Before she became Mel C of the Spice Girls, Melanie Chisholm was discovering rave culture in the early nineties, an experience that still fuels her today. Those nights of breakbeats, sweat and freedom would shape her forever. 

Decades later, Melanie C channels that same raw energy into Sweat – her ninth studio album and most euphoric record to date, which was released on 1 May via Virgin Music Group.

Recorded between London, Stockholm and LA, Sweat is a celebration of joy, movement and community – a fusion of Melanie C’s pop legacy and her more recent evolution as a DJ.

The record unites every part of her story: the athlete, the pop icon, the underground DJ, and the teenager who fell in love with rave culture. It’s a record about resilience and joy in dark times.

Let’s talk about Sweat, your forthcoming album. It feels like your most liberated record. What changed for you creatively this time around making this record?

So many things have changed. Every album I’ve ever made, it’s really been a reflection of that moment in my life. And over the last eight years I’ve been DJing. I’ve been lucky enough to play in so many great festivals all over the world, as well as playing in Ibiza. For the last five years I’ve been playing at Pacha. And it just really reignited a passion that I have for dance music.

And it’s funny because I discovered raving when I was about 17 and I was going out—I was in Spain with a group of friends on holiday and we were like, what is this music? Everybody’s so free when they’re dancing and we were just completely hooked from the get-go. So when we got back to London we were like, right, we need to find our people, we’ve got to find out where these raves are happening.

And I really got into that scene. It was such an incredible time. I grew up through the 80s where, you know, nightclubs in the UK were, you know, a bit cheesy discos, and it was all a little bit step touch, step touch when you were dancing. So to find this incredible kind of movement that was happening with this, you know, music that was just so euphoric at times, and you know, for people to be dancing all night long, and so many different social backgrounds and communities coming together and socialising together, for the first time probably in history. So this kind of felt like our movement you know as a young person, it was like my parents grew up through the 60s, of course they had the Summer of Love, and this was almost like our version of that.

So that was all happening, and then when I turned 20 I auditioned for the band that became the Spice Girls and that of course took over my life. All of my priorities changed. We were so focused, so determined to succeed. And then of course once music was released, our schedule was crazy, so there wasn’t much time for going out, socialising and I’d almost left that part of me behind.

I’d always loved dance music. Of course it’s come into the mainstream, it’s influenced so many styles of music now you know Pop music is so influenced by electronic sounds. So I’ve always listened to you know lots of different genres of dance and house, but I’ve never really done that much as a solo artist.

I of course did the Hex Hector remix on my first album Northern Star, which was a big, big dance hit all over the world. So I’ve kind of toyed in that area, but for this album I just revisited those really early days.

And also I’ve just been able to kind of reclaim who I was before I was a Spice Girl. I’ve had so many influences through my life, I’ve been so lucky, worked with so many amazing people, and this felt like the time to really put all of those pieces together.

And I really wanted to bring my work as a solo artist closer to what I play as a DJ. I play multi-genre house when I’m out. So it was just nice to play with all of those different things and find my own voice within that.

What was your first rave memory?

I think it was probably discovering The Prodigy when I was out raving in Spain. I think ‘Charly Says’ was the tune that was out at that time, and I was like ‘what is this?!’ so yeah, that’s one of my very first rave memories.

What was the one SWEAT track that surprised you the most?

Ooh, I loved to have light and shade on the album, and although I wanted it to be really uplifting and motivating and I also like darkness. I always feel like you have to have the moment of real depth on the record. And one of my favourite writing sessions I was for the very first time in a room that was completely female producing and Flick of the Wrist—a darker track from an all-female session.

What keeps you creatively hungry after all these years?

I just love what I do. I love performing, I love that feeling of being on stage, releasing music, and having that connection with people.

I just have learned so much over the years about, as different as we all are, we share so much, we have so much in common. And, it’s really beautiful to be able to express yourself and to connect with other people. And that really truly is what keeps me going. And, other people’s music, you know to hear other artists and bands and how music changes and evolves, so yeah I can’t imagine ever not being inspired to carry on and making new music. 

The album, Sweat, is out now.