success, Chisholm believes apart of her will always be attached to the Spice Girl brand.
“Look, I will be a Spice Girl until I die. But the continuous speculation on whether we will reform to celebrate 20 years of ‘Wannabe’ has been particularly exhausting,” she continued. “Don’t get me wrong – I totally get it. But is it a new rule that bands have to reform? Why can’t we just be remembered for our incredible achievements in the nineties.”
On July 8, 2016 the Spice Girls’ hit “Wannabe” marked 20th anniversary of the debut single which shot the band members to fame. All five members of the group got together again for a one-off performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, fans expected something bigger in commemoration of the group’s signature song. Though Mel B revealed in June something is being planned for 2017, Chisholm maintains she doesn’t want to be a part of it.
“Truth be told, earlier this year after several face-to-face meetings with the girls I made the difficult decision not to be part of a proposed reunion with Emma, Geri and Melanie. Victoria had already bowed out understandably with the demands of her fashion label and her rather large family,” Chisholm revealed, noting, for her, the “pinnacle” of her Spice existence was performing at the Olympics for scores of people around the world. “The hardest part for me was letting people down, the girls, the fans, civilisation?! Unfortunately something didn’t feel quite right and I had to follow my gut. I’d love to play huge arenas across the World, sing our brilliantly bonkers pop songs and relive our former glory. It is of course a very lucrative opportunity too. But we were a five-piece band. Didn’t we reach a peak with the Olympics? There’s a lot to be said for bowing out on a high note.”
The singer completed the essay with a heart-felt dedication to her former groupmates.
“We’re constantly reminded of our famous line from Wannabe – friendship never ends. There will always be hurdles with friendship,” she wrote. “I love the girls dearly. We have a very unique bond that will never be broken and I will continue to support them all as much as I can… I love the band I am beyond proud of my past and will always embrace and celebrate being a Spice Girl, It’s what I am.”
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