L.A. Music Trade Weekly - January 2003

Geri Halliwell's latest physical transformation -- a shorter-haired, blonder, thinner version of her former red-headed, buxom self --has been the talk of the British tabloids. Not to mention her rumoured dalliance with fellow pop star Robbie Williams, her recent vow of celibacy, sadness at losing her bountiful breasts, passing thoughts of lesbian conversion, eating disorder battles, and unfortunate passing of wind upon meeting one of her heroes, Shirley Bassey. And that's just for starters.

"Obviously I can't help notice that I am featured in the press a lot but I try not to pick it up too much and get validation from it because a pat on the back is six inches away from a kick up the ass," says the outspoken Halliwell, 30, down the line recently from London.

"I have a love-hate relationship with the press. I don't mind them. There's some good journalists and some bad. And I don't think the bad ones are journalists. The ones that step over the mark are just lazy. It's like there's bad pop artists and there's good pop artists. There's Damien Hurst and there's Michaelangelo."

"I consider myself the Damien Hurst of the pop world. Some people, you either get it or you don't. It pushes your button. It's bright and colourful but there's deeper meaning underneath if you care and chose to look. Some of it is deep as puddle, some of it is a bottomless pit, like a well."

Halliwell is talking about the material on Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, her sophomore solo album released only to the UK. It follows her 1999 solo debut, Schizophonic, which sold 4 Million worldwide.

She's already had No. 1 hits in England -- her fourth such solo achievement -- from Scream's first single, It's Raining Men. The song is a cover of the Weather Girls '80s disco classic co-written by Canadian Paul Schaffer.

"You know what I like about Americans?" she says apropos of nothing. "You've got the optimism that only is in Americans, and you've got the prestige a little bit more fine than the Brits but then you tell it how it is. There's no bulls---t."

Back to the single, which got a big boost when it was included on the soundtrack to the film hit, Bridget Jones's Diary.

"It's Raining Men was a bit of the red herring of the album 'cause it's the only one that I didn't write and it was like a last minute gift given to me by the makers of the movie," explains Halliwell, who adds both George Michael and Gabrielle were ahead of line of her to sing the frothy dance number.

"But I actually think that I worked very jolly hard on my last album and I didn't rush it at all and I feel very confident about writing pop music. I cant wait for my next record to be out. I've been to the school of pop and back I have a degree in pop."

Halliwell is referring to, of course, the Spice Girls, who she abruptly left at the height of their success in May, 1998. The remaining four girls are all pursing solo careers now.

"I'm dead proud of them," says Halliwell. "It's like we were away at college together studying pop and now we're all doing our own thesis. I think it's like if you went to university with somebody or you went to Vietnam with somebody and you've got that kind of camaraderie that you survived and you endured something together and so when you see each other it's a delight."

"Occasionally you call each other, see how you're doing, but we don't see each other every day-I woudn't want to."

Despite her fetching new look, which Halliwell attributes to a disciplined workout routine, no dieting and avoiding sugar, she claims to be single despite reports linking her to Williams.

"Rob was like one of my best friends," she says. "We were like two six-year-old children. We're playmates, that's it. We play cards, backgammon, and we kind of playfight."

As for going blonde, Halliwell says she's not necessarily having more fun. "The hair colour's just a dressing, it's a salad dressing. I've been every colour. I dyed my hair blonde when I was 12. I've experienced black, red and blonde."

Q: Are you going to tour?

G:The more people ask me about it the more I want to do it. The more I think about it, I'd love to do a tour, but I'd want a big audience.

Q: Is there a bit of pressure because of how successful The Spice Girls were?

G: Of course there is an element of, 'Oh, let's see how you're going to do.' But I had to say to myself the minute I started, 'How can I compare to what I've just achieved?' That's too much pressure to put on anybody. I just had to start with a blank page. It's my own personal mission. (The Spice Girls) was phenomenal and I realize it was.I am. Look at the record sales.

Q: There was so much fuss in the beginning because the first single ("Look At Me") didn't go No. 1 (on the U.K. charts).

G: That was ridiculous.

Q: It went to No. 2, right?

G: Five hundred copies out (from number one). And that was against a boy-band who've been around for five years (Ireland's Boyzone). I'm delighted with a No. 2. It could have gone to #40 and never been seen again. The British charts are very fast and fickle. Good airplay is more important to me. I like a song that hangs around and becomes a part of a soundtrack to people's summers or lives. I cant wait for some of my new material to be unleashed to the world. Its going to take people places they've never been. Its a place not many have gone. Its coming about fantastically, sometimes I ask my self if I ever sold my soul to the devil.

Q: Will this be released to the states?

G: I am unsure-It depends on the success in the UK.

Q: That said, you have had many No. 1 hits now.

G: (Smiles) I have.

Q: Did that feel like a pay-off?

G: Ohmigod, yeah. It was lovely. Of course I appreciate it. At the end of the day, of course it matters.

Q: Your mum is from Spain. Was it significant to you that it was a Latin number ("Mi Chico Latino") that took you to No.1?

G: Absolutely. I didn't know there was going to be a Latin wave at the time-thats well over but It's synchronicity and a bit of luck. My mother used to listen to Julio Iglesias when she cleaned the house. He was going to be in the video but he couldn't when his daughter got ill.

Q: Has your past albums done everything you wanted them to?

G: I'm so pleased. I've already done 6 million -- I did that. I'm only just starting. I feel there's a long way to go, but I feel on my new record there's some strong songs on there-massive hits, songs that are magic.

Q: Will you do another album after this?

G: I'd like to. I'm in negociations already with EMI, Virgin and Columbia.

Q: Can you give us some news about your new record?

G: I've been working with some great song writters here in L.A., Ive written about 6 songs with Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly who wrote Céline Dion's "I Drove All Night," "Like A Virgin" "Alone" by Heart and "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles among others. The first single should be out by April.

Q: When do you have time to be an ambassador? (Geri was appointed a Goodwill Abassador by the U.N. in 1999).

G: Everthing I do takes an amount of energy. But I've always believed if you're going to do something right, don't do it half- heartedly. I did the trip this year to the Philippines and it really paid off. It was really hard going and very demanding and scary going out for my first time. After I left, the government committed to giving financial backing to contraceptive health care clinics. It was a direct result. I'm not trying to dictate to anyone how they should live their live, I just want to show that I care, and I think everyone deserves the right to choose. I've also committed to breast-cancer research and Prince's Trust. The more time I've got, I'll do it. But I've sort of sussed it out to two things a year now.

Q: Do you consider yourself a singer first, or a personality?

G: I consider myself to be a performer and artist. I'm confident I have a talent to write good pop tunes, and I could do that if I decided I didn't want to be in front of a camera. I used to manage myself and at the moment, not by choice, really I have signed with ICM. But I have total artistic direction, with all the other crap that goes with it. As far as singing, what makes a good singer? I know I'm not a great technical singer. If you look at a lot of singers, they're not. But they have character and they're passionate even if they're off. The technicality sometimes isn't as important as the heart. Sometimes when you go for perfection you lose the life. I've never claimed to be the greatest diva to rock the 21st Century ... My singing is a medium to talk to people. It's like a good painting. A child will like Picasso because it's bright and colourful, and someone else will look at the shadows and see something intelligent.

Q: One of your former bandmates, Mel C., said some pretty nasty things about your voice. She thought you were more of a personality instead of a singer, and couldn't understand why you were putting out a record. Was that a bit of a slap in the face?

G: Of course you want people to like what you do, especially the people that know you. But at the end of the day, you can't please everybody. I've had critics write me off.

Q: Does it hurt coming from a former bandmate?

G: What comes out of somebody's mouth and shows up on paper could look far worse on paper than it's meant to. The girl that I know wouldn't say something derogatory and hurtful. I wouldn't absorb it that way even if it was intended to be. I can't speak for her, you know. You can't get bogged down by negative press. Where would I be? You have to take some of it on board, because you have to be realistic and honest about who you are -- and I think I am. But I don't make music for the musos. I don't create all these songs for it to be compared to other people's.

Q: Is it daunting to have this much artistic control now?

G: I love working in a team. But part of my team was telling me not to use "Calling" as a single, for instance. My gut said is saying I have to. It's daunting sometimes, but when you make a decision, on your head be it. It's even worse if it goes wrong and it wasn't your choice. As far as managment, if there were two of me it would be fine. (Laughs). I was not prepared to just hand the reigns to anybody.

Q: Have you taken time off?

G: I took a week off in the summer, but with the papparazzi show it's never ... I had them climbing over my garden fence. (Laughs) It was like a "Carry On" movie -- I was chasing him off the grounds in my bikini.

Q: Has the British press's treatment of you improved since the Spice Girls and the documentary that followed your leaving the group.

G: I was at a very vulnerable time. They caught me in a more disorientated place. I'd just left this marriage (the Spice Girls), and I didn't know who I was to a degree. In those situations, you overemphasize what people think of you. Everybody does, anyway. It all goes back as far as when somebody's in their local paper for catching the largest fish, they'll cut that piece out and show it to their friends. It was like that for me. It's just an extension of that. But I've learned that praise and blame are all the same. The press do not decide if people will buy your record. They have an influence up to a point, but people's decisions are more instinctive. People smell bulls---, whether someone is kind or good or whatever. The press symbolizes how the community has been fractured. In the olden days, people used to talk over the washing line: 'Have you seen what's going on in number 7? Have you seen what she's wearing' or 'who she's scr-- ing?' Now the press is just a larger version of that to give us something in common. It's not always a bad thing, is it?