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Thirty years after the release of their iconic debut single 'Wannabe', Spice Girls Emma Bunton and Melanie C reunite to celebrate the song that changed pop music forever. They look back at their favourite memories...from performing at the London Olympics 2019 to funny stories about Adele. Plus exclusive chat about their biggest music videos, girl power and thoughts on a Spice Girls reunion... Join Baby Spice and Sporty Spice for a nostalgic trip down memory lane! CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 0:40 Memories of their first hit, 'Wannabe' 3:33 Writing 'Wannabe' 5:07 Love of their Spice Girls fans 6:52 Girl power 8:55 New artists inspiring them 9:22 Adele backstage story 9:57 Importance of 'Mama' 11:58 Performing at London Olympics 12:23 Spice Girls reunion #spicegirl #emmabunton #melaniec #melb #victoriabeckham #gerihalliwell SUBSCRIBE to Heart for more content like this http://www.youtube.com/thisisheart/ LISTEN to Heart on Global Player https://app.af.globalplayer.com/Br0x/HeartLive/ or search 'Global Player' in your app store FOLLOW our socials Website: http://www.heart.co.uk/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/thisisheart/ TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@thisisheart/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisisheartofficial/
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0:00
I cannot think of anything better for the world right now than a Spice Girls reunion
0:05
We had no doubt in our minds, you know, we were going to be the biggest band in the world
0:09
And we were. I know, it was amazing. I know exactly where I was when Wannabeen went to number one
0:17
The number of people that come up and talk about how being a fan of the Spice Girls gave them the confidence
0:22
It's got a whole new meaning because we're mums. We're all mums
0:26
There's something that is debated, the laugh. Is it Mel B or is it Jerry
0:31
We did the same in the Olympics. We were like, this is going to be over in a flash. It's the song that literally started everything
0:36
On this date, I might get emotional here, July 8th, back in 1996
0:42
Wannabe was released here in the UK. And we both said, didn't we
0:47
I felt fine yesterday. And then this morning, I've woken up. Yeah, it's such a monumental day
0:53
I mean, that was the day that our lives changed forever. Forever. I know
0:57
It was just, I look back and I just think, we were so young, but so, we were very ambitious
1:05
but we were full of joy. We were just, it was just like, what's going to happen
1:10
We didn't know what to expect. And I think that was what was so magical about it
1:15
People say to me, what would you tell your 19, 20 year, you know, what would you tell
1:20
her now? And I'm like, nothing. Because I love the fact we didn't know what was to come
1:25
Oh my goodness. and I think there was that naivety, but we were so determined to succeed
1:30
In fact, we were single-minded. We were going to do it. We had no doubt in our minds, you know
1:35
we were going to be the biggest band in the world. And we were. I know, it was the most..
1:39
Also, I don't know if a lot of people know this, but Wannabe first went in at number three, didn't it
1:45
It did. First week at number three. Yeah. And we were in Japan. We went off to Japan
1:50
Yeah, we went off to Japan because we went to number three and we had a picture in Jerry's sister's garden, I think
1:56
and we had some strawberry gatto from sainsbury's or some other supermarket and a bottle of champagne
2:04
um or prosecco probably at that point but we go knowing us lot we loved lamb brisco didn't we
2:11
but we just celebrated in the garden we were so excited at the fact that we had got to number three
2:16
and then traveled over to japan and it just kind of skyrocketed and you know what my memory is of
2:23
that time so i think we'd done our first tv which was with cilla black surprise surprise surprise
2:30
and nobody knew us and this young girl had like won this competition to interview a pop band
2:35
and she was interviewing the spice girls but nobody knew who the spice girls were at this point
2:39
so i was like this poor girl she must be so let down thinking i'll maybe take that or someone
2:44
and then she got to interview us and we performed wannabe and i went out the next day i went to do
2:48
a bit shopping in Watford and I was like oh my god everyone's gonna recognize me right nobody
2:54
batted an eyelid but wannabe came out midweek number six end of week charted at number three
3:02
we went to Japan when we came back from Japan yeah everybody knew who the Spice Girls were
3:08
that trip was like the change it was unbelievable it went nuts and I do remember a lot of my
3:13
I know exactly where I was when Wannabeen went to number one
3:18
Like my friends were on holiday in Zante and my other friends were in a pub You know they just remember that moment And it just it amazing how iconic it become Do you know what I think is so amazing about Wannabe
3:33
When we wrote it, remember we were with Matt and Biff. We were in this strong room in East London
3:38
We were in this tiny little writing room. All five of us and our two lovely songwriters
3:42
that we used to work with so much. But it was one of our first songs that we ever wrote together
3:46
And they just wanted it, like, capture the chaos and the madness of the Spice Girls
3:51
The essence of the Spice Girls. And that's what Wannabe is. They said, just do anything
3:55
And we were just messing about. And then Matt, genius Matt, took it away and created this incredible song
4:01
When we heard it, we were like, that's our first single. We were like, absolutely had no doubt
4:05
Because it totally is the Spice Girls. It's the introduction to what was to come
4:11
There's something that is debated. Right. The laugh. So we have the footsteps
4:16
Yep. We have the giggle. Yep. Who is the giggle? Is it Mel B
4:20
Or is it Jerry? Well, first I thought it's Mel B, but then I've just listened to it over and over again
4:24
Are we going to play it? We have to play it. Yes! Oh, no, that's..
4:28
I think it's Jerry. I think it's Jerry, but Biff is convinced it's Melanie
4:33
And he says, because on the fader, in the, like, on the stems, it's Melanie
4:38
And I'm like, it's not, it's Jerry. That's Jerry. Biff is absolutely, like, hands down, thinks it's Melanie
4:45
Okay, so Biff, the producer, has got them on stems, obviously, and he thinks it's Mel B. that's so bizarre
4:50
do you think if we need to ask Melanie and Jerry don't we
4:54
because do you think if it was your voice you would go yeah that's me probably but with them two they're both
5:00
double trouble that's what them two are it's me it was my idea
5:05
just the perfect single for the Spice Girls and it captured everybody's imagination
5:10
across the globe you know we had seven weeks I think at number one here but it got to
5:14
number one in 37 countries we broke America something that a lot of British pop acts don't do
5:21
And it was, yeah, it's the song that literally started everything. It screams girl power
5:26
It's literally the start of the legacy that we were lucky enough to create
5:29
with our incredible fans all over the world. And that's the thing, I've just come back from New York
5:34
and it's still, you know, amazing how much, you know, our fans out there are just so
5:39
and they obviously want to be, they just talk about want to be all the time because it was, you know, just number one all over the world
5:44
So we really do owe this song a lot, actually. don't we do we do and like you know and talking about the fans as well because they came on that
5:52
journey with us and they're still with us yeah you know all the way everything everything we ever do
5:57
you know all of us we've gone off and we might have taken slightly different career paths yeah
6:01
they support the spice girls they support us as individuals and they're just amazing they're the
6:06
best fans in the world they always have been always yeah and they're always right behind us
6:11
so thank you so much to everyone out there and all our fans who have just been so supportive we
6:17
love you. I was about to swear then, but I won't. We love you
6:21
We love you that much. We need to swear about it. And we know them all so well
6:25
Yeah, we do. We've seen people grow up. We've seen now they've got kids, you know, we've seen them
6:30
go into the workplace. They've been inspired by being fans of the Spice Girls. It's given
6:35
them the courage to go on and live the lives they want to live, which is an artist for us
6:39
girls. That is the most humbling thing about what we do, isn't it? We were making tunes
6:44
we were having fun but we were just collecting all of these wonderful people around the world
6:48
and we just have all achieved so much together We have Also we talk about the whole girl power situation obviously back in the day we were taught we did knock down a lot of barriers when we
6:59
first started. They were like, girls can't be on the front of magazines, girls can't do this, girls..
7:04
And we really pushed for that, didn't we? So that was very, very important to us. Absolutely
7:10
And you know what's so funny? When we started as a band, it completely didn't come into our minds because we were just like
7:16
young having fun we wanted to make music we wanted to be famous we wanted to travel the world
7:21
but then as soon as the industry started to show sexism towards girls we were like right we have
7:27
got a point to prove and we decided we wanted to be a girl band for girls didn't we but it was
7:32
really quickly we realized we've got such an incredible following in the lgbtq plus community
7:37
so it expanded even further the number of people that come up and talk about how being a fan of the
7:44
Spice Girls gave them the confidence, whether it was coming out or going into a certain
7:50
career they wanted to, or just be themselves, dress the way they wanted to. I mean, it's
7:56
insane. I can't believe we had that power. Such an impact. Yeah, I know. I think we've just got the most wonderful fans. And even
8:05
though they say to us how much we changed their lives, they did exactly that for us
8:11
They've changed our lives forever and been there, you know, fully behind us
8:17
It was just about bringing people together. It's all about people, pal. Yeah, absolutely
8:22
But another band who obviously have talked about us quite a lot and the gorgeous Little Mix ladies
8:28
The fact that a girl band has never won this award really does speak volumes
8:32
So this award isn't just for us. It's for the Spice Girls, Sugar Babes, All Saints, Girls Aloud
8:39
All of the incredible, incredible female bands. This one's for you. Bless them
8:46
I'm so honoured. All these artists who have come up to us and said Girl Power meant so much to them
8:50
Do you know what I found more and more now is that you do... So many artists you meet, young artists
8:55
they talk about being fans of the Spice Girls, you know, growing up, being so inspired about what we did
9:00
And sometimes it's quite unusual people that you don't expect, because, you know, genre-wise
9:04
even someone like Charli X, the X, you know, she's very different. She's very much in her own lane
9:08
But of course, the Spice Girls inspired her to do that, to be an individual, to do her own thing
9:13
But the other thing is, they inspire us now. It's so full circle, isn't it
9:19
Yeah, absolutely. But do you know who we have to mention? Because I'm going back now to Wembley Stadium, 2019, the last night of our tour
9:28
Yeah. Adele. Adele. I know. In the audience, singing, dancing along. I know
9:35
She was amazing, wasn't she? She is one of the biggest Spice Girls fans. And what an incredible artist she is and the success that she's had
9:42
I know. And she came backstage and she was just like so much fun. She made everyone sing to us when we walked in
9:47
Do you remember? Yeah, she did. And then she all did Nando's. Yeah. I mean, she brought the party, to be fair
9:52
She did bring the party. And she stayed a while and we had a party with Adele. It was brilliant
9:56
Brilliant. We're going to play Mama in a bit. Oh, it's one of our faves, isn't it
10:00
It's 100%. So many memories. Oh my gosh. So many memories. The video just come into my head
10:04
Oh yes, our mums. With our mums. I know. I do remember that being a very chaotic day
10:10
We had like a lot of people in the audience, didn't we? We did
10:14
It was a very special song for us, obviously. It all about our mums We wrote it back in 1997 But I just thought now obviously it got a whole new meaning because we mums we all mums and it just so obviously become so special in so many
10:31
ways and so many people talk to me about mama um because it's become really special to them because
10:37
they've had children 2019 when we did our show yeah we did we did it in the encore didn't we
10:42
We did. And I remember it's such a beautiful song. And it's one of those moments we weren't running around doing crazy choreo
10:48
We had the opportunity to really engage with the audience and have a look out there
10:53
And that, for me, that moment, I saw so many beautiful scenes
10:57
because obviously we have a generation of Spice Girls fans that discovered us when they were kids in the 90s
11:03
Yeah. But in those shows, we had those people with their kids. Yes
11:06
And then we also had them, like, with their mothers. Yes. and there was just like this multi-generational like love and appreciation of that song and you
11:14
see what your music means to people yeah it was yeah magic it gives me goosebumps it me too that
11:20
was a really special time i do i remember seeing very little girls in the audience with pigtails
11:25
in and tracksuits on and i was thinking what we do have a whole new generation coming through
11:31
and then you know and as you said and then their mums and their mom yeah it was wild i think those
11:37
shows that was for us we felt didn't we that it was the first time we actually had the opportunity
11:43
to fully appreciate everything everything we'd achieved because in the 90s our feet didn't touch
11:48
the ground it was just it was so non-stop we were you know living in fight or flight but 2019 we
11:54
stopped didn't we took it all in we did the same in the olympics didn't we like this is going to be
11:59
over in a flash yeah let's look at each other in the eyes let's take in all those mental pictures
12:04
Yeah, yeah. 2019 was definitely my favourite. I just took it all in
12:08
And I've got, I must send you them actually. Because I've just, some memories came up for me the other day of all our kids sitting
12:14
watching the rehearsals and, oh, such a magical. What a time. We should do it again
12:19
We should do it again. Come on. Come on, let's do it. Should we have a word? I think we should have a word
12:23
It would be amazing, wouldn't it? I cannot think of anything better for the world right now than a Spice Girls reunion
12:30
Yeah, it would just be so nice, wouldn't it? it'll be so fun to make this thing happen we'll get back to get like a collective manifestation
12:39
yes let's send it out there let's send it out there listen you know we've talked about it
12:44
before it's always just get finding the right moment isn't it and um and we feel like it's the
12:51
right moment don't we feel like it's right so uh we just have to get everybody else on board but we
12:56
will we'll keep you updated yes we will and you know and obviously people talk a lot to all of us
13:01
about these situations don't they and we do have such a beautiful relationship now and i think
13:07
you know we've gone through so many twists and turns haven't we as as a group of people you know
13:11
the dynamics are there and i feel like now we're a little bit older and of course celebrating 30
13:17
years we've got so much love and respect for each other yeah that i think it is the perfect time
13:21
for us to really try and get some plans nice to do in action but everything like you say everything
13:26
we've ever done is when the stars align exactly and that's when the magic happens exactly exactly
13:31
I'm so glad we could be together today. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, what an amazing show
13:36
It's been so lovely. And thank you to Heart for, like, celebrating us. I know
13:39
In style. Celebrating the Spice Girls
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