All Saints were sleek, cool, and seemingly untouchable at their peak. But behind the harmonies and chart-toppers, things were rarely as smooth as they looked.
Melanie Blatt has now lifted the curtain on what she describes as a band dynamic that was never quite settled, admitting there was “always a difficult relationship between the four of us”.
Speaking to Good Housekeeping UK, Blatt reflected candidly on the internal tensions within the 1990s group, which also featured sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton and Shaznay Lewis. The complication, as she tells it, was baked into the structure from the start.
“For a start, you've got two sisters. Nic and I were best friends when we were 11, then Shaz and I were best friends... we could never get it right,” Blatt said.
It’s a simple explanation that carries years of weight. Friendships shifted. Alliances changed. The chemistry that worked on record didn’t always translate behind the scenes. And yet, Blatt is clear that whatever their difficulties, they never tried to mask them.
“It's such a shame; I think if we'd got it right, we'd have been laughing. At the same time, we didn't fake it. We didn't pretend we were okay.
“And we certainly didn't stay in the band for money.”
That last line is particularly telling. For a group who sold millions and defined a certain late-90s cool, the implication is clear: staying together wasn’t about financial incentive. If anything, it was survival through turbulence.
Blatt also spoke about a deeply personal chapter from their touring years. Both she and Nicole Appleton discovered they were pregnant while on the road. They were young. They were under pressure. And, as Blatt now admits, they lacked the emotional tools to truly talk about it.
“I'd only been dating Lily's dad (Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender) for a couple of months and the pregnancy was unplanned, but I knew that having the baby was absolutely the right thing for me.
“Nic decided to have an abortion, but we didn't really discuss it because we didn't have the communication skills to do so.
“I don't think we've ever spoken about it, to this day.”
It’s a striking admission. Not drama. Not bitterness. Just a quiet recognition of how youth and fame collided in ways they weren’t prepared for.
Blatt also confessed that for years she felt embarrassed by her pop legacy. “Many, many years feeling ashamed about being in a pop band,” she admitted, even revealing she resisted one of their defining hits.
“I wanted to work with Timbaland and Missy Elliott. I didn't want to release Pure Shores.
“I was always making a fuss, I was always upset, and I was wrong. It became our biggest song.”
Time, clearly, has softened the edges. These days, Blatt is comfortable with the music and the memories. And her next ambition? Surprisingly wholesome.
“Something like Cheeses of the World, where I travel to Africa and Asia and talk to people about cheese.
“I'm putting it out there, because I'm going to make it happen.”
From pop turbulence to global dairy diplomacy. If nothing else, Melanie Blatt has always done things her own way.
