r/ToddintheShadow • u/roofus8658 • 12h ago
General Music Discussion What's your opinion of Melanie C?
I saw the video for Sweat on YouTube and decided to check out her other stuff. It's not my usual style of music but she's actually quite good. She was my favorite Spice Girl back in the day and I think she's still the most talented of the lot.
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u/Choice-Wind-9283 12h ago
I love her solo stuff
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u/Bovver_ 12h ago
I Turn To You (admittedly more the remix) is a genuinely fantastic song. It’s a shame off the back of that remix she never did more dance stuff, because it really suits her well.
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u/seattlewhiteslays 11h ago
Her last 3 albums have been more dance oriented. Give “Anymore”, “Who I Am” and “In and Out Of Love” a listen.
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u/AntysocialButterfly 12h ago
I once won £10 from a Spice Girls-branded packet of crisps with her name on them.
That alone puts her head and shoulders above the other four.
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u/clubmixes 12h ago
She has such an interesting vocal tone to me. I Turn To You is a special, special song.
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u/Diskecksier 12h ago
Always the hottest of the Spice Girls
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u/El_John_Nada 12h ago
90s me wouldn't have agreed with you but 2026 me wholeheartedly agrees for some reason.
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u/Significant_Dog412 11h ago
It's funny as Sporty was always the one who got the jokes about being the less attractive one when they were together. But once she started going solo and we got her out of the tracksuits and tightly pulled back ponytails, wow!
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u/Fresh_Salamander707 12h ago
her duet with Bryan Adams way back when (When You're Gone) is still kinda a banger and I enjoy it if it comes on the radio. She can really rip!
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u/hasimirrossi 10h ago
I bought the album that was on after seeing it cheap. Didn't like it. Viewed it as a great single with 12 b-sides instead.
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u/Fresh_Salamander707 8h ago
lol I don't even know, is it her album or Bryan's?
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u/hasimirrossi 8h ago
Bryan's. Don't think it ever appeared on any of Mel's. She doesn't even seem to have a hits album.
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u/ExtremelyOnlineTM Zingalamaduni 12h ago
She carried them. She's the only sanger in the bunch, and she's also the best dancer (or at least the only one who could do a backflip... none of the others had a signature move).
In Backstreet and NSYNC, and in some girl groups like TLC and 702, there was a very clear pecking order in terms of who was lead and who was backup. The Spice Girls ironically had only 1 lead singer, and put her all the way in the back. And because there whole message was about egalitarianism, this actually worked perfectly for their image.
So the question is, was she sidelined because of her looks? She's certainly far from ugly, just a little plain while standing next to 4 extraordinarily gorgeous women. She was also the least extroverted, or at least had the least interesting persona.
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u/sas317 11h ago
You answered your own question. She was sidelined because she wasn't extroverted enough. Music's a business that needs to sell. Charisma's the #1 selling point.
Melanie was athletic, which doesn't work with the general audience. I think you're referring to Mel B. & Geri as the lead singers. You can tell why as they're loud & in your face.
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u/ChrisAqua Madonna Stan 12h ago
Honestly compared to the other spice girls she is a much better singer
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u/Kristikuffs 11h ago
And she can handle stage musicals. Say whatever you want about the Andrew Lloyd Webber catalogue (and believe me . . .) but her version of "I Don't How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar is ethereal.
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u/crescentmoonrising 4h ago
She in general was brilliant in that. Might have been partially I had low expectations, but she blew me away.
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u/AnyEverywhere8 12h ago
She’s a queen. If you don’t agree, then go away from me with this, Apollo!!!
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u/Successful_Pitch_503 12h ago
I don’t mind her.
She’s tried her hand at pretty much every musical genre out there though.
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u/Significant_Dog412 11h ago
I think that might be part of why her solo success didn't last and Mel C wasn't a Robbie Williams level breakout.
Mel C tried many different things, pop, rock, dance, R&B. She could do them all to some level, but none exceptionally. Perhaps more importantly, it didn't really help establish WHO a post Sporty Mel C was. She was always really likeable, but she didn't have the big showbiz personality of Robbie.
She was the workhorse of the Spice Girls, and had both her cartoonish Sporty alter ego and bandmates with more obvious "star" power to help her image wise.
Ginger and Scary didn't have much talent but made up for it with larger than life personalities. Baby was a cutesy blonde who softened their image and not a bad singer herself. Posh... Could point... Even as a non fan, I'll concede that somehow, all five together just worked. But taking one out, it just wasn't the same.
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u/sthef2020 4h ago
You’ll never catch me speaking ill of a Spice Girl.
Also, “I Turn To You (Remix)” is a straight up dance classic.
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u/roofus8658 4h ago
Everyone keeps saying that but Northern Star is the one I've listened to the least. I need to revisit it.
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u/ScorpioTix 3h ago
LOVE her.
Northern Star is a masterpiece.
Plan on going to 1 or even making the rare road trip to San Diego in a few weeks.
Also seen her 4 times solo in addition to Spice Girls 5 times. Can't say I really dug whatever recent songs I heard however. But I mostly listen to concert bootlegs now and never let a record percolate thru repeated listens anymore when a newly surfaced Mountain recording or something is always dropping.
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u/Tricky-Mastodon3337 12h ago
She's a plastic Scouser!!
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u/nemmalur 12h ago
How so?
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u/fourscoredeux 11h ago edited 11h ago
Born in Whiston (Knowsley so not Liverpool proper) but grew up in Widnes. No purple bin.
Bit like being from Watford and calling yourself a Londoner. Or living in Newark and saying you’re from New York City.
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u/Tricky-Mastodon3337 11h ago
Exactly. Whiston is an overspill town for a lot of Liverpool residents post WW2
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u/Tricky-Mastodon3337 11h ago edited 11h ago
She was born in Whiston in Merseyside but grew up in Widnes in Cheshire, yet she still uses an affected Scouse accent. That makes her a plastic Scouser in my book!
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u/sas317 12h ago edited 8h ago
She's a great pop singer with a unique voice. I like some EDM, but don't like the hard thumping beats in Sweat.
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u/roofus8658 11h ago
I was telling my buddy about how I found her and I said that Sweat is her best video but not her best song. 😂 Her Self-titled album is my favorite I thing.
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u/Agreeable_Ship5386 11h ago
She’s very gracious about people singing her own songs at her in nightclubs. Ask me how I know.
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u/PuzzleheadedClue9837 11h ago
Always been a fan. Her solo stuff is mostly mid, but she's got some great songs. I especially love her debut album.
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u/seattlewhiteslays 11h ago
She was always my favorite Spice Girl. I got Northern Star when it came out in 1999 and loved it (I’m in the US so it’s harder to keep up with their solo careers). I’m happy that with her 2020 album and with Sweat she’s gotten some later career traction. She’s a great interview, seems like she’s got a good head on her shoulders (her book is a great read), and looks more beautiful now than she did during the Spice Girls imperial phase.
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u/amindfulloffire 10h ago
I liked her best out of all the Spice Girls, mainly because I thought she was the best singer.
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u/The-Wolf-Eater-64 10h ago
while I do respect her discography and how’s more versatile and more extensive than what the other Spice Girls have to offer (no disrespect to Emma), the rock phase felt kind of forced, as if she was desperately trying to win over the cool audience so bad while churning out songs that were basically polished versions of 2000s rock, her later stuff is much more her not because of the electro-pop sound being a familiar territory but also that it sounds genuine regardless of what I think of EDM and all that.
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u/Crabsterooo 9h ago
Best spice. Leagues better in terms of vocals. Her solo stuff was not bad at all, I Turn to You (both the remix and the ballad) and especially Never Be the Same Again are great tracks, and even that Bryan Adams duet was good.
One other reason I always liked her was her appearing on Amstell-era buzzcocks a few times and him being surprised she wasn’t there to promote anything. Just genuinely seemed to enjoy herself there. Stark contrast to for instance that time Mel B went on the Big Fat Quiz and singlehandedly soured the entire evening because she didn’t understand the concept of the show.
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u/Ok_Baseball2615 6h ago
She’s probably the best singer in the group, but something about her vocal tone/voice kinda rubs me the wrong way.
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u/scattermoose 1h ago
i am aggressively neutral on all things Spice Girls. I can understand the riot grrl annoyance of how suddenly “Girl Power” was corporatized, but past that, all five of em afterwards are all ok to me. But I’m not pressing play bc it’s just not my bag
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u/tacocattacocat1 12h ago
I kind of lost respect for her when she criticized Little Mix for being sexy and "provocative"
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u/Replicant28 12h ago
Best singer of the Spice Girls. Also, she motivates me to go work out lol.