Releasing her first solo single

What's the story behind the single?

No offence to men, but it's actually about how men take longer finding out they're in love than women! It's a real feel good track. It's influenced by people like Texas and Gabrielle but it's got sweet melodies and catchy choruses so I would say it's pop entwined with guitars!

How did you choose the first single?

I knew What Took You So Long? would be the first single as soon as I wrote it. Writing an album is quite personal and you want every song to be a single because it means something to you but it was a definite when I wrote this track.

Recording her debut album

Daniele from Italy asks: What can we expect from your album?

The album is also very guitary but I love all different music so I've incorporated R&B, pop and dance. It's called a Girl Like Me because I really feel like a normal girl. I go through the same emotions as any other girl: we fall in love, we get our hearts broken, we love our mums! I think a lot of different people will be able to identify with it. Hopefully. Unless I'm mad!

What are your favourite tracks?

That's really hard because they're all personal but I've written a song called High On Love for my mum which I love and another called Take My Breath Away which is really cool.

Are you nervous about following Mel C's solo success?

I'm so proud of Mel but I think everyone's on different routes. Mel's been really supportive; she's always listening to my stuff. I'm just nervous anyway! It was quite hard writing without the other girls but it was really enjoyable. I went back over what I've been through and wrote about my experiences.

Are you going to do a solo tour?

I'd love to. I love singing live and I've got a band now. I might take a couple of dancers but mainly it would be raw music.

Hanging with the Spice Girls

What do you see as the future for the Spice Girls?

I see us hopefully like the Rolling Stones, touring. We're always talking about touring again but obviously we have grown individually and we want to try different things so that's what we're doing at the moment.

Mel B reckons you've got a tour and more singles in the pipeline.

Yeah, but Mel B tends to make up things! We talk about bringing things out all the time but we're playing it by ear at the moment because we're so busy with solo careers. There are also babies and I know people say 'oh, they're always talking about their babies' but they're priority at the moment. We can't just go off on tour for six months and leave them at home! But I hope there will be some more singles from Forever because I think there are some brilliant singles on it. That's something we speak about all the time.

Taking it easy with Jade

What did you think of the rumours about you getting married?

I thought they were hilarious. Me and Jade have been together for a while but we're still just dating so when we read it in the papers it was quite embarrassing! It was actually my mum who got married and it was a lovely day. If people had waited I would have told them that.

Why do you talk about Jade less than the other Spice girls talk about their boyfriends?

I guess because we're quite a private couple. But obviously people see us out so we have become a bit more open and started talking more about each other. The things is, we love our music so when we talk about things we'd rather talk about our new albums than each other. What's the difference between the Emma Bunton of today and the Emma Bunton of five years ago?

There's not a lot of difference! I'm still a big kid and I still enjoy what I do so much and really appreciate everything. And I'm still mad, hahaha!