Mel B QA: Scary Spice says she's a scary mom (in a good way), still pals with the other Spices

Singer Melanie Brown arrives at the 18th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Viewing Party in West Hollywood, California March 7, 2010. (Reuters)

Melanie Brown, better known as Mel B, and even better known as Scary Spice, has just released a new single, her first in eight years. Called 'For Once in My Life,' it's an pounding dance track that is already getting lots of buzz. The 38-year-old Brit, who is currently a judge on 'America's Got Talent,' chatted to FOX411 about being scary and a mom at the same time.

FOX411: So why release a single now?

Melanie Brown: It was just the right time and the right time in my life. I got that fire in my stomach, that kind of passion back, that urgency to want to get into the studio with that killer song. Having been a judge on 'America's Got Talent,' watching people week in, week out perform, I was like, you know what? I want to be up there. I want to perform. I want to do my own thing. So I got in the studio and I wanted to create a song that makes other people happy and makes people forget all the crap in their lives and just let go.

FOX411: You have 'America's Got Talent,' singing and you're raising three daughters.

Brown: You just make it work, try to balance it out every week and make sure the kids get their homework done, tidy their rooms and you make sure you get as much time with your kids and making sure you're fulfilling your duties as a loving wife, a singer and an artist.

FOX411: When is your alone time?

Brown: When I'm writing in the studio or on the treadmill.

FOX411: You didn't have much luck with the fathers of your two oldest girls. (Her first marriage ended bitterly and Eddie Murphy, father of her daughter Angel, denied paternity until a DNA test proved otherwise).

Brown: Everything is a learning process. I have a beautiful 14 year-old daughter who is very grounded and very into her sports. My six-year old (Angel), I call her my whizkid genius, she's got an imagination to die for. They see their fathers. You make the most out of what you're dealt in life. I'm not a doom and gloom person. I make light of whatever situation I'm in. I've always been like that.

FOX411: We always thought you got the worst Spice moniker -- Scary Spice!

Brown: It was a little teenybopper magazine that named all of us. We thought it was a bit of fun. We all liked our names, it's all tongue in cheek.

FOX411: What's scary about you?

Brown: There are some things you don't mess with. You don't mess with my shoe closet. You don't mess with me when I'm in a mood. Besides that we're all good to go.

FOX411: Are you a scary mom?

Brown: I'm very strict. My kids have been brought up very grounded, they go to public school, they've got to tidy their rooms, they've got to do their chores to earn their pocket money. That's how I was brought up.

FOX411: Did the Spice Girls have any boy groupies?

Brown: I guess we did, but we were all about the five of us enjoying ourselves, traveling the world and spreading the message of girl power. Don't get me wrong, we had our fun, we definitely had a blast, but we were also very serious about work and making women feel good about themselves and I feel like that's what I've done with this song too.

FOX411: Are you still friends with the girls?

Brown: Most definitely. It was only last year that we got back together for the Olympics. We were rehearsing together for two years. I had lunch with Geri a couple of weeks ago. We're very connected with each other. We've known each other for over 20 years. It's a good sisterhood relationship.