Thirty years ago, flanked by four peace-sign-throwing accomplices, Melanie C posed the question, “Who do you think you are?”, over a disco beat. Now, on her ninth solo album, Sweat, the former Spice Girl has found the answer, and she knows what she wants, what she really, really wants: to make you move.
Sweat is the final phase of a metamorphosis which began at the start of the decade. Off the back of a stadium tour with three of her Spicemates (the fashion magnate, Victoria Beckham, declined to participate), Melanie C released an eponymous record and a memoir that was less tell-all, more work-through-it-all. After running from the ponytailed ghost of Sporty Spice for half a lifetime, a white flag emerged from the trenches. “That’s who I am,” she accepted, healing a generation of millennials raised by the best-selling girl group of all time.
The reconciliation between Melanie and Sporty was a long time coming. As a solo artist, Melanie’s output represented an amicable split from the Spice Girls’ bubbly brand of nineties pop, flirting with rock, adult contemporary, and even musical theatre. Scary, Baby, Ginger, and Posh Spice all tasted individual success. Still, only Sporty stayed the course, producing a discography under her own name three times the size of her band’s slim but iconic catalogue.
Sweat, a high-energy LP that doubles as a workout playlist, returns Melanie C to her roots. Ever since dance producer Hex Hector retooled “I Turn to You”, a moody cut from her debut album, Northern Star, into a chart-topping anthem in 2000, Melanie has inched her way back towards that sound (see “Think About It” from 2011, “Anymore” from 2016, and much of 2020’s Melanie C). On this new collection, she surrenders to the call, rediscovering the rave culture that inspired a Liverpool teenager years before fame claimed her as one-fifth of a global sensation.
However, Sweat is no calculated retreat to commercial pastures. “You know, I’ve really done the work / I’ve earned my stripes,” she states on “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”, and when it comes to dance music, Melanie is well qualified. Having graduated from the school of Spice to become a credible solo act, she added another string to her creative bow as a DJ, playing Pride events and festivals worldwide, including a slot at Glastonbury. The exhilaration of spinning the decks is felt on “Drum Machine”, a frenetic jam designed to be played loud, and on “Free to Love” and piano house throwback “Good for Nothing”, hands-in-the-air breakup songs that endorse movement as somatic healing.
The entire album plays like a club-ready mixtape, combining variations on the genre into one cohesive 40-minute set. Unsurprisingly, the nineties are the bedrock of Melanie C’s musical references. “Pressure” is pure nostalgia, tapping into the filtered disco of French house heavyweights Daft Punk for Sweat’s most feel-good track. After verses that awaken the aloof cadence of Moloko-era Róisín Murphy, “Pressure” explodes into a collage of adrenaline-seeking hooks. Co-written by Theo Hutchcraft of the English synthpop duo Hurts, the command to “release!” acts as a euphoric mission statement.
Other songs fold time even further, pulling in samples and instrumentation from the dance music of Melanie’s childhood. The title track, a spoken-word instructional piece that sounds like it was recorded astride a Peloton bike, is a mind-bending mashup of Diana Ross‘ 1982 single “Work That Body” with fresh beats from Kingdoms, a UK production team.
The drill-sergeant sample – “reach, two three four five six seven eight, stretch…” – is reminiscent of Melanie’s “swing it, shake it, move it, make it” refrain from the Spice Girls’ heyday, but comes wrapped in a knowing wink. It’s Melanie C at her Sportiest, looking camp dead in the eye while wearing an Adidas tracksuit, taking the song’s promise to “make you sweat” and blowing it out to a quadruple entendre.
“Attitude” also channels the sounds of the 1980s, appropriating the bassline from Inner Life’s “Moment of My Life” and the spirit of Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude” into a classic self-empowerment tune. There is more than a whiff of Girl Power in its funk-driven strut; it is the closest thing to a Spice Girls song on the record, right down to the warning to “step aside, we’re coming through,” which suggests the presence of a supportive but unseen girl gang. (Judging by the lyrics, the new recruits are Sassy, Trashy, Cool, and Confident Spice).
Sweat is uncomplicated pop music, optimized for both the dancefloor and the gym floor. The slinky, liquid groove of “Til It Breaks” presents an opportunity to rehydrate, as does the reggaeton rhythm on the luxe, loved-up “Cashmere”, two tracks highlighting the creamier tone in Melanie’s voice. The final song, “Flick of the Wrist”, is the album’s biggest swerve, as Melanie C dismisses a fraudulent lover over a tense, rubbery synth: “Let it sink in, now I’m that bitch,” she says with the composure of a woman who understands her worth. These detours are especially persuasive amidst a spate of bangers that, much like a cardio-friendly fitness mix, occasionally blend.
If Melanie C was a manifestation of liberation, Sweat imparts proof that it worked. Her songwriting has always been preoccupied with the idea of winning and losing, peppering her repertoire with titles like “You’ll Get Yours” and “Enemy”. On Sweat, Melanie C recognizes she was only ever waging war upon herself. For the first time in her solo career, there is a triumphant lightness to her self-interrogation. As a pop star hitting a new peak in her 50s, this “Undefeated Champion” no longer has anything to lose.