My friend Natalie and I arrived at The London NYC Hotel in midtown Manhattan about 30 minutes early, so we could prepare ourselves and work off our nervous energy before meeting Mel in the bar area. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way. Mel caught us by surprise since she was already there with her husband Stephen wrapping up a small meeting!
Mel came over as soon as she was finished even though it was still early. We ordered tea and biscuits, and Mel taught us how to drink tea English-style. She autographed a few items for us, and we chatted about topics ranging from her new hairstyle to the Spice Girls musical, from her upcoming 3rd solo album to bacon butties. It was so surreal to be sitting between Mel and Natalie having a friendly, casual chat.
Mel was just an absolute pleasure to be with, especially given her fabulous personality and infectious laugh! The meeting was also supposed to be half an hour, but she stayed with us for over 40 minutes. A celebrity who’s generous with her time…amazing!
Some pictures can be seen here: http://www.melaniebrown.com/news/dyao-ny-winner/
The videos are here (2 parts):
linked from Youtube.com
linked from Youtube.com
Anyway, here are some of the things we talked about!
Jonathan
Bacon butties
• She still loves bacon butties even though she’s totally fit! Sundays are her “feast days” where she eats whatever she wants.
Second autobiography
• I mentioned Geri Halliwell’s 2nd autobiography (Just For The Record), and Mel had no clue about it. She says that she’s up for coming out with another autobiography and jokingly said that she better start writing now! She looked in my copy of “Catch A Fire,” so she can pick up where she left off. She thinks it’s a “great idea,” and she has “a lot to say!” She writes all the time anyway, but she just need to figure out what she wants to talk about.
April Fool’s message on DenDen
• “I was totally fooled, and that guy did a good job. I don’t even have a cat!”
3rd album information
• She only has 3 songs so far, and they’re all so different so it’s hard to say what kind of style the album will take on. However, because she comes from a pop background, “it’s going to be pop-driven.” She had 15 songs last year, but one of the guys she was working with got arrested (as mentioned in the last DYAO video with Michelle). She writes about 2-3 times per week, and she wants to focus on recording during the next 2-3 months. She will be going into the studio tonight when she lands in Los Angeles. She hopes to collaborate with others (no specifics).
Unreleased songs
• She doesn’t see the point in coming out with old songs since those songs reflect that period in time.
New York
• Mel and Stephan almost bought an apartment in New York last year, but someone else bought it. When she comes here, she likes to go to Ray’s Pizza for a proper pizza slice!
Spice Girls musical
• She’s not sure what the storyline is, but she thinks it’s going to be based on the “Spice story.” The five girls had given Judy Craymer each of their individual stories, so Judy is working with that.
Geri on Pier Morgan
• Piers Morgan has wanted Mel B to do the interview for the past year and a half. She thinks she may do it sometime in the next 6 months to a year. I asked her about what Geri said about Mel B (mostly about having conflicts close to Geri’s departure), but she didn’t give much information. We’ll just have to watch her Piers Morgan interview if it happens!
X-Factor (replacing Dannii?)
• She replied with a “maybeee” in response to me asking whether or not she has met with anyone in regards to X-Factor. “Once I know, I’ll tell you. Things are kind of up in the air.”
Song with Emma
• They’ve been texting, but nothing’s been set. She’s hoping to talk to Emma when she goes to London next week.
Geri in the studio
• I asked, “So Geri is in the studio for an ALBUM, right?” She replied with “yeah,” but then she quickly said, “Well, I don’t know if it’s for an album, but I know she’s in the studio.”
Australia for Totally Fit
• “If I’m going out there, I should be going in July. 60% chance!”
Beautiful Girl video
• There’s no real music video. It was just a bit of documentary footage with “Beautiful Girl” as the music over it.
Her hair
• Since Angel has a mohawk and Phoenix “has a bit of a Rihanna-vibe,” she wanted to join in on the fun. I also asked about going back to “Scary Spice” hair, and she says that her hair now is much easier to handle.
• She’s pretty much abandoned her Twitter, and she prefers communicating through her website/forum since it’s a bit more controlled.
Another meet & greet?
• London peeps, keep an eye out!!! She says that she should be writing something about it on her website tonight. Australian peeps, she says that once she gets the dates set, it’s possible!
