FEATURE:
Who Do You Think You Are?
IN THIS PHOTO: Spice Girls (from left: Geri Halliwell, Melanie C, Victoria Adams, Emma Bunton and Mel B)
Reacting to Melanie C’s Comments About a 2026 Spice Girls Reunion
__________
I know I have…
written about the Spice Girls a few times lately. Well, I marked Emma Bunton’s fiftieth birthday with a playlist of Spice Girls tracks and solo material. I am sharing that feature ahead of her birthday on 21st January. I also covered Wannabe recently, as it was recorded at the end of 1995. However, the thirtieth anniversary of its release is on 26th June. I, and so many others, will celebrate thirty years of that debut single nearer the time. It was a revelatory moment in Pop music! 1996 was a year when the music world was ready for Spice Girls. The previous few years were about Britpop and that dominance. Things needed to change. However, with the arrival of Wannabe and the Spice album, Emma Bunton, Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell were an instant global phenomenon! Even if the group were short-lived and did not really last too long into the new century, their legacy is enormous. In terms of what they achieved commercially and the success they had. And how, as I wrote in a recent feature about modern girl groups, they continue to inspire. Each member has had their solo career. I was listening to Mel/Melanie C’s Northern Star (1999) recently and remembering what a great (and underrated) that album is! With varying degrees of prolificacy and positive reception, each of the five members have enjoyed success outside of Spice Girls. Mel C launches her Sweat album on 1st May. It comes five years after the Melanie C album. The upcoming album is about joy, dance culture, fitness, and resilience. It is this bright and big album that we really need now. It is not just Spice Girls that there is a desire for. I have also been thinking of All Saints. They are still active, though I do feel like the world also needs Shaznay Lewis, Melanie Blatt, Nicole Appleton and Natalie Appleton back together and touring. Maybe another album.
I guess there is this natural desire for brilliant and iconic groups of the 1990s to come together after Oasis’ recent stage reunion. I can’t see them heading into the studio anytime soon. We may get more tour dates. In their case, I think it was as much as Liam and Noel Gallagher buying the hatchet as marking thirty years of the (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? album. Their Britpop pomp. The Gallagher brothers seem keen to keep going and play together. Rather than it being about nostalgia, it is a chance for this band to bring their music to new and original fans alike. I think that is the benefit of a Spice Girls reunion. Instead of the group solely marking thirty years of Wannabe, there is this opportunity to do something special. Maybe tour and unite with other Pop queens and girl groups. Performing the entirety of the Spice album or even doing something conceptual. It seems that most of the members are throwing their weight behind a tour or reunion. Maybe Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckhma might take more persuasion. Whether relations between Halliwell-Horner and Brown are okay. You need all the members happy and in line to make it work. In an interview with Rebecca Judd for Apple Music Melanie C discussed the fears of a reunion:
“Spice Girl Melanie C has said the famous girl band is “frightened” to do a reunion the wrong way, and added: “We are just waiting until we all decide on exactly the best way to do it.”
The singer, 52, also known to fans as Sporty Spice, addressed the possibility of a Spice Girls reunion with Rebecca Judd on her Apple Music show, following speculation around this year’s 30th anniversary of their hit single Wannabe.
The pop group, who formed in 1994, went on to dominate the charts with hits such as Who Do You Think You Are? and Viva Forever – and was comprised of Mel C, full name Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Lady Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell-Horner.
She told Judd: “I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus. We all are so proud, of course we are, of our legacy. It’s amazing. And it is 30 years and we do have to celebrate that in some way this year. I’m always optimistic.”
Chisholm described herself and singer Brown, or Mel B, as the “cheerleaders” pushing for a possible reunion.
She said: “Emma’s totally with us, but we all love it so much. I think it’s so precious to us.
“We’re frightened to do it the wrong way. Do you know what I mean? So it’s like we’re still working, we’re always talking, lines of communication are open and we are just waiting until we all decide on exactly the best way to do it.”
The girl group’s debut single Wannabe was released in 1996 and after two years at the top of the charts, Halliwell-Horner, nicknamed Ginger Spice, shocked the world when she left in 1998, citing “differences between us”.
In December 2000, the rest of the group went their separate ways, announcing an indefinite hiatus.
The Spice Girls reunited in 2012 for the closing ceremony of the London Summer Olympics and in 2019 for their Spice World tour – which did not feature Lady Beckham, who was also known as Posh Spice.
Since then, the chart-topping girl group has been the subject of speculation about their return to the stage.
In April 2024, Sir David Beckham sparked an online frenzy when he posted a video of the girl band singing and dancing onstage to their 1998 hit Stop at Lady Beckham’s 50th birthday party”.
This is a massive year for sure and it is a time when Spice Girls would serve that desire of recapturing a bit of the past. They might not be able to replicate the thrill and explosion they did in 1996. However, you feel like there will be a lot of events. Maybe something around the Wannabe video. A reissue of Spice? You’d imagine there’d be a documentary. Perhaps a chance for the group to come together for a series of interviews. However, people are hankering to see them on the stage. It would be wrong if they had a big sponsor or it was about the money. I guess arenas would be their plan in terms of demand, though there are some amazing venues that are smaller that would be perfect for Spice Girls. A few great London spots and some further north. There have been rumours and what-ifs ever since they last performed on stage together. Having all five members together on stage would be a dream for fans of all ages. Would they go back into the studio together? The Wannabe/Spice tour 2026. It would look amazing. You would feel, if they were going to do something to mark their anniversary, it would need to happen soon. In terms of organising venues and getting something in place, has Melanie C and her group-mates already booked venues and this is a sort of tease?! I do hear genuine caution when Chisholm talks of the drawbacks of risks of doing a reunion the wrong way. If it was rushed, the members were forced or it was for the wrong reasons. Everything needs to align and be perfect. I was a teen when Wannabe was released. I recall the excitement at high school. This amazing girl group coming through.
Would a tour or brief reunion take them right back to 1996 in terms of the aesthetics and vibe? Perhaps the quintet would do a more modern-day version of their tour from the Spice era. You have to ask what are the biggest reasons for Spice Girls performing again. I think there has been a lot of anniversary-themed reunions lately and, whilst it is great, it is mainly nostalgia. Spice Girls know that 1996 was their year and it is thirty years since they came through. However, hurrying anything or misjudging it could backfire. It is encouraging that there does seem to be a real energy within the group to do something. Brown and Chisholm very much flying the flag. Bunton very keen. Getting the other two members full on board would need to happen because, if not everyone was completely invested, then fans would notice. However, they are all still friends and they realise what an impact they made. Perhaps the major reason for a reunion is that we can see in modern Pop who has been influenced by Spice Girls. Girl groups that followed them definitely took something from Spice Girls. So many modern Pop queens. Having this pioneering cultural phenomenon come back, if only for a short strong of gigs, would see them sell out venues around the world. Will they do something this year and wait until 2027 and tour to mark thirty years of Spiceworld? It is this daunting task doing something that clearly is right and fans would be behind, though there is such expectation that it could go wrong or not be as good as you’d want. Let’s hope that Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckham are in discussion and they at least have a plan on the table. During this rubbish winter in a very violent and dark time around the world, the joy, colour, light and heat Spice Girls would give to the world thirty years after Wannabe was released. Imagine the possibilities of the legendary five together again on stage…
IN the summer.