Emma Bunton |
 |
|
Wed. February 09.2005 12:00 AM EST |
||
Emma Bunton: Baby, It's YouBaby Spice is a sex kitten if there ever was one. She talks about her Motown jones, her bossa nova fetish and watching Spice World with her girl pals. by C. Bottomley |
||||
|
||||
 |
(19.) |
|
||
For six years, Emma Bunton was "Baby Spice," the most cutie-pie member of the Spice Girls. With her blonde pigtails, dumpling cheeks, and mile-wide smile, the North Londoner fit the part to a tee. But oh baby, look at her now. With her new solo album
Her music has matured, too. Free Me finds Bunton dipping a dainty toe in both Motown and bossa nova, while never forgetting the pop hooks that made the Spices so irresistible in the first place. The singer spoke to VH1.com about karate, Spice reunions and smelly things. VH1: You turned 29 in January. What are your favorite kinds of presents? Bunton: The best things are the simple things. I love smelly candles, and I love underwear and I love socks, and I will use those. Sometimes you get these presents, and they're gorgeous, but I never get to use them. That's why I love to get smelly candles. VH1: So after a hard day's recording, you like to get the incense going? Absolutely. A nice bath...I love all that. I love reflexology, which something that my mother does. I enjoy all that kind of stuff. VH1: Doesn't your mom teach karate, too? The kind of karate that she teaches is more like self-defense and discipline. There is not a lot of fighting. It's more to do with disciplining yourself, keeping yourself in balance. VH1: When was the last time you won a fight? It's not about fighting. You learn punching, obviously, and stuff like that, but you are never allowed to use it on anyone. It's called Shotokan and it means "closed fist." Unless it's absolutely necessary and you're being attacked or something, you don't use it. VH1: Do you think you could throw me? Maybe. I mean, I know where to pinch a man that would hurt him very much... VH1: So do I, and I didn't have to take lessons. No, no, no - it's not the obvious. So there you go. VH1: Does Free Me reflect your changing musical tastes? Absolutely. Motown was all I would listen to when I was younger. I would move onto other people, but it always seemed to come back to Motown for me. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Dusty Springfield...I just loved that kind of music. So I wanted to bring an element of Motown into my music, and the way we did that was I had all the musicians come into the studio and we did all that live. When you listen to it, you can hear live strings and live drums. I think that is what makes it sound kind of '60s. VH1: Where did the Brazilian thing come from? What happened was that I got to shoot my first video, "Free Me," out in Brazil. I had an amazing time out there, went to some amazing bars, and obviously went dancing. I thought the music was amazing, and wanted to look for a Sixties album, and I came across Astrud Gilberto. Her song "Crickets Sing for Ana Maria" felt right for the album, 'cause it still had a Sixties thing to it. VH1: Why is the press still fascinated with the Spice Girls? I saw the girls just last week and we talked about it. We were really proud of what we achieved, being UK artists that went over to the US and all over the world. We are all still flattered that the press is still interested in what we do. For me, the press has been very supportive, I have been very lucky with them. VH1: Victoria Spice and her husband David Beckham haven't been so lucky. Yeah, she has had a really tough time with them, bless her heart. But I think she has learnt how to deal with it in that respect. It's also going to be tough because she is married to a very famous man. VH1: What is it like when the five of you are back in a room together? We are all busy doing our own thing, so when we get together we want to talk about our families, how they are doing, what boys we are seeing, how are the babies...stuff normal girls talk about. We don't straight away go, "Hey, how's business?" It's just something we don't talk about. VH1: When was the last time you saw the Spice Girls movie, Spice World? A couple of years ago my friends came over and they hadn't actually seen it. They begged me to put it on. I didn't really want to do it, but in the end, I did... It brought back a lot of memories. I know there have been a few people that have spoken negatively about it, but when you take it for what it actually is, it's such a funny film. We were taking the mickey out of ourselves, the writer was fantastic, and all the cameos...it was just amazing! There was Richard E. Grant, Elvis Costello, there were just so many. It was amazing to be a part of it. VH1: Did you ever balk at the name Baby Spice? I bloody love it. I think it is the best name ever. I got the best one, 'cause you can say it either way. VH1: The costumes were pretty suggestive of what kind of baby you were. I can't remember the last time anyone has called me "Baby" at home, but overseas people haven't seen me since Baby Spice. They just have to get to know me a little bit. Obviously there will always be a little touch of Baby Spice in me. She is a part of me. But I think people will see that I have grown up. VH1: I remember a scene in Spice World where you wondered if you were still going to be Baby when you're 40. Thirty! See, that is the thing. Because obviously 30 is not old. I couldn't stop laughing at that. It's just such a piss-take. VH1: So are you looking forward to turning 30? I am actually. I feel very lucky about what I have achieved and that I have achieved so much. I can look back and think 'wow'. There will be more dreams and everything. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
 |
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Emma Bunton |
|
All news for Emma Bunton |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
