Melanie Chisholm today released a new video for her track Into You, the fifth single from her 2020 album Melanie C. The promo, directed by renowned Irish stylist Graham Cruz, sees Mel take centre stage over an up-tempo dance-pop melody that channels the kind of Euro-tinged soundscape you might associate with Jess Glynne or Clean Bandit.
Melanie C – the eighth studio LP from the Spice Girls alumna – topped the UK Independent Albums chart last October and peaked at number eight in the Official UK Albums Chart. It received glowing reviews from critics, with The Independent calling it her best solo record to date and the NME describing it as “…an invigorating, uplifting record that not only serves as its creator’s best work in decades, but as a source of much-needed strength and positivity.” The Observer went further, labelling Melanie C “a genuine statement” which “lands some serious punches on a mature, embracing album with nods to neo-disco and deep house.”
In an admirably frank interview with BBC News last summer, Chisholm spoke about how the uplifting quality of her music still offered something to modern pop pickers. The Widnes-raised product said “Obviously, I’m making a pop-dance record and I’m a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That’s something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has finally done one, I want to get out there and perform it live.”
Mel C’s last major outings on stage came on the Spice Girls 2019 ‘Spice World’ tour. That thirteen date tour of the UK and Ireland saw the group play together for the first time since the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics – albeit without Victoria Beckham/Posh Spice in tow – and is reported to have generated the four participants a cool £10million each.
Chisholm has said that the memory of that successful tour, and a backstage encounter with Spice Girls superfan Adele, had driven her on to release an LP in the bleak circumstances of the pandemic. She told Today FM: “Seeing all those fans made me feel so proud. I wanted to make something upbeat and celebratory. 2020 has been a really difficult year but I wanted to give it to the fans.”
Her bandmate Mel B/Scary Spice has suggested that a 25th anniversary tour could be in the works this year, although it remains shrouded in coronavirus-related uncertainty. The Yorkshire native (and surprise recent contestant on ITV’s The Masked Singer) told the Mirror: “Until the virus gets under control I don’t think anyone can securely say ‘I’m definitely going on tour’. When it comes to putting on a show or concert, I don’t know how people are going to do it without the proper guidelines and information, because things change on a weekly basis. Us lot are definitely up for it – it’s just a case of timings and safety.”
