Thirty years ago, a previously unheard-of five-piece girl group released their debut single, changing the course of pop music forever. The Spice Girls and their quintuple-platinum track, “Wannabe,” released in 1996, became the driving force behind their global stardom and the Spicemania that followed.
It also set their guiding philosophy – Girl Power, above all else – in motion, blazing a trail for the girl groups that would humbly follow in their wake.
And, like many pop icons who came before them and plenty who came after, the music video played a pivotal role in their success.
Shot and cut together to resemble one continuous take, the video sees the girls running riot through the grand interiors of the Midland Grand Hotel, now known as the 5-star and $617 a night St. Pancras London.
Dressed in the outfits that would cement their individual identities – Posh in a little black dress, Sporty in Adidas, Baby in pigtails etc. – the girls dance unabashedly around elderly hotel guests, spinning and twirling as they tell the viewer that their girlfriends come first.
Despite opposition from their label, Mel B and Geri Halliwell pushed to make “Wannabe” the group’s debut single. They felt it served as the perfect introduction to their personalities and their Girl Power manifesto. And rightly so.
The hotel’s Victorian grandeur, vaulted ceilings, white-tablecloth dining tables and tuxedoed waiters provided the perfect juxtaposition for the Spice Girls’ irreverence. Old-fashioned elegance versus the group’s unruly, modern and unapologetically fun energy – an expert demonstration of what they would come to symbolize.
The song and its accompanying video helped turn the girl group into a global phenomenon. When the video first appeared on British music channel The Box, it reached the top of the viewers’ chart within two hours.
The video remained there for 13 weeks, until it was replaced by the group’s next video, “Say You’ll Be There.” It went on to become the most requested track in the channel’s history and won Best Dance Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.
The hotel, first opened in 1873, meanwhile, is now a sort of pop-culture pilgrimage site. Routinely, fans visit to pose at the 83 marble step staircase where the five performed a tightly in-sync dance routine to the tune’s chorus.
It’s a testament to the Spice Girls’ iconic status as well as the cultural force of a hotel that helped propel a music video into the annals of pop history. You could argue it’s thanks to the Midland Grand Hotel that we know every lyric to “Wannabe”.
