Mel C to showcase new album at Brum's O2 Institute later this year 

She might be known as one fifth of the best selling girl group of all time, but for Sporty Spice (also known as Melanie Chisholm and, of course, Melanie C), the Spice Girls were just the beginning... 
She began a solo career in 1998 and releases her latest album, Sweat, at the start of this month. Ever busy, she visits Birmingham on Thursday 7 May for an album signing, before returning to the city in October to perform as part of a world tour. Here, she reveals that Sweat is custom-made to get the heart pumping - whether at the club or in the gym...

Melanie C, let’s talk about Sweat, your new album. It feels like your most liberated record - what changed for you creatively this time around? 

So many things have changed. Every album I’ve ever made, it’s really been a reflection of that moment in my life - and over the last eight years I’ve been DJing. I’ve been lucky enough to play in so many great festivals all over the world, as well as playing in Ibiza - for the last five years I’ve been playing at Pacha - and it just really reignited a passion that I have for dance music.

I discovered raving when I was about 17... I really got into that scene. It was such an incredible time. I grew up through the 80s, where nightclubs in the UK were, you know, a bit ‘cheesy discos’, and it was all a little bit ‘step touch, step touch’ when you were dancing. So to find this incredible movement that was happening with this music that was just so euphoric at times - for people to be dancing all night long, and so many different social backgrounds and communities coming together and socialising together... This kind of felt like ‘our movement’ as a young person.

Then, when I turned 20, I auditioned for the band that became the Spice Girls, and that, of course, took over my life. All of my priorities changed. We were so focused, so determined to succeed. And then, once music was released, our schedule was crazy, so there wasn’t much time for going out - I’d almost left that part of me behind.

I’ve just been able to reclaim who I was before I was a Spice Girl. I’ve had so many influences through my life; I’ve been so lucky and worked with so many amazing people, and this felt like the time to really put all of those pieces together.

Having rediscovered this teenage version of yourself, then, did you approach producing this album more like a DJ set than a traditional pop album?

I definitely approached things differently. The perspective of a DJ is very different to the perspective of an artist - the way I wanted the music to sound, the way I wanted the music to make you feel. And I was also really conscious that as a live performer I’m very energetic. I’ve got loads of confidence and quite a lot of attitude, but when I’m in the studio I’m a very different beast. But I thought I really had to create the music that I wanted to bring to life live on stage. So it was really important for me to find that person when I was in the studio.

I also wanted to have some fun. DJing has brought so much joy into my life in the last few years. I've been out there playing live shows and festivals alongside DJing, and I’ve just been having the best time. And I really wanted that to translate onto this album.

I’m so proud to be a Spice Girl, and to be Sporty Spice, and I completely embrace that. It’s such a huge part of who I am. And it’s funny - in interviews, often they will ask, “How do you feel that you were called Sporty Spice and you had to live up to this sporty persona?” I don’t have to live up to anything - you know, I can’t. I’ve tried to not be her, and it’s impossible. I’m very energetic, I’m very sporty, and it was just really fun to look at the album in that way as well, and think about it lyrically. A song like Sweat, to me, felt like the perfect introduction to the album - it has that energy, it’s a little bit tongue-in-cheek. It’s like a fitness banger, and that was a big part of what I wanted to create in the thread of this album.

When you’re making a track, are you imagining how it will land on the dancefloor to all these new listeners?

Yeah, 100%. [With] this album, I think more than anything I wasn’t thinking so much about people sitting at home having a listen - it was about them being on the dancefloor. It was about wanting to motivate and inspire people, either on the dancefloor or in the gym… I think it’s a good album to listen to with your mates while you’re getting ready for going out. 

You have fans from all walks of life - fans who knew you as a Spice Girl but also as a solo artist. How do you balance giving fans the biggest hits and introducing them to the new Sweat era?

This is a good question. So, my mind is buzzing right now with tour creative because, like the album, I want to approach this tour differently.

I have this whole new perspective, and I’m going to cram in as many hits as I can. I know as a gig-goer I wanna hear the hits, right? I’m not going to leave anybody disappointed.

The live shows are a place where I can really bring this album to life, to celebrate my career to this point. And it’s going to be full of everything. It’s going to be really energetic, a journey, and when [the audience] leave, I want them to be exhausted but elated - and really sweaty!

You’ve had one of the most varied careers in British pop history, and you’re still changing it now - what keeps you creatively hungry after all these years? 

I just love what I do. I love performing. I love that feeling of being on stage, releasing music and having that connection with people. As different as we all are, we share so much; we have so much in common. It’s really beautiful to be able to express yourself and to connect with other people. And that really, truly is what keeps me going. And other people’s music - to hear other artists and bands, and how music changes and evolves. 

How does it feel when you’re cited as an influence by the new era of musicians? 

It blows my mind. I think all of us Spice Girls, we’re so proud. Obviously, we’ve left this beautiful legacy behind, and we constantly see people who’ve been affected by it, and so many artists who would mention the Spice Girls. It’s very ‘full circle’ because there are artists that talk about being inspired by the Spice Girls, that inspire me. So that’s really beautiful. And it’s lovely to meet them as well - I meet so many artists, and they’re very excited to meet a Spice Girl. 

But I think the most surprising to me are the ones that weren’t even born when the Spice Girls first came out. And I’m like, how do you know? But, of course, this is music, and a movement that is passed down through generations, whether it was your older sister or your mum. And that’s what we see whenever the Spice Girls get back together; we see this whole generational effect that our music has on people. 

Melanie C will be meeting fans to sign copies of Sweat on Thursday 7 May at hmv Vault, Birmingham. She returns to the city to perform at O2 Institute on Saturday 24 October