Mel C on the Future of Spice Girls

December 8 -- Melanie Chisholm — a k a Mel C, a k a Sporty Spice — says not to go dogging the Spice Girls just because the British group's third album, Forever, isn't exactly spicing up our lives. Or the charts.

Forever debuted at No. 39, with sales of 34,000 copies, and has dropped to No. 131 on the Billboard Top 200 chart four weeks after its release — a far cry from the multiplatinum explosions of predecessors Spice and Spiceworld.

Is this a Girl Power failure? Mel C thinks not.

"Of course we would've liked it to be more successful," Chisholm says. "At the end of the day, we haven't worked as hard on the promotional side as we did on the previous two records, mainly because we do want to have a life as well as a career. It's to be expected that if you're going to work your ass off, every day of the year, of course you're going to have more success. We're trying to find balance in our lives now; two of the girls have got babies, we have solo projects. We're just happy to have a good album, and the fans who have it are enjoying it. As people discover it and get to hear it, it will be more successful in the future. We definitely feel this is the best Spice Girls album ever."

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In fact, those other interests are clearly taking precedence over Forever. With no Spice Girls tour on the horizon, Chisholm is continuing to promote her solo effort, Northern Star, which has been bolstered by the dance-club success of the track "I Turn to You." Melanie Brown is also concentrating on her solo album, while Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton are planning their own releases for 2001.

"[Next year] is probably going to be a year of more solo work; right now, we haven't got anything planned, specifically, as a group," Chisholm says. "We're enjoying what we're up to at the moment. Nobody's leaving the band, and we're not splitting up. We're taking a bit of time out and exploring things for ourselves. When we started, we were young and hungry and wanted success; we still want it, but we've now had two, three years of living that crazy life, and we've missed other things a little bit. It's a change of pace for the Spice Girls, that's all."