How “Wannabe,” the Spice Girls became a feminist anthem to 20 years after its launch – BBC World

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Image caption The Spice Girls became a mark as a group and individually, as each had a different personality and style.

20 years ago, the song that launched the career of one of the most important female band of all time premiered.

On July 8, 1996, under the group name of the Spice Girls, five young British unknown calls Victoria Adams, Mel Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell, launched the theme “Wannabe“.

Durante seven weeks, “Wannabe” was the number one song in UK and in February 1997 he reached the top ranking US Billboard Hot 100 in the US, where it stayed for four weeks.

The song also helped the 80 million units sold of the album “Spice” and gave a boost to the feminist slogan girl power ( “girl power”).

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Image caption from left to right and top to bottom they are: Emma Bunton, Victoria Adams (now Beckham), Geri Halliwell, Melanie Chisholm and Mel Brown.

Now the song almost 4 minutes where the Spice Girls repeated his defiant and catchphrase: “ I’ll tell you what I want “(” I’ll tell you what I want “), was transformed into a version with video of a minute and a half as part of a campaign to end inequality suffered by women around the world.

Ending gender violence and child marriage, providing quality education for all girls and equal pay for equal work for women are the main slogans of the video by the organization Project Everyone.

the goal of the campaign is to draw attention of the United Nations (UN) ahead of the meeting of the General Assembly to be held in September to evaluate Millennium Development goals.

One of these objectives is “promote gender equality and empowerment of women” .

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Image caption ” Education quality for all girls “is one of the slogans of the campaign Everyone Project.

“When world leaders gather in New York in September during the General Assembly of the UN will be sure that listen to what people really want to the O bjectives of D evelopment, particularly for girls and women “he told BBC Piers Bradford, director of Project Everyone.

the music video shows dancers from around the world performing the hit of the Spice Girls.

And the original Spice loved.

For example, Victoria Beckham (formerly Adams) shared the video on his Twitter account and said it is “proud” of project .

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Image caption Dancers around the world reinterpret “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls

“20 years later, the girl power it is used to empower a new generation “, published in the social network.

Meanwhile, Melanie Chisholm, known as Mel C, also tweeted saying that felt “flattered and honored” .

Two decades after the release of ” wannabe “, the group’s influence is still present in popular culture , from the way the media covers the music news to the strategy celebrities to become a brand.

However, bring feminism to the general public is perhaps his greatest legacy.

Watch the video of Project Everyone here .