Wannabe

This article is about the song by Spice Girls. For the song by GloRilla and Megan Thee Stallion, see Wanna Be. For other uses, see Wannabe (disambiguation).

"Wannabe"
British CD single cover art
Single by Spice Girls
from the album Spice
B-side"Bumper to Bumper"
Released26 June 1996 (1996-06-26)
RecordedDecember 1995
StudioStrongroom, London
GenreDance-pop
Length2:54
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Matt Rowe
  • Richard Stannard
Spice Girls singles chronology
"Wannabe"
(1996) 		"Say You'll Be There"
(1996)
Music video
"Wannabe" on YouTube

"Wannabe" is the debut single by the British girl group the Spice Girls, released on 26 June 1996. It was written by the Spice Girls, Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard and produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice, released in November 1996. The song was originally mixed by Dave Way, however the Spice Girls were not pleased with the result, and the recording was instead mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent. A dance-pop song, its lyrics address the value of female friendship over heterosexual relationships. It has since became a symbol of female empowerment and the most emblematic song of the group's girl power philosophy.[1]

"Wannabe" was heavily promoted. Its music video, directed by Johan Camitz, became a success on the British cable network the Box, which sparked press interest in the group. Subsequently, the song had intensive radio airplay across England, while the Spice Girls performed it on television and began doing interviews and photo shoots for teen magazines. Responding to the wave of interest, Virgin released the song as the Spice Girls' debut single in Japan in June 1996 and in the UK the following month, well ahead of the planned release of the Spice album. It was released in the United States in January 1997.

"Wannabe" earned mixed reviews from critics, but won for Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and for British Single of the Year at the 1997 Brit Awards. It topped the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks and received a quadruple platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). By the end of 1996, "Wannabe" had topped the charts in 22 nations—including the Billboard Hot 100—and by the end of 1997, it topped the charts in 37.[2][3][4] It became the best-selling single by a girl group,[5][6][7][8][9] and, in a 2014 study, was found to be the most recognisable pop song of the last 60 years.[10] An EP, Wannabe 25, was released in 2021 for the single's 25th anniversary.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference wandes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography: Spice Girls". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. ^ Simon Fuller: Guiding pop culture Archived 17 February 2021 at archive.today BBC. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  4. ^ Jeffrey, Don (8 February 1997) (8 February 1997). "Girl Power! Spice Girls". Billboard. Retrieved 5 January 2015.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ UK & World Record Holders (Main source: The Guiness (sic) World Record Book). Phil Brodie Band. 8 May 2013. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  6. ^ Copsey, Rob (19 September 2017). "The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Billboard2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "The Spice Girls' 'Wannabe' is 18 years old today". Click Music. 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  9. ^ "Spice Girls, PMS on the Money". MTV. 1 October 1997. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  10. ^ Khomami, Nadia (3 November 2014). "The Spice Girls' 'Wannabe' is catchiest pop song of the last 60 years, study finds". NME. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.