This is like patching a broken egg back together – a delicate operation which requires infinite reserves of patience, and loads and loads of glue. But then it is not surprising the Spice Girls are struggling to operate as a band once again. So much time has passed and they have all had periods of “really disliking” each other. It is a matter of record that there were physical catfights when they were younger and more impulsive.
Over the past week, the Spice Girls have fulfilled their first professional duties as a reunited five-some – filming a video for their new single Headlines, making an advert for Tesco, and starting some dance rehearsals. Last Friday was the first time they had all been in the same room since June’s announcement that they were to re-form. Unfortunately, only hours into this new venture, the wheels started to come off the Spice juggernaut.
Emma Bunton has been in tears – intimidated by everyone’s egos and plain exhausted. Her baby, Beau, is only ten weeks old. Even though she has a night nanny – hired from posh London hospital the Portland – she is struggling slightly. She has also been made deeply uncomfortable by the arguments which are already occurring. Geri Halliwell – who abruptly left the band in 1998 – has annoyed everyone with her typically bonkers behaviour. She constantly broke off from the video shoot to meditate (which is said to have held up the session considerably) and made a fuss about having the “right” brand of mineral water on set.
These examples of her contrary nature are making the others grind their teeth, particularly because she had already “ruined” their inaugural press conference by wearing a cream floaty dress when the agreement was they would all wear black. “She is being very controlling, probably because the rehearsals are making her anxious,” says my mole.? “It’s not too bad yet. She is sort of behaving, but you can see it is bubbling away.” Needless to say, no one was impressed that the video shoot dragged on until 3am. Victorial Beckham, meanwhile, is infuriating everyone by constantly nattering on her mobile phone. She has, of course, nabbed the nicest clothes by a mile, dressing in a gorgeous full-length sequinned Dolce and Gabbana dress, complete with solid metal belt, for the video.
Geri makes do with a peach Versace number, in which she looks less sensational. Round one, then, to Victoria, who – as expected – views this all very much as a competition. Mrs Beckham has made sure all are well aware that she is the one who has become a superstar since the band split seven years ago. She’s accompanied at all times by an ostentatiously large coterie of assistants and personal bodyguards – some of whom bear fruit and champagne to refresh their high-maintenance charge. Victoria’s bodyguard has also been known to order people not to speak to her when she is “tired”. And Mel B, the group’s most volatile member, has admitted to friends that she found her two days with the girls “complete hell” because of jet lag and the demands of appearing on Dancing With The Stars – the American version of Strictly Come Dancing – on the U.S. network ABC.?? She has ended up rehearsing her routines for this week in the corridor in Pinewood between takes of the video.
No wonder she is relieved to return to LA, where she lives with her six-month-old baby, Angel, and new husband, Hollywood producer Stephen Belafonte. Her burgeoning dance career, though, is a big problem. A senior executive who is involved with the reunion said: “The biggest tension right now is Mel B doing Dancing With The Stars. If it carries on into rehearsal time, it could be very difficult.
“No-one really factored in her making it through to these latter stages of the show. She may well win the damn thing, and no one ever envisaged that.” Dancing With The Stars comes to an end in five weeks’ time. Since the Spice Girls are three weeks away from their first public performance, and five weeks from the start of the tour, it is a pressing problem indeed.? So it certainly doesn’t bode well for manager Simon Fuller’s plans for a massive, money-spinning, three-month tour that tensions are already running high.
A source in the Fuller camp indicates that, since the disastrous video shoot at Pinewood last Friday – where the mood turned so sour that, at one point, the director threatened to quit – Fuller has now telephoned each of the girls to remind them to “play nicely” and also to point out that they only have to rein themselves in for a few weeks.? So what is the inside track on the fear and loathing now gripping the Spice Girls – who, you may remember, sang: “Friendship never ends”? It has to be said that theirs was an odd kind of raucous, spontaneous, hennight feminism, which never really stood up to scrutiny. They were gobby and ambitious, rather than driven by a deep conviction.
“We felt invincible,” Mel B once said, and that was pretty much what Girl Power added up to. One should not be surprised that it has disintegrated into playground politics in these tricky circumstances.? It was not that long ago that Mel C offered the opinion in an interview that Geri’s music was “hollow” and her former bandmate was not talented.
So much for the sisterhood. It should also be remembered that the Spice Girls were a pre-fabricated group, brought together by answering an advertisement in The Stage, not by close friendships. They were not built to last, and were certainly never constructed with one eye on posterity.? Money has brought them back together, then, and their PRs were this week pointing out that it will take more than a bit of grumpiness and getting on each other’s nerves to derail the reunion.
The sell-out tour is set to gross ?23 million.? Factor in the lucrative merchandising, which may be worth as much again. Add in the side deals, like a Tesco ad campaign worth around ?5 million. Then the album sales.? In all, the Spice revival could gross well over ?100 million. Each girl stands to make around ?10 million, possibly more, and there will surely be plenty of times in the coming weeks when they will need to summon that figure to the forefront of their minds. It’s actually nearly as much as they made from the whole flowering of the Spice Girls phenomenon. Source
