Monday, January 21, 2008

interview stuff

Victoria's Secrets Revealed

01/13/2008 8:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Lyndsey Parker

It's been a pretty monumental year for band reunions so far: The Police, the Sex Pistols, Crowded House, Rage Against The Machine, Van Halen, the Verve, the Jesus & Mary Chain, and of course Led Zeppelin are only a few of the long-gone acts who buried the hatchet this year. But perhaps one of the most hyped and anticipated reunions of 2007 has been the return of the Spice Girls.

Some people probably thought there was no demand for Posh, Ginger, Scary, Sporty, and Baby these days. They might have assumed that the Spicy circa-'96 message of "Girl Power!" no longer rang true. These people probably laughed at the idea of the Spice Girls embarking on an international arena tour. But clearly the Spice Girls are having the last laugh now--and they're laughing all the way to the bank, as tickets to their reunion concerts have sold out in a matter of minutes. Apparently what pop fans want, what they really really want, is to see the Spice Girls one more time.

So now the Spice Girls are back to spice up our lives, and they're bigger and better than ever. They're looking hotter than they did in their heyday (one look at their slick, lingerie-draped "Headlines" video indicates the ladies have much better access to stylists and personal trainers now); Melanie Brown has gracefully recovered from that Eddie Murphy babydaddy scandal and is now a frontrunner on Dancing With The Stars; Emma Bunton is raking in residuals from her spaghetti sauce commercials; and the highest-profile Spice of all, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, is a bona fide fashion icon currently conquering her new home city of Hollywood.

With the Spice Girls' tour less than three weeks away, Victoria recently took time out of her grueling rehearsal schedule to talk with Y! Music managing editor Lyndsey Parker about her new life in L.A., her family, those ubiquitous band infighting rumors, and the Spices' upcoming show of shows. Read on for a little Posh talk...


YAHOO! MUSIC: So how are you enjoying Los Angeles so far?

VICTORIA: I love it. I've got to say, this year's probably the happiest we've ever been as a family. People say to me, "God, it must be really hard to transition," and I'm like, "What's hard? The sun's great, we live in Beverly Hills...let's be realistic, how hard can that be?" We absolutely love it.

YAHOO! MUSIC: You've had no difficulty adjusting?

VICTORIA: Actually, not at all. I did a lot of groundwork, though: I came over, I searched for a house, I bought a house, I enrolled my children in an incredible school. It took a long time of going backwards and forwards to find everything I needed to find because I hadn't been here that much, but it's the most wonderful place. We definitely see ourselves staying here much longer than we initially planned, because we're very, very happy. It's great. We have a lot more privacy here; we go out and do our things. The kids love it; they have a nice circle of friends. We can both work here. It's actually incredible. We're very, very happy.

YAHOO! MUSIC: But you'll be gone from L.A. for a while, huh, when you go on tour?

VICTORIA: I'm going to be away for half of December and the whole of January, in London, and then we come back to America for February. I'm really only going to be gone from L.A. a month and a half. But I'll definitely, definitely miss it, because I feel much freer here in L.A. I'm much calmer. This is the perfect place for me!

YAHOO! MUSIC: Not everyone likes L.A. You either love it or hate it, I guess...

VICTORIA: Well, obviously I love England--that's where I'm from. Fashion-wise, I find London very inspiring. It's lovely to go back and visit. But I'm used to traveling and being away from home, and I think L.A. is a great place. The people are very nice. I haven't been here that long, so hopefully it's not going to change! But we all love it. The kids are so happy.

YAHOO! MUSIC: OK, so about this tour...why now? The Spice Girls reunion has been rumored for so long, and surely you've had many offers before...

VICTORIA: You know, for years we were rumored to be discussion, but we all know what the media's like: When they haven't got anything to write about, they just make up sh*t. Everyone else was talking about a reunion, but we weren't! Geri [Halliwell] basically had a christening for [her daughter] Bluebell, and we were there, and it literally was just really natural. We all started laughing about the things we used to get up to, and how phenomenal our success was. And one thing led to another, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. As soon as we decided we got [19 Management's] Simon Fuller involved, and he started planning things. I think we were all obviously nervous in our own little ways, but for me it was just the fact that I wanted my children to see Mommy was a pop star once! To see what Mommy used to do. That Mommy does more than just moan at the boys and say, "Do your homework!" and "Brush your teeth!" That was my motivation for doing it, and it's not for long. The tour has been planned so that David [Beckham] can come on the tour and the kids can come on the tour, then at the end of February, David goes back for training and the boys will go back to school, and that will be it.

YAHOO! MUSIC: So there are no plans for a full reunion album? A permanent reunion?

VICTORIA: Well, there's the greatest hits album, which is released exclusively through Victoria's Secret. They've made a huge commitment, which is fantastic, and we're performing at their show this Thursday [November 15]. There's two new tracks on the album, "Voodoo" and "Headlines." That will be it. This isn't the Spice Girls getting back together to record loads of new material and do a new film. We're not starting off our careers again; we're literally celebrating the past, celebrating our huge success, saying thank you to our fans, showing our kids what we used to do, and finishing it off the way we should have finished it off.

YAHOO! MUSIC: It seems most bands who reunite these days try to justify the reunion with a whole album of new material, even though the fans at the reunion concerts really just want the old hits...

VICTORIA: But we've never done things the way everyone else does things. We do things the way that suits us and our families. At the end of the day, I'm already dreading it coming to an end, to be honest. I admit I was nervous at the beginning, because I've worked very hard to be accepted in the fashion industry, and I was nervous: Would they accept me if I turned into "Posh Spice" again? There's been a lot of doors opened for me in the fashion industry because of what I've done with the Spice Girls, but then again there's been a lot of doors that have been shut as well, because people do have preconceptions. It's taken me many years to work through that, so I was very nervous how people would think about that. Because fashion, outside of my family, is my passion; I'm not in the music industry anymore. But the Spice Girls reunion has been accepted very well. But after February, the kids will go back to school, David will go back to training, and my family are everything to me. I couldn't commit to doing any longer of a tour or any other stuff with the Girls, because it takes so much time. I'm having so much fun and I'm loving being back with the Girls and I've missed them so, so much--but I have a family now, so I just couldn't commit to any more time.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Why did you decide to sell your album at Victoria's Secret? With all the changes going on in the music industry right now, it seems like a smart business move.

VICTORIA: Simon Fuller is very clever businessman. It was his idea, and we all think Victoria's Secret is great, the perfect place for us to sell our record. We're five women who love Victoria's Secret, and they made a huge, huge, huge commitment, they're a very nice company. It was Simon's idea, and we all think it's a great idea. He's a genius when it comes to coming up with different ways of doing things. We don't play by the rules, we do things are different way, you know.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Are you surprised by how rabidly this reunion has been received? People are going nuts!

VICTORIA: It's great. We have the most incredible, committed fans. They've stuck with us for the last 10 years. I think it's proof that no matter what anybody says, no matter what anybody writes, it really doesn't matter. The fans are what matter. And people WANT the Spice Girls. The press can write whatever the bloody hell they like--PEOPLE WANT TO SEE THE SPICE GIRLS! It's been absolutely phenomenal. We didn't know what to expect. We weren't worried about it, but we didn't know if anyone was going to want to come see us after all these years. And it's just been fantastic. Very exciting for us.

YAHOO! MUSIC: What can fans expect to see on your tour?

VICTORIA: The show is just going to be incredible. We have the best people working on this show. We have Jamie King directing it and heading up all the choreography. We have Roberto Cavalli designing all the tour clothes. We have 10 of the best dancers in the world that myself and Melanie B auditioned out here in L.A. The show is going to be one of the best shows people will ever see! The attention to detail is great, and we're going full-out to put on a fantastic show for our fans.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Are you nervous to be back onstage again?

VICTORIA: You know what? I'm not nervous at all, because I've got the other girls. If I was going to do it on my own, I'd be really nervous. But we're just going out there to have fun! I'll be happier once we've done a few shows and I know I have the choreography under my belt, because we have had so much to learn. We've got a month to rehearse all the songs, all new choreography. So there's a lot to do. But I'm not nervous. You know, we're not perfect--so what if someone does a dance move wrong? We're trying very hard, but we're the Spice Girls and we just get up there and have fun. And that's what people want to see.

YAHOO! MUSIC: How are band relations now, after all those infighting rumors over the years?

VICTORIA: Like I said, people write stuff about us all the time. We get on really, really well. Everyone is so much more mature. We've all got kids except for Melanie C, and it's great--my kids come to rehearsal after school and they hang out and they sing with us. All of our kids are getting on really well. We're just so much more mature now. We used to argue, but there hasn't actually, as yet, been any arguments this time. We've all got a lot of work to do, we all have to knuckle down and get into it, and our priorities have changed. Everything changes once you have a family. I've personally really, really missed not being in the group. Not because I missed singing and dancing, even though that is fun. I don't miss the industry. But what I have missed is having four really good friends that have got my back. And I didn't realize until I got back with the girls how much I missed that. Personally, we've all been through so much and had to deal with it on our own, and when you get back and you've got four people...well, it's like unconditional love, to be honest. Whatever you do, whatever you say, they've got your back and they care about you. I am loving every minute of it because of that--because I didn't have that in the years that I wasn't in the group.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Is it true that Melanie C was the one holdout, the one Spice Girl who didn't want to participate in the reunion?

VICTORIA: No, I think we all had our concerns. I was really concerned, like I said. I'm not in the music industry anymore, I'm in fashion, and I was nervous because I've worked very hard and had a huge amount of success with my DVB brand. I was worried that I might be jeopardizing that in any way. We were all nervous in our own little ways, but obviously it's a better story to put one girl aside and say she's the one that is having problems. People are so crazy and need Spice Girls stories all the time, that when they don't have them they just make them up! But that's cool, we accept that. We've been doing this a long time.

YAHOO! MUSIC: When the Spice Girls first came out, they were all about "Girl Power!" Do you think that positive message is missing from female pop stars' music today?

VICTORIA: That's an interesting point, because I think the whole industry has changed. For instance, I used to think fashion and music went hand-in-hand, and now I totally don't think they do. I think there are very few music artists that have any influence on fashion at all nowadays. But I think you're right about the "Girl Power" thing, and I think that's why people liked the Spice Girls--because that's what we stood for. And I think that's what people continue to like about us.

VICTORIA: Do you think that message will resonate with little girls today, who are too young to remember the Spice Girls from the first time around?

YAHOO! MUSIC: Yes, it's been incredible. The people who want tickets aren't just our fans who've grown up, but they're their children, too. There are little kids running around saying they want to go to the Spice Girls show, and they weren't even born when the Spice Girls were around before! But I think as five women that have children, all we're doing is spreading a positive message out there. I think that we're good role models and I think it's positive for women to believe what we believe in, and I think the music industry is definitely in need of that when it comes to girl groups. There's so many girl groups out there, and I'm not saying that we're any better than them, but I do think we're different. And I think the fact that people are going so crazy over our tickets is proof that people need that out there.

taken from: http://music.yahoo.com/read/interview/51539807