PEOPLE OF THE WORLD: Melanie “Mel B” “Scary Spice” Janine Brown is back.
It’s been a Hot minute (REFERENCE) since the legendary Spice Girl last stepped out as a solo star in her own right. After dropping her 2000 debut — which spawned Top 10 UK smashes “Tell Me” and “Feels So Good” — the singer went on to release the objectively terrible follow-up L.A. State Of Mind in 2005, which sold an impressively abysmal 670 copies in its first week, charting at #453. (To be fair, the album is arguably one of the worst pop albums ever. Seriously, I love Mel B — but that record is genuinely unlistenable.)
Since then, Mel B has made a splash on her own as a reality TV star, hosting and judging just about every reality TV competition possible — from The X Factor to Dancing With The Stars to America’s Got Talent. And then, there was that whole massive Spice Girls reunion tour (still one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to), followed by the iconic reunion performance at the Olympics.
But now, she’s back with a brand new beat: “For Once In My Life” (nope, not a Tony Bennett/Stevie Wonder cover), Mel B’s first solo single in over 8 years.
This time around, Mel B’s ditched the urban R&B-pop of her roots to crossover into — what else? — straight-on EDM.
The club banger is — what else? — a major emancipation/self-empowerment anthem, which sees the songstress proudly “stripping it all away” (quite literally, as you’ll see), stepping out from the shadows and carpe diem-ing the shit out of life. “I want to feel,” she coos above the sizzling House pulsations. “For once in my life, I’m gonna do it all for me!”
The accompanying video, which is sort of like Desperate Housewives meets Kylie‘s “Come Into My World,” sees Mel ditching her humdrum 9-5 life (LOL, as if!) to rage across the neighborhood, flaunting her ridiculously hawt bod while doing so. Seriously, those clothes don’t even stand a chance — if she’s not ripping ’em off by hand, she’s taking scissors to the threads (and even her hair!) at every opportunity. She also makes out with herself at one point — if you wannabe your lover, you gotta get with yourself.
It’s not exactly a game-changer, but hey — I’ll take all the spice I can get in my life.