With the sudden departure of Geri Halliwell, the project took a major turn, with many of the already produced songs scrapped and the live album cancelled.

The Spice Girls recorded their Christmas single, "Goodbye", in July 1998, during the North American leg of their Spiceworld Tour.

Following the tour, Chisholm continued to promote Northern Star, and the other members worked on preparing their own solo material.

[11] It was distributed five days later in the United Kingdom by Virgin Records and on 7 November in North America by EMI.

[15] To promote Forever, the Spice Girls performed "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" on British televised shows such as The National Lottery Stars, SMTV Live, Top of the Pops and CD:UK.

[18][19] During the performance, the group wore leather outfits, ending with them going through the floor with large orange pyrotechnic flames blazing up.

[21] In October 2000, Melanie Brown mentioned that a tour to promote Forever would take place in late 2001 and that it would be global, including dates in America.

[24] The following month, group member Emma Bunton officially stated that "the record seems to have come to a natural end.

[37] "Tell Me Why" had several commissioned remixes, only one of which was commercially released as a bonus track seven years later on the deluxe edition of Greatest Hits.

[2] In a mixed review, James Hunter of Rolling Stone expressed that "Forever will probably provoke a reaction somewhere in the middle—with one exception, it's just OK."[47] Music critics had ambivalent opinions on the record's change in sound compared to the group's previous releases.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that on Forever, the Spice Girls "make all the right moves, hiring superstar producer Rodney Jerkins to helm most of the tracks and attempting to seem mature, but this all results in a record that is curiously self-conscious and flat".

[40] Andrew Lynch from entertainment.ie opined, "The production is as slick as ever, but a huge part of that old Girl Power enthusiasm seems to have drained and fallen away—and with it most of the fun that used to redeem their fundamental tackiness.

"[43] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly commented, "Every genre cliché, from homogenized harmonies to delicately plucked stringed instruments to male rapper interjections, is securely in place.

The music is so tasteful, restrained, and assembly line proficient that it makes early singles like 'Say You'll Be There' sound like the rawest punk rock.

"[1] Betty Clarke of The Guardian gave Forever a negative review, stating it "ultimately makes you yearn for those heady dans when the Spice Girls were pop and proud of it.

Michael Paoletta of Billboard gave the album a positive review, stating it "oozes with timely funk beats and the kind of well-crafted songs that No.

wrote that the album was the group's attempt at "toning down their former flashiness and giving their catchy brand of pop music a sophisticated twist."

[51] It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 17 November 2000, denoting shipments in excess of 300,000 copies.