Pop stars love to say they’re finally “the real me”, although the declaration often straddles some pretty generic music. Melanie C’s eighth album feels different: “I’ve got nothing left to hide,” she sings on Who I Am, earning her self-affirmation by fulfilling the promise. The song evokes Bronski Beat and Stuart Price-era Pet Shop Boys, implicitly acknowledging her queer icon status; Blame It on Me’s deep house throb harks back to her teenage rave years, and she keeps pace with Dua Lipa – as a neo-disco revivalist and vocal beast – on the commandingly flirtatious In and Out of Love.
The writing pulls similarly few punches, referencing her timid Spice Girls years and a manipulative relationship, and shaming an ageist music industry (“They said I was too old... But I’m on fire,” the 46-year-old sings on Here I Am). There’s some boilerplate empowerment: Fearless, with rapper Nadia Rose, is fairly trite, but, set to confidently mellow production instead of predictable post-Sia bombast, it transcends the cliches and feels genuinely enveloping.
Loving the Spice Girls today is an exercise in childhood nostalgia; Melanie C honours those fans – and herself – as adults worthy of hearing themselves in vital pop.
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