Brenda Haas of DW discusses how their “girl power” influenced her and singers like Beyonce, Adele, and Sam Smith as the Royal Mail publishes stamps portraying the quartet.
Spice Girls at the 1997 Brit Awards, where Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack attire caused waves.Advertising image: PA Hanson/dpa/picture-alliance
I initially saw “Wannabe” on MTV in the days of newspapers while conversing with my Entertainment Desk coworkers.
The boisterous quintet of Victoria Adams (now Beckham), Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell (now Horner), Melanie Chisholm, and Melanie Brown danced into an uppity institution, chanting “friendship never ends” and introducing “zig-a-zig-ah” to English.
Even their famous nicknames intrigued. Posh, Baby, Ginger, Sporty, and Scary Spice caught my interest with their hair and personality.
“If you’d stop straightening your hair and let it grow out, you’d look just like her!” a coworker said as we bopped to their blockbuster single, which has over 1 billion Spotify views.
Hair? Huh?
Growing up in 1970s and 1980s Malaysia, my curly hair was cruelly tormented. My hair stood out among my Malay, Chinese, and Indian schoolmates, drawing nasty comments from visitors.
Possibly as a coping tactic, I grew stubborn and was frequently chastised for backtalk and being too loud.
Curly-haired lady smiling for the camera.Curly-haired lady smiling for the camera.
Brenda Haas of DW celebrates her Scary Spice curls.Image: Brenda Haas
Studying abroad increased my self-confidence and attractiveness appreciation. I became a “minority” at home and tried to fit in by straightening my hair and biting my tongue for years.
This band, which celebrates 30 this year, entered my 20s, promoting its message of “girl power,” or uniqueness and expressing one’s mind. Was converted.
The group did not shape my self-image alone. But their genuine message and lightheartedness appealed to me.
Wonderbras feminists?
Critics criticized their singing and feminism, labeling them a contrived pop band.
Ginger Spice, who popularized the Union Jack, created a “power oath” in 1997: “I, being of sound mind and fresh Wonderbra, do solemnly pledge to cheer and dance and zig-a-zig-ah. Ariba! Girl Power!”
Maybe not oratory history-making lines. However, the Spice Girls’ songs promoted self-confidence, uniqueness, and female companionship. If we stripped away the frills, aren’t most women’s rights advocates supporting this? Freedom for women to do “what they really, really want”?
Halliwell-Horner told the BBC in 2017, “Girl Power transcends gender. About everyone. Everyone deserves equal treatment, regardless of color, gender, or age. It said that digestibly.”
They liked Adele, Sam Smith, and Spices
Modern Millennials and Gen Zers thank the Spice Girls for influencing them. Adele, a famous Ginger Spice fan, was one of hundreds who attended the band’s 2019 London reunion concert. “I adore them and they motivated me to flee for my life and never look back. After meeting Ginger and getting drunk with the ladies, I can’t believe how far I’ve gone “The 16-time Grammy winner gushed on Instagram.
In 2016, Adele and James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” performance of “Wannabe” went viral.
Once, Brit and non-binary singer Sam Smith posted a T-shirt on Instagram with the caption “I wanna be a Spice Girl” and the group replied, “You’re in.”
LGBTQ fans have always supported the Spice Girls. One example was making their 1996 song “2 become 1” lyrics more inclusive. In 2021, the band wore rainbow-colored “proud and wannabe your lover” T-shirts for Pride Day. It was developed by fashion designer Posh Victoria Beckham.
In 2018, Oscar-winner Emma Stone of “La La Land” revealed “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon that her Spice Girls fandom inspired her stage name. “I was very blonde growing up. I wanted to be Emma because of Baby Spice. And guess what? Now I am.”
Victoria Beckham told the 2021 “Breaking Beauty” podcast that Beyonce told her, “‘It was the Spice Girls that inspired me and made me want to do what I do.'”
Remember the Spice Girls-inspired surge of lady bands from Thailand to Ethiopia to Germany.
Last year’s “Carpool Karaoke” host James Corden told South Korea’s Blackpink that they liked the Spice Girls’ individual characters “and that was something we were aiming for, and it was such an iconic girl group that we grew up listening to.”
From hits to stamps
The Spice Girls, formed in 1994, sold over 100 million albums worldwide and had nine UK Number 1 songs. After their 1996 breakthrough song “Wannabe” they had three successful albums and the 1997 film “Spice World”. A UK tour in 2019 brought the trio back together without Victoria Beckham.
They now have a Royal Mail stamp series devoted to them as the first female pop group. It is the sixth stamp issue featuring a music group, after the Beatles in 2007, Pink Floyd in 2016, Queen in 2020, the Rolling Stones in 2022, and Iron Maiden in 2023.
“We are so excited to be celebrated by Royal Mail alongside some of the most iconic and influential music legends,” the trio stated. “When we formed the Spice Girls we couldn’t have dreamt that 30 years later we would be the first female group to be dedicated an entire stamp collection, that’s Girl Power!”
Now I want those stamps!
