The Spice Girls Introduced The World To Girl Power
The Spice Girls were a chart-topping British girl group formed in 1994 (nearly 30 ago – I know, I can’t believe it either!). They were all about “girl power” and transformed the concept of all-girl-groups with loud, proud, feminist voices, fabulous fashion and friendship.
Credit: https://www.usmagazine.com
The group was made up of 5 young women - Melanie Chisholm who was Sporty Spice, Emma Bunton known as Baby Spice, Geri Halliwell aka Ginger Spice, Melanie Brown known as Scary Spice and Victoria Beckham who was Posh Spice.
The Spice Girls were a major part of the “Cool Britannia” era and were pop culture icons. The Spice Girls had the best-selling album by a female group in history. In fact, The Spice Girls have sold 100 million records worldwide – making them the best-selling girl group of all-time. They even sparked a third-wave of feminism when they released their first hit over 25 years ago.
The Spice Girls signed to Virgin Records. In 1996, they released their very first single “Wannabe”. The single was so popular that it reached number one on the Billboard charts in 37 different countries! Their debut album, titled “Spice”, was released that year as well, and sold more than 23 million copies worldwide.
Each Spice Girl was uniquely herself and emphasized their personality in an almost cartoonish way. In a time when girls played with Barbies and boys played with Hot Wheels, it was a refreshing change to see girls could be a tomboy and a girly girl at the same time.
When the Spice Girls emerged in the mid-1990s, feminism was an unpopular concept. They made feminism fun. They used their platform to uplift and inspire girls with sisterly advice. According to Emma (AKA Baby Spice), "'Girl power is about being whoever you want to be.” Mel C (Sporty Spice) was quoted as saying “Girl power is being able to do things just as well as — or even better than — the boys.”
The Spice Girls songs are still played today, especially on social media platforms. Here are some of their most popular songs you may want to check out:
“Who Do You Think You Are”
“Wannabe”
“Stop”
“2 Become 1”
“Say You'll Be There”
“Spice Up Your Life”
“Goodbye”
“Mama”