While Mel B may be best known as “Scary Spice” in the Spice Girls, she doesn’t quite think it would stand the test of time.
“Now I think we’re a bit too politically correct,” Mel B (real name Melanie Brown), 48, said on the Wednesday, February 28 episode of the “How to Fail With Elizabeth Day” podcast. “I calmed down in these last few years. Before, if you were to interview me I’d be like, ‘Show me your questions.’ I’d be the protector of the group that comes in there and go, ‘Hold on a minute.’”
Mel B noted that her tendencies could be “a bit too feisty or scary” — which is why she thinks her moniker is perfect for her.
“So that name was given and I love it. Just for the plain fact that I’m a bit scary, and I’ve got larger than life hair and that’s just me.” she said. “In this day and age, somebody would have taken offense by that. But I don’t take offense by it. Whether you’re black, white, mixed, there’s a bit of ‘Scary’ in all of us.”
The Spice Girls — a.k.a Mel B, Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) and Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) — formed in 1994. The group went on to have several hit songs, including 1996’s “Wannabe” and were beloved by fans for their differing stage personas.
Mel B recalled the group receiving their names from a journalist who “couldn’t be bothered to remember [their] full names” — and the monikers stuck.
“He just named us off the rack like that, and we were all like, ‘Oh God, I quite like my name,’” she said.
Mel B added that each individual’s name was not just a character they put on, but was instead fitting for their personality.
“It’s funny because to this day, Emma loves pink, and if she can have her way, she’d put her hair in ponytails,” she said. “Mel C will never get out of a tracksuit, and she always has her hair in a ponytail. Victoria is very sleek and elegant. Geri, she’s gone through a bit of a change, but she’s still that vicious Union Jack girl underneath her being the lady of the manor, let me tell you.”
She continued, “So we’re all exactly the same. Which is lovely considering we started when we were 17, 18, 19 and we’re now 48, 49, 50.”
In January, Mel B exclusively teased to Us Weekly that “all five” members of the group might be reuniting soon, saying, “All I can say officially is we will be doing an announcement soon and the fans are going to be very happy. That is all I can say, but I can’t wait to say more.”
