When the Spice Girls burst onto the music scene with their debut single Wannabe in 1996, the girl group instantly became a worldwide sensation. The song was a number one hit in 37 countries, and it brought about the beginning of Spice mania, along with the rise of Girl Power and 90s feminism. The group was a moneymaking machine, up there with the most successful marketing engines of all time. At the peak of their prowess, the Spice Girls were earning up to $75 million per year. Now four of the original lineup have decided to get back together. The question is, will they manage to take the world by storm for a second time?
Spice Girls Back Together After Nearly Ten Years Apart
Spice Girls announce comeback tour without one key member
While there is no doubt of the impact that the Spice Girls had, their time together was short-lived. The band decided to begin an indefinite hiatus in 2000 after the release of their third studio album, Forever. This was only six years after they had initially got together and four years since they achieved worldwide notoriety. For fans of the band, the news of the split was devastating. The Spice Girls decided to reform for a reunion tour between 2007 and 2008, and now they are back again for a second reunion. This time, many will be hoping that it is for longer.
In July this year, Melanie Brown officially announced that the group would be reforming. However, they would be without Victoria Beckham who is currently busy with other commitments. Since that epic piece of news, the Spice World – 2019 Tour has also been announced, and the group have made an appearance on the Jonathan Ross show to promote it. While many would love to see the Spice Girls get back together for a lengthy period, it is unclear how long the band will stay around for on this occasion. In fact, Betway is offering odds of 1/1 that they will split by 2020. The thing is, though, that none of the Spice Girls other than Victoria has been hugely successful outside of the group. For this reason, it may be in their best interests to stick together and look to replicate some of the success they found in their early years.
How did the Spice Girls get so Famous?
Spice Girls – ‘Girl Power’ And The Rise Of ’90s Feminism
The Spice Girls’ first ever single Wannabe stayed at the number one spot in the UK charts for seven weeks, and while it was there, the group rode a wave of publicity and hype. The country went wild for them in a similar way to how they acted when the Beatles were at the height of their popularity. This is why the term ‘Spice mania’ was coined, because the UK hadn’t seen anything of the like since the Fab Four took the country by storm all those years ago. Wannabe was followed up with Say You’ll Be There, which hit the number one spot for two weeks, and then 2 Become 1, which became the Christmas number one. This was also the fastest-selling single of the year, with 462,000 copies sold in its first week.
The main motto of the Spice Girls was the idea of Girl Power, and this was perhaps one of the main reasons for their immense success. They were credited with reinvigorating mainstream feminism, and they gave young listeners a sense of empowerment. The Spice Girls were hugely influential on the music industry as a whole and led to a number of other widely successful girl groups in the years after them. One of the most notable imitation bands was Girls Aloud, who shared a lot of similarities with the Spice Girls.
The Spice Girls are getting back together in a very different time period to the one in which they found such amazing success. They will doubtlessly attract a large portion of their old fanbase for nostalgia’s sake, but will millennials be interested in what they have to say? Will the Spice Girls still have the same level of influence in a world where social media is considered more of a driving force for change than music? Whether the Spice Girls can take the world by storm in the same way as before remains to be seen.