Why girl power still matters
NovemBer marks 25 years since the Spice Girls burst onto the scene with their platforms and zigga-zig-aas. The founder of Lacuna Voices recalls the magic, and why Girl power matters more than ever
exclusive | 3 min read | Founder’s words
Utter the words Girl Power to any woman in her 30s or 40s and a nostalgic flashback so vivid will follow that they will be tasting Black Jacks and Fruit Salads within seconds.
The Spice Girls were a phenomenon in the 90s - not that we, their core fan base - realised it at the time. All we knew was that we loved their songs, had memorised all the dance moves, and dreamt about owning Baby Spice’s white platforms (and weren’t allowed, obvs).
I certainly was a bonafide superfan, my bedroom plastered in posters of the girls, and yes, I did collect the official merchandise - postcards, folders, the lot.
Stock image. Photo: Mike Flamenco/Unsplash
So when I heard the girls were reuniting in 2019 (albeit without Posh Spice), I knew I had to go. I bought two tickets for one of their Wembley gigs and happily handed over nearly £400 quid for them.
I felt hugely excited, and a little foolish. At 32, was I just being a bit stupid paying so much money for a pop band I’d loved when I was 10? Would I still love them?
Then I arrived at Wembley and something magical took over. As I watched an absolute tsunami of fans pour in to the stadium, I remembered it.
That immense feeling of Girl Power. Women dressed up as Geri, Mel C, Mel B and Emma were everywhere I looked. There were even a few Posh Spices knocking around.
That Thursday night, the atmosphere was already electric. I watched, my heart a little sore, as mums brought their little girls along in matching Spice wear.
I wished my daughter Millie, then two and already a huge fan, had been old enough to be join me that night. Lucky for me, my best friend Sian - a fan, of course - was my plus one. Every minute we waited for the girls to come on stage, the magic and delirium grew.
Then the show opened with a thumping baseline, and flashing words of empowerment lit up the huge screens on stage.
WE WELCOME ALL...gender identities... sexual orientations... religions and beliefs...countries of origin... ages... races...abilities...
The list went on and had never felt more on point, more relevant, more soothing.
The inclusive opening moments of the Spice Girls’ sold-out Wembley show in June 2019
More than 20 years after the girls had burst onto our TVs and radios with that catchy tune and their zigga-zig-aas, they were back and genuinely better than ever.
Their energy, chemistry and distinct personalities hadn’t changed, but we, the fans, had.
We had grown up - two decades worth of growing up, in fact - and watching the Spice Girls perform and hearing their lyrics through the ears of a married mum-of-one, I felt... well, totes emosh.
Everybody in the stadium did. We felt their lyrics in our bones, and with every ballad found ourselves transported back to the 90s, and into those four young women’s shoes.
It made me think about all the things those girls would have been feeling when they first penned those lyrics. There was heartache, beginnings, and ends.
The one that really got me in the chops was Mama. As a mum now myself - and the adult daughter of a mum I’m often locking horns with - I really got what the song was about for the first time. It was all very moving as every one of the 80,000 fans in Wembley sang along at the top of their lungs, me included.
But at various points I also felt quite overwhelmed at how amazing these four women truly were, and the lifelong mindset their pop music and message had quietly instilled in me and so many of my friends.
Stock image. Photo: Kiana Bosman/Unsplash
Girl power.
That fuel inside us that reassured us anything is possible and whatever boys can do, we can do too.
It smashed that glass ceiling and the way many young girls like me thought. Now those little girls have grown into women, and we are passing that same empowerment to our kids. It made us that 10 per cent braver. It made us stronger. It made us willing to stand up for our rights.
It’s so hard to put on paper why this concert had such a profound effect on me, but it didn’t happen to me in isolation. Every single person at the show clearly felt the same. The unity that swept across the stadium at every poignant lyric or moment was just spectacular.
And even when it was over, and people were streaming out of the stadium, you could hear every single fan singing the background music now playing over the speakers.
Diana Ross’ Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.
Everyone had been so incredibly affected by the infectious feel-good factor of the evening, we were all riding that high.
Fans singing after the concert
But we also had huge admiration for the Spice Girls who stormed on stage after more than two decades to sell-out shows and really delivered. I found it emotional to imagine their children finally seeing what it meant that their mum was a Spice Girl. I felt so proud of these four women, so humbled by their success and all the good they did for my generation of once young, impressionable girls.
Mel B talked about dropping her kids off at school and making them tea hours earlier. And here she was, that same unsung hero/mum, in head-to-toe skin-tight leopard-print absolutely owning Wembley.
Their children must have all been so very proud and it made me think of the legacy I’ll leave for my daughter.
Women are often talked about as peaking or over the hill once they edge towards or - gasp - turn 40. None of that ageism was found in the stadium that night.
Stock image. Photo: Gemma Chua-Tran/Unsplash
What the concert also showed was that girl power wasn’t a gimmicky, exploitative marketing ploy because those four women were living and breathing it. Girl power is about being brave and believing in yourself and having the courage to be our own biggest cheerleaders. It’s what inspired me to launch Lacuna Voices.
Fit abs, vocals, energy. The girls smashed it. In between songs the girls talked and joked and laughed and cried about their enduring friendships with one another. They spoke with humility and empathy and grace. They joked about Geri leaving all those years earlier and hugged and cried.
They were feminism embodied. And not that divisive, inaccurate idea of feminism that we hate all men. That’s not what girl power is. It’s having empathy and consideration. Realness and honesty. It’s about rooting for each other, and supporting other women, not tearing them down. These four women embodied what a full and rich thing girl power is.
Confidence to be brave and stand up for what’s right. And that’s why their gig this time was about everyone. It had evolved. I mean, Spice boys? So well timed and needed.
It was absolutely mesmerising and I came home so empowered, so emotional, so in awe. I came home inspired. So inspired, I came up with Lacuna Voices. And that’s the beauty of the Spice Girls. These four women will never lose their spark, their power, their ability to make us all rise.
What a bloody night. Happy 25th anniversary ladies, happy silver jubilee.
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