Sometimes I guess we get rather lucky with time and when things happen. That is something I feel so lucky about when it comes to the Spice Girls, I just so happened to be 8 turning 9 as they released Wannabe back in 1996 and I was given a girl group that was for everyone. I was sporty and loved football, I was given an amazing role model in Sporty Spice who also loved football and wore tracksuits and football shirts. I knew then that it was perfectly ok to be a girl and be sporty! I kinda don't feel that is the message sent out now and certainly not from the girl groups that have been around in the past twenty years. They are all really girly and often wear very inappropriate clothing and don't set the best example for young girls in my opinion.
This also sparked something from Piers Morgan having an argument with Little Mix, as they were claiming to be helping when posing naked in an attempt to promote and sell a new album. Although they were claiming to empower . . . I didn't really understand why you need to do that without any clothes on? We had Girl Power in the 90s and that didn't require anyone to be naked? That was something that sparked in my head when I have been back in the Spice bubble! Which is a great place to be back to in all honesty.
Everything was so fresh and new with the message of Girl Power and these five really took the UK and then the world by storm. The lyrics were impressive in the songs as well showing that it really was encouraging friendship and love within those relationships. This obviously worked very well during Spice World 2019, something I am still buzzing about and pleased I managed to be part of. Last summer I managed to go to the Exhibition in London named SpiceUp which was a great nostalgic look back at what had been a huge part of my life.
Girl Power
This became a big slogan for the band and often said by all five girls with the peach sign as well. This wasn't something brand new as it had been used before but the way they tried to empower young girls was that friendship was key. I guess it was an early look into feminism? Wannabe has been hailed as the iconic girl power anthem. In 2018, Rolling Stone magazine named Spice Girls' girl power on The Millennial 100, a list of 100 people, music, cultural touchstones and movements that have shaped a generation (those born between 1980 and 1995) - YES, I am right in the middle of that being born in 1987.
Spice
Each of the different Spice's were supposed to be appeal to everyone. So with Baby, Sporty, Scary, Ginger and Posh you could easily relate to at least one of them or even parts of them. They let you know that no matter how you thought it was ok to be just you. I felt that way about Sporty Spice, I then knew that it was ok to be sporty and be a girl. Something that did not really bode well at times growing up in the 90s and being better than some of the boys playing football. They didn't respond well to that especially when starting secondary school, I really do hope that has changed now although I feel at times it hasn't.
The latest news is that an animated film starring the Spice Girls is in the works and I am thinking why not? Having some positive messages within a film is not a bad thing at all. Let's just hope this is the right time for Spice power to return and make a difference to so many more lives. They are the greatest girl band of all time and that is not something that would suddenly change. Setting good examples and becoming role models for a whole new generation.
Just want to say one more time that I was truly honoured and pleased to be part of the generation that grew up with the Spice Girls and how great it was to have these girls as role models. Something that is not great now when you think of the reality tv shows that do not have positive role models. I think especially coming off the back of the MeToo movement that is actually something that these tried to do many years ago but in a much different manner.
#VivaForever