Melanie Chisholm quotes:

Being in the Spice Girls was an insane experience.

Putting out my album on my own label has been a great experience for me. It's been very inspiring. It's like a new start for me and having all this creative freedom is so liberating and exciting.

This is me. Take it or leave it.

I feel there should have been some recognition of the Spice Girls at this year's 25th anniversary. We flew the flag for Britain around the globe in the 1990s and we achieved a hell of a lot.

I don't think the Spice Girls are celebrated as much as they should be. We championed British pop worldwide. We toured everywhere to sell-out crowds and I think there should have been a reflection of that at February's Brit's anniversary.

I just feel, in life, I'm searching for something I can rely on, something that's constant and something that's going to guide me through. And I felt that the Northern Star is a very beautiful image of that.

A lot of people have been quite surprised with the stuff that I'm doing on my own, which shocks me because I've always known what I wanted to do. But people have only seen me with the Spice Girls, so I suppose it's not that surprising.

I don't want to be daft and say I had some spiritual awakening or something, but I really did come of age in Los Angeles, where we recorded the album. I had my own little house and my own little circle and I really got to feel how the city ticks.

A lot of the time, the British press make me ashamed and embarrassed to be British. They give others the impression that the British are selfish, envious and bitter people, which is simply not true in my opinion. I think that British people in general are really nice and friendly.

Everybody in life is a chameleon.

The British press have written some nasty and spiteful things about the way I look which used to affect me quite badly when it was new to me but luckily, I've learned to ignore the comments. why do they even care about how I look?

The success of this album is very much in question. Who knows where it's going to go? My being a Spice Girl is no guarantee of anything, although I hope it'll benefit the sales.

We were in the same band, but we're two completely different people. People have asked me to make comparisons with our albums, and I can't, because there's no comparison. Her album's okay. I don't think she's the best singer on Earth, but she's okay.

I love being onstage and I love to perform. To be honest with you, I'm more comfortable performing than I am in an everyday situation, which I can't quite explain.

The funny thing about making this record and being away from the girls and on my own in LA is that it allowed me to reflect on how much we've accomplished.

Everybody starts with a clean slate only altered by unnecessary hate.

I swear in real life-probably too much-though I don't swear in front of my gran. We adapt to every situation.

All I want is for people to listen to it with unbiased ears, and decide for themselves. I just don't want them to be dictated to by the media, or have preconceptions about it. If you like it, great. If you don't, fair enough.

I don't think I'm a great singer myself. I'm all right. I've worked with different writers, different producers... I've just been blessed with the caliber of people I've been able to work with.

Give it your best shot, have a good time and if it doesn't work at least you tried!

If you turn the pages and look inside, there is nothing of me I feel that I have to hide.

Some things weren't designed to understand.

Every field and flower fades, but love is infinite.

At the back of my mind there is always a fear the depression could return but I do all the right things. I try to get the right amount of sleep because I know that I need sleep to function and I need to eat properly and to do some exercising.

I don't want to hurt anybody or be offensive. But I don't want to not be me.

I know I'm not a great singer. But I love to sing and I like to use my voice in different ways.

I recognise a lot of myself in these kids who enter shows like Pop Idol. It's very hard to get into the music industry and you have to take every opportunity that you can. Something like Pop Idol is a great opportunity but unfortunately, I think it's tainted by the people that make these shows.

No one can take away the days that we conquered.