I guess some of you know me and I guess some of you don't. But I was a
Melanie fan at day one, but as time moved on (and hair as well), I got to
the point of completely the most rock bottom Melanie C fan ever.  Not that 
I liked the transformation or anything. To be frank I hated it. It caused
me so much pain and self torture, as thoughts of suicide raced through me
and I was constantly depressed. So the long road down Melanie Lane has not 
been a easy. It's probably the most difficult thing I've dealt with in my
almost 14 years of life. But I guess now I got to the point where the
sidewalk ends and a new one begins.  All of this with the help of
"Northern Star."
 
I live in the USA in a small town with a population of about 6000 people 
(and I believe that would equal...6000 people in British currency :). We
have one store to buy CDs: Wal-Mart. If anyone ever actually goes to
Wal-Mart all of their CDs are edited and they never get them on time. So it
was Friday (November 12), 10 days after release date and I was out at
Wal-Mart to buy my weekly CD. I hadn't been thinking about Melanie at 
all... for about 2 months or so actually. I was trying to get down a row at
the tiny electronics department when a quite hefty man was in my way. I
decided to walk down the other aisle to get around him. I was trying to get
to soundtracks to get the Pokemon soundtrack for Emma's song (along with
B*Witched, Billie, and Vitamin C). Thank goodness I went to the right aisle
instead of the left!  On the right were Pop / Rock CDs. I was calmly
walking by the rows of CDs, glancing over them casually when I stopped dead
in my tracks. I felt a feeling I'd never gotten from a CD. My heart sank
into my stomach and pounded loudly as I choked and almost fainted as my
eyes rest upon MELANIE C NORTHERN STAR. The words were there in goldenrod
staring up at me. For a minute I didn't move. Just stared in disbelief at
what seemed to be magic. After coming back to reality, I thought fast and
grabbed the last copy of the CD. Walking slowly to the checkout my eyes
stayed on it at all times. As I payed I watched the woman's every move;
putting it in the sack, stapling the reciept on... "Thank you," she said
oddly. I guess the woman thought I was crazy :) "Nooo, thank YOU." She gave
me an uncomfortable smile and watched me try to walk calmly with a crazed
smile on my face.  After getting 10 feet away from the counter I broke into
full sprint and ran to the food section to find my father. "Dad! I got
Melanie's CD! I got it! I finally got it!" He stared at me blankly..."Did
you get that CD you were gonna get or what?" "No, I got Melanie's CD!
Melanie's CD!!!" "Melanie? Your Melanie?" "What other Melanie?" So I ran to
the car and immeadately opened it. Of course the only copy has to have a
broken case, but I wouldn't return it for life. I pressured my dad to speed
all the way home and while in front of my house (before pulling into the
drive) I lept out with my beloved $16 item and ran in my house screaming.
Diving to my CD player on the floor, I tore out The Corrs and dropped it on
the floor, slamming Melanie in the player. I hit play and sat back.
 
The CD opened quietly so I turned up my volume. Big mistake. It burst into 
the opening of Go! and hurt my head. But the song flashed familiar words 
to me; my exact feelings for Melanie. I'd read the lyrics on the internet
and hearing the song made it more for me. But I did quite enjoy the song.
Very much actually. It still remains my 2nd favorite on the CD. As it
closed, Melanie's voice that I'd missed for so long broke into Northern
Star and I laid on my floor and smiled. Closing my eyes I imagined my raven
haired angel singing the words: "When you're lost reach out for me..." As
the song ended my smile turned to a grimace as the annoying sounds of Goin'
Down blast into my house. Still as annoying as the song always had been, I
did listen to the entire thing and I still do, but, oh, what a chore. As I
Turn To You came on flashes of Madonna came into mind. To my surprise it
wasn't a William Orbit track. Still the words were beautiful although the
end unnecessary. As If That Were Me came on I was pleasently surprised with
the lyrics as those to the particular song had gotten bad reviews. Still, I
was bothered by the most famed lyric of the song: "I couldn't live without
my phone / But you don't even have a home." The lyrics were a bit dodgy,
but straight forward, like Melanie herself is now, eh?  
Never Be The Same Again got my heart stopping. I was perfectly fine until
Melanie had to go and do her "Come on, come on, you are the one" and daze
me and almost make me faint. Thanks, Melanie! :) No, but vocals are amazing
in this song while Left-Eye gets on my nerves very very much, especially
with her...ahem, after thoughts of doing the collaboration. Even though
Left-Eye soils the song, it remains one of my favorites on the album. After
the nice song, I got a taste of something purely yucky. Why (did I have to
endure this awful song?). When the song started out, I exclaimed "Melanie
covered Leaves?!?!" (Note: Leaves is a song on the new B*Witched album,
Awake and Breathe, a song I don't favor much, and it has a very similar
beginning to Why.) After 6:00 minutes of Melanie droning on, the whinefest
ended, much to my pleasure. And as it went on, I said to myself "It
couldn't possibly get any worse..." and the song afterward got nothing but
better. As the 60s beat to Suddenly Monday blasted out, a huge smile came
on my face. (I'm not quite sure, but I think that this might be the song
rumored to be titled Make Me High as the chorus blares "You make me 
hiii-iii-iiigh") The song got me dancing around and when it's short debuted
ended, I frowned at the length of the brilliant song.
The CD played on with the song I'd hated for months: Ga Ga. The debut of
changing Melanie had always made me a bit sickly and still does. And if
Melanie wants to hurt, she can, she just doesn't have to torture me with
almost 4 minutes of singing about it. On to the next song...The mellow
beats of Be The One were sweet and powerful. I was sure to bring out my
bongos to this one. Very nice. Next was Closer. I didn't know it was Closer
and when I found out I was very dissappointed. I'd like to hear a
recording of it as a coordinating duet. Melanie and an accoustic guitar. 
Hearing Melanie sing this song from the Northern Star documentary I was 
really looking forward to it on the album, but now it's a song I skip. Next
was Feel The Sun. As I mentioned with Go!, it was like I was singing to
Melanie and now she was singing to me. I've had a lot of emotional ups and
downs with Melanie. A LOT. And here she was explaining to me all the
changes, all of her ups and downs and every thing she'd been through. When
the song was over I was in tears and I was in love with Melanie again.
 
So thanks to Melanie's brilliant work on this CD, I love the beautiful and 
talented woman again. And note, I love the WOMAN and not the girl I loved
as Sporty Spice. So after walking down an amazing trail with sweet, shy,
and innocent Sporty Spice, we reached a fork in the road and went our 
seperate ways. And now as I walked down the street and met up with 
Melanie Chisholm, I'm walking with this crazy, outspoken, smart woman. 

Cheers to Melanie - the Melanie I love.