Spice Girls
Forever

Year 2000. After the extraordinary "Spiceworld," the (now) four spicy girls from England release this honest "Forever." Indeed, it is not an exceptional album, lacking notable creative peaks, but it remains enjoyable to listen to.

It starts with the big single "Holler," where the dark bass guides us through a nice piece of "r'n'b," with a hypnotic chorus; "Tell Me Why" stays within r'n'b boundaries without particularly shining. A song for lighters, oops, for cell phones in hand, at the big concert, with "Let love lead the way": the romantic melody immediately captures us, and the voices of the four take good care of the harmonies and counterpoints. The "spice" girls give us an important message here, that, as the great Virgil already knew, "amor vincit omnia" (love conquers all) and that we should let it lead our lives to build a more just and inclusive society for all...

We return to r'n'b with "Right back at ya," another somewhat colorless piece: evidently, the four girls do better on slow songs... "Get down with me" is a slightly more upbeat track, good as background music for a quiet party or a bar aperitif; the same goes for "Wasting my time," which doesn't linger in the mind at all; "Weekend love," however, is a more inspired piece, a beautiful ballad, though interspersed with a dark bridge. Clearly, love is a theme that benefits the four girls, inspiring them optimally (the Iron Maiden made "Weekend warrior," they created "Weekend love": so what? They're girls, after all, hehe!)

"Time goes by" is an even slower ballad than the previous one, starting with just piano and voice, then adding the drum machine; a very cute piece. "If you wanna have some fun" is a slightly more upbeat track where the four voices flirt in the chorus; the album closes with the beautiful "Oxygen," where the voices of the four wrap us well and say goodbye (forever?), because after this song, the four artists will not produce anything new, but will limit themselves to living "off the income," performing their classics on stages around the world.

In conclusion, an album not at the level of the previous ones, as mentioned, but one that can offer some emotions, especially to the most die-hard fans.