Spice - Spice Girls
Wannabe
Say You’ll be There
2 Become 1
Love Thing
Last Time Lover
Mama
Who Do You Think You Are?
Something Kinda Funny
Naked
If U Can’t Dance
All right, bubblegum pop. The first time I can remember hearing about the Spice Girls was when I was in 4th grade, the same year that this album was released. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the music at the time. I preferred to listen to No Doubt, Sublime, The Wallflowers, and Led Zeppelin. I was and still am the wrong gender for the message of women’s empowerment that this album calls for. I also have a weird association of this album with 2 others from the time, Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morisette and Sheryl Crow’s self titled album, One of my friends had all 3 CDs and liked to play selections on repeat, Ironic, Everyday is a Winding Road, and Wannabe specifically. And now I think I’ve added both those albums to my list. When I started this journey I didn’t have any restrictions as to genres but I didn’t anticipate heavily produced pop acts. However after days and days of technically amazing guitar and synth work, syncopated beats from dummers with more drums than phalanges, the thought of consuming some sugary sweet pop brain candy is rather appealing.
Wannabe
So there is a theme of women’s empowerment here. The song sets reasonable expectations for life and searching for a partner. It directs the suitor that they need to accept the person for who they are, the baggage they carry, their friends and their lifestyle. It’s not reasonable to enter into a relationship with plans to change shape and mold the other person and this is a declaration that the narrator will not accept being a project or a pet, she is her own person and deserves to be treated equal. This is a fantastic song and sends a message that you shouldn’t settle for toxic relationships.
Say You’ll be There
Another song about a relationship. The narrator claims that the last time they had this conversation she decided that they should be friends. Apparently the other person was able to convince her to keep it going but the entirety of the song is discussing the amount of effort that she has put into the relationship and isn’t getting anything back. The narrow synth lead dates the song.
2 Become 1
A sex positive song with a strong female lead. It’s a shame that they were not the first group to walk this path nor were they the last. We still have a huge double standard in society.
Love Thing
Another song about being assertive and getting what you want out of your relationship. I like the vocal dynamics they use here with different voices in different locations so when they sing specific lyrics it helps focus around.
Last Time Lover
Notedly different feel, a beat right out of a porno from the 70s. The lyrical delivery is much different than the rest of the album, not up front and poppy. The lyrics detail the narrator's pursuit of a man.
Mama
Spice girls go acoustic, I was hoping for a cover of the Genesis song. Instead it’s an ode to the narrator’s mother. The narrator talks about the hard life lessons that her mother taught her and that now as she has matured is understanding why certain things were done in her life. It’s an interesting look at growing relationships between youth and adults and how with growing perspectives things that could be seen as a slight or unfair in the past may make sense now. I think this may be my favorite song on the album.
Who Do You Think You Are?
Funky beat to start. And we got a horn section. The song encourages the listener to chase their dreams. And it's a disco from the 90’s.
Something Kinda Funny
I think this one is about the start of a relationship and that awkward existence between being friends and more than friends.
Naked
A song about women’s empowerment and directly addressing the double standard between the genders. It’s a cry to reclaim power from objectification of women. The writing is actually really good. “Naivety and childhood left behind, deprived of the goodness of mankind, Past encounters have made her strong, strong enough carry on and on.” and then the chorus. I don’t know what to say here but I’m picking my jaw up from the floor. The tactile move from being an object of desire to being the one who is rejecting that and accepting that someone may stare or catcall but ultimately she has control.
If U Can’t Dance
This one seems like a call back to old school hip hop. I think this song reflects back to a lyric from earlier that was along the lines of “I’m choosy not a floosie”
Reflections post auditory experience:
Well, my expectations were blown out of the water, I was expecting disposable pop music, which overall I didn’t get, sure there were pop songs but there were clear messages behind the music that I wouldn’t call disposable. The album tries to call out injustice and unfairness that women deal with simply because they are not men. I think it does a great job at that, unfortunately I think that our current society is trying to make these injustices more prevalent than ever, but that’s not a spice girl thing necessarily. Another thing I think should be noted is the members of the band were actually involved in writing the songs. I thought this was not the case when I started listening. This gives more authenticity and power behind the songs and overall message. Overall it was a fun poppy experience. I doubt I come back to listen to many of these songs often but if one comes up on a radio station or in my feed I probably won’t just skip it either.
Girl power!
