Mel B Teases Simon Cowell as She Jokes 'AGT' Costar Is Like an 'Annoying Older Brother'

Melanie "Mel B" Brown is back on America's Got Talent beginning Tuesday, June 2, and her pal Simon Cowell is up to his old tricks.

"He’s like my annoying older brother," Brown told Billboard in an interview published on Monday, June 1. "He winds me up, then I wind him up. And then I go to his house in Malibu and I take my kids with me and we have a nice dinner and we chill out together."

Their combative relationship isn't just for show.

"No, he annoys me," Brown confessed. "Just like I’m sure your siblings annoy you. It doesn’t matter if I’m on-camera or off-camera, if he annoys me, I’m going to tell him!"

The Spice Girls singer, 51, was previously on the show from 2011-2018.

"They fired me and then they rehired me," Brown explained. "They couldn’t get enough of me!"

This time, she's replacing longtime judge Heidi Klum. Why return?

"It’s just a fun show," Brown said. "I would be watching with my kids, with my husband, with my dogs anyway. So to be invited back … I love America. I love the weather, my kids were raised there. It’s pretty different from where I live now, I live back home where I was born and bred in Leeds [U.K.] in the countryside. So it’s nice to be able to go back there and be involved in a job that I love, that I think of as my family."

The seasoned judge knows what she's looking for in a winning act this time around.

"I just want to be mesmerized and I don’t want the act to stop, whether it’s a comedian, singer, dance troupe, magician, pole acrobat, I just want to be fixated," Brown said. "I’m very much like an empath. I very much feel what they’re feeling, so if they’ve really pushed themselves to their limit and laid it all on that stage, I’m on that journey with them and I don’t want that journey to end."

She is proud about what the show brings to television.

"It brings families together, it gives the whole family something to talk about, something to look forward to, something to be entertained by, whether you’re three-months-old or 35 or 65 or 85-95," Brown said. "It’s a universal, happy place to be watching it.”

This season, fans can expect an appearance from another Spice Girl, whose identity could not be disclosed at press time.

"I got my extra special, 'spicy' guest judge to help me," Brown said. "And more than anything we had a really good catch-up, and she helped me decide [who to pick], which was really hard for me to decide."

The group is marking their 30th anniversary of their first single, "Wannabe," and considering a reunion.

"I’m definitely really excited about the 30th anniversary and we’re all talking about it," she said. "So hopefully, yeah, something good will come out of it — for the fans more than anything. To think that they’ve still been with us 30 years on is just incredible."

She recently caught up with Melanie "Mel C" Chisholm, whose new album Sweat is earning rave reviews.

"I actually went to see her in concert and she dragged me up on stage and I was like, 'oh God, Melanie, what are you doing?'" Brown said. "We had an absolute blast and I think her album got to No. 3, which is one of her highest chart positions. She’s brilliant, she’s still doing her thing."

As for new music from Brown?

"You never know?" she responded. "I am in contact with a few songwriters in L.A., so let’s see. I’ll be back there for the live shows in August."