Mel C certainly has some interesting things to say about sexism and sexual misconduct in the music industry — at least, from her perspective as a member of the iconic girl group Spice Girls.
The 46-year-old singer spoke with podcast host Jessie Ware on the show Table Manners with Jessie Ware this week, and seriously opened up about what it was like to come up in such a male-dominated industry back in the 1990s.
Related: Spice Girls Hold Impromptu Reunion At Brooklyn Beckham’s 21st Birthday Bash!
Unsurprisingly, the performer recalled how early on executives at record companies greatly underestimated the appeal of an all-girl group. Expectations were very low for Mel C and her fellow Spice Girls, Victoria Beckham, Mel B, Emma Bunton, and Geri Halliwell, and due to sexism and just plain old incompetence, many execs failed to figure out just how much the Girls would one day impact pop music.
Sporty Spice, AKA Melanie Chisholm, recalled more on how that served as motivation for the group, especially in the early years:
“We started talking about girl power because we experienced sexism in the industry. Because we were just five girls, we wanted to be famous, we wanted to be pop stars, and quite quickly we were being told, ‘Yeah, girl bands don’t sell records, you can’t be on the cover of magazines because — girls buy records by boys.’ And we were like, ‘Seriously?’ Don’t say that to the Spice Girls, that’s like red rag to a bull. We had a really important point to prove, which was great because it put a fire in our belly … It became more than ‘girl power.’ It became ‘people power’; it became about equality.”
Inspirational!
Of course, as things would play out, the world — and those sexist record company execs — would soon learn just how successful a girl group could be. Sorry not sorry for those who missed out!!!
Still, it’s not particularly surprising to hear how they experienced bias while starting their careers, especially knowing the landscape of the ’90s entertainment world as well as the general and pervasive issues within the music industry. What is shocking is how the behavior and rhetoric apparently didn’t cross the line into sexual misconduct or assault for the Spice Girls.
On the podcast, Chisholm was asked point-blank about the #MeToo movement, and her response really piqued our interest because it definitely wasn’t what we were expecting to hear:
“It’s funny, because I get asked about the #MeToo movement a lot and that within the music industry and if I’ve ever experienced anything, and I was like, are you kidding me? No one would come near the Spice Girls because they were petrified by us. I think often with these situations there can be vulnerable people that are targeted, aren’t there? Which, of course, there are some vulnerable people in Spice Girls, but because you knew if you mess with one of them, you would have to deal with the other four, so we always had backup.”
Whoa! That’s actually very interesting to know the girls had their own built-in support system which evidently made it tougher for bad people within the industry to separate off the “vulnerable” and take advantage.
Related: Beyoncé Is Reportedly Ready For Her Own Spice Girls-Style Reunion?!
Of course, in a just world, no woman — whether solo, or in a girl group, or whatever — would ever have to worry about being sexually harassed or pursued by powerful men in control of her career. But still, in this world, it’s nice to read how at least one group of girls had each other’s backs through what otherwise could have been a very unsafe situation for all of them. Girl power, indeed!
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[Image via Phil Lewis/Chris Connor/WENN]
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