“You think you’ve known me all this time,” sings one of pop’s most familiar faces, Melanie Chisholm, on her eighth solo album. As back-flipping Sporty Spice she was everywhere in the late Nineties. Even her spell as the most reliable post-Spice solo hitmaker was two decades ago.
She’s had time for a rethink before this comeback. These 10 songs sound fresh and energetic, using contemporary electronic styles without sounding like she’s trying too hard for renewed relevance.
There’s a young guest — Nadia Rose raps on the confident, swinging Fearless — and the elastic bassline of Blame It On Me and minimal synth throbs of Escape sound cooler than she’s managed in years. The slick disco pop of Good Enough, and the most immediately likeable track In and Out of Love, could easily sit beside the best work of hipper names such as Jessie Ware and Carly Rae Jepsen.
Her struggles with depression post-super-stardom have been well documented. At 46, she sounds confident and empowered. Songs such as Here I Am and the first single, Who I Am, are about coming out the other side. If all the uplifting lyrics can get a bit much for cynics among us, plenty of her long-term fans will be glad to hear them in this most depressing of years.
