Melanie C started DJing 8 years ago
Melanie C began DJing around 2018 (roughly 8 years before the 2026 recording), playing house music, which influenced the sound of her 2026 album Sweat.
Snapshot · The Louis Theroux Podcast
S8 EP5: Melanie C on Spiceworld, comparing muscles with Arnold Schwarzenegger and why she’ll always be a Spice Girl
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Jul 6, 2026
Where this was said
The New Album Sweat: House Music, Diana Ross and Schwarzenegger
At 1:00:47 · chapter starts 1:00:40
Eight years of DJing multi-genre house music gave Melanie C both a new artistic identity and a new ambition: to close the gap between her pop songwriting and the music she actually plays and dances to in a club. Sweat is described as 'electronic pop dance with a bit of disco.' The title single grew out of a fitness playlist project: she wanted to build a banger around a Diana Ross workout hook from 'Work That Body', and started mining fitness-obsessed pop culture — Fame, Flashdance, Olivia Newton-John's 'Let's Get Physical.' Then she remembered a fitness camp where they played Arnold Schwarzenegger's workout albums from the Pumping Iron era — full gym instruction delivered over club tracks like 'It's Raining Men.' The concept clicked. Arnold, she notes, also has a personal connection: he once complimented her biceps at the Royal Albert Hall during Mikhail Gorbachev's 80th birthday.
The New Album: Sweat — Electronic Pop, Diana Ross and Arnie
After eight years DJing house music, Melanie C wanted her 2026 album Sweat to bridge her pop identity and the dancefloor. She built a fitness banger around a Diana Ross hook and an Arnold Schwarzenegger workout album, drawing on childhood inspirations from Fame and Flashdance. The result is electronic disco-pop designed for a sweaty late-night club.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Complimented My Guns at Gorbachev's 80th
At the Royal Albert Hall during Mikhail Gorbachev's 80th birthday celebration, Arnold Schwarzenegger complimented Melanie C on her biceps. This surreal encounter later inspired the Sweat single, which samples Schwarzenegger's fitness workout albums from the Pumping Iron era layered over a Diana Ross hook.
Schwarzenegger complimented Mel C's guns at Gorbachev's 80th
Arnold Schwarzenegger complimented Melanie C's biceps at the Royal Albert Hall during Mikhail Gorbachev's 80th birthday celebrations.
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