INTERVIEW: Melanie C releases new self-titled album: "I've just got to this point where I'm truly comfortable in my own skin and I want to celebrate that"
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Melanie Chisholm, known to one and all as Melanie C, today releases her first new album in four years Melanie C.
An album that embraces glorious, carefree dance-pop along with healthy doses of disco, electronica and synth, it is an album that has lead Chisholm down a path of self-reflection and self-acceptance. With a theme of confronting her past and ultimately finding peace with all aspects of who she is, it was informed by a number of key moments in the past year, including her reunion with the Spice Girls for a stadium tour across the UK and Ireland and working with the LGBTQI+ collective Sink The Pink.
The latter, plus her side gig as a DJ, inspired the move to dance pop with the album’s primary sonic landscape definitely geared towards the dancefloor, with hints of dance-pop icons Robyn and Donna Summer in the music, while remaining utterly contemporary. This is thanks in part to the young female artists Chisholm worked with to bring it together. British synth-pop artist Shura co-wrote ‘Good Enough’, about “someone who tries to fix things that aren’t broken”. On it, Chisholm sings “You’re not making it easy but I’m not gonna give up”; it’s a driving, synthy tune that soars into a full hands-in-the-air rave chorus. Songwriter Poppy Bascombe, co-wrote the stomping, tribal-beat-infused ‘Here I Am’ – “I found strength within my weakness” – as well as the stripped-back electro ballad ‘Escape’: “Whenever you feel afraid just let it go”. One of the album’s standout tracks, the grimy, R&B-and-funk-inflected ‘Fearless’, features rapper Nadia Rose, who Chisholm met at one of her DJ-ing gigs.
This combination of vibrant collaborators, an artist that remains constantly curious about the music world around her, the empowering message of the songs and simply exceptional songs bubbling over with divine pop melodies and harmonies make Melanie C quite possibly the greatest Melanie C album to date. To celebrate the release of the album, we recently chatted to Melanie to find out more.
Hey Melanie! Massive congratulations on the album. It is an absolute joy.
Oh, thank you! Yeah, I’m really pleased with it.
You're looking boss in all your videos and sounding incredible, you're like the spirit animal for an all-night dance party. It feels like such a personal album, what does this album mean to you?
This feels like a really important album for me, you know? Not only career-wise, but personally because I feel like I've had a little bit of an epiphany. I've been so lucky in my career, I have done so many different things. As a solo artist, this is my eighth album. I've just got to this point where I'm truly comfortable in my own skin and I want to celebrate that. And I really want this album to empower other people to have the same experience.
As women we are so hard on ourselves and we are amazing. We accomplish so much, not only through our lives but every day. I've had my challenges and at times, I've been very negative about myself, and I think it's finally time to just embrace not only the good bits of myself but the shit bits that I can work on. I wanted to make an album that people could enjoy and dance to but was also thoughtful and empowering. I feel really happy that I've managed to achieve those things.
I'm so glad you said that, and my two favourite tracks on the album encompass both of those things. ‘In And Out Of Love’ is just so good. It's such a great dance song and I think that seems very much a part of who you are. Dance music's role in celebrating women is interesting. We're often told to sort of fade away and go home at a certain point but then you come out with this undeniable club album. How important is that for you as well to celebrate that party aspect of womanhood as we get older?
Do you know what? I think things are changing. We all feel youthful. I've got more aches and pains, but i still feel the same way as I did when I was a teenager and in my ‘20s. I think we live in a very ageist society, especially in entertainment. But we are seeing changes. We are seeing more mature women in strong roles whether it's TV or movies. In music, of course it's a very youthful thing and there is always a really important role for young people expressing what their experiencing. But for mature artists, I think men get an easier ride as they get older in the world of music and women struggle.
I feel like now more mature women have a voice and we have something different to offer. Also, when you're more mature, you are more confident and comfortable with yourself and I think that has to be celebrated. I don't want to be told ‘oh you're too old to make pop music, you're too old to make dance music’. I mean, look at Kylie. She's absolutely a huge inspiration to me because she is still gorgeous. She's making great music and she's out there doing it for all the more mature ladies.
It's true. And your whole career has just been celebrating and empowering women. Another track which I love is ‘Fearless’ which you've done with Nadia Rose. Can you talk me through that track because I just love it?
It was just such a pleasure to get this opportunity. I was aware of Nadia, I saw her on a documentary about women and her positivity, her strength, her attitude of ‘this is me, take it or leave it’ just really struck me. I happened to bump into her a couple of weeks later. I was doing a DJ gig at London Fashion Week and she ran after me as I was leaving. She was a big Spice Girls fan in her youth and it was just amazing and i thought that's spooky.
I thought about all of the collaborations that I've been lucky enough to do - Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez, Bryan Adams - they happened really organically. I never sought them out. This felt a bit too freaky this meeting, to let it go. So I approached her to get together and have a little go in the studio and we just had the most incredible time.
We shared a car journey together to the studio to just talk about what we wanted to do, what we wanted to achieve. I was really keen to know her experiences on being a young woman in the music industry now. We talked about that and we talked about having a passion and following your dream and how petrifying that can be at times. We talked about being fearless as we so often have to be in life. For us girls going into a studio to work with new song writers, or going out on stage in front of thousands of people, you really do have to be fearless to achieve your dreams. We just wanted to make a song that really reflected that and could empower other people to try and go and achieve the wonderful things that we've been able to do in our lives.
I'm so happy with how it turned out. It was just fun. It was just easy. This whole album just felt easy because I've had such a strong idea of what I wanted to achieve. All of my collaborators have felt the same.
How do you feel that you've developed and grown both as a person and as an artist in these last few years?
It's been an interesting time for me. Being back on stage with the Spice Girls last year was a really important moment in time. On a personal level I was nervous about becoming Sporty but it made me realise that I am her and she's within me and will never go away. I am all of these things. I'm a mum, a girlfriend, I'm a friend, I'm a solo artist, I'm a Spice Girl. That was what was so important and who I am. The first single from this album was just a real introduction to what the whole album is really about.
Melanie, thank you for releasing such a kicker album in such a bizarre time as well.
I'm absolutely so excited about it. Obviously, not the ideal time to be releasing music like this because i want to be out there with people performing it for them live. But my fans have been brilliant. They’ve really reacted so well and I think it's given them something to look forward to and they're enjoying the new tunes. My last experience of normality was in Australia and I just can't wait to get back and perform these songs live for everybody over there.
Melanie C is out now. You can download on iTunes and stream on Apple Music and Spotify.
To keep up with all things Melanie C, you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
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