Editing Spice Girls (section)

==Artistry==
===Musical style===
According to [[AllMusic]]'s [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]], the Spice Girls "used [[dance-pop]] as a musical base, but they infused the music with a fiercely independent, feminist stance that was equal parts [[Madonna]], post-[[riot grrrl]] alternative rock [[feminism]], and a co-opting of the good-times-all-the-time stance of England's new [[lad culture]]."<ref name="spice girls bio"/> Their songs incorporated a variety of genres, which Halliwell described as a "melding" of the group members' eclectic musical tastes,<ref name="85m">{{cite news|date=12 July 2016|title=My Life as a Spice Girl: Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell (Now Horner) Looks Back at the Beginnings of a Pop Culture Phenomenon|first=Geri|last=Horner|work=[[Marie Claire]]|url=https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a21505/geri-halliwell-spice-girls-story/|access-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210222054055/https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a21505/geri-halliwell-spice-girls-story/|archive-date=22 February 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> but otherwise kept to mainstream pop conventions.<ref name=leach>{{cite journal|title=Vicars of 'Wannabe': Authenticity and the Spice Girls|first=Elizabeth Eva|last=Leach|volume=20|issue=2|date=May 2001|pages=143–167|journal=Popular Music|doi=10.1017/S0261143001001386|s2cid=162848598|issn=0261-1430}}</ref> Chisholm said: "We all had different artists that we loved. Madonna was a big influence and [[TLC (group)|TLC]]; we watched a lot of their videos."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/10/we-caught-the-zeitgeist-how-the-spice-girls-revolutionised-pop|title='We caught the zeitgeist': how the Spice Girls revolutionised pop|first=David|last=Sinclair|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=10 March 2018|access-date=3 March 2021}}</ref> A regular collaborator on the group's first two albums was the production duo known as [[Absolute (production team)|Absolute]], made up of Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins. Absolute initially found it difficult to work with the group as the duo was heavily into [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] music at the time, while the Spice Girls according to Wilson were "always very poptastic".<ref name=sinclair4748>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2004|pp=47–48}}</ref> Wilson said of the group's musical output: "Their sound was actually not getting R&B quite right."<ref name=sinclair49>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2004|p=49}}</ref>

In his biography of the band, ''[[Wannabe: How the Spice Girls Reinvented Pop Fame]]'' (2004), ''Rolling Stone'' journalist David Sinclair said that the "undeniable artistry" of the group's songs had been overlooked. He said the Spice Girls "instinctively had an ear for a catchy tune" without resorting to the "formula balladry and bland modulations" of 90s boy bands [[Westlife]] and [[Boyzone]].<ref name=sinclair8789>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=87–89}}</ref> He praised their "more sophisticated" second album, ''Spiceworld'', saying: "Peppered with personality, and each conveying a distinctive musical flavour and lyrical theme, these are songs which couldn't sound ''less'' 'manufactured', and which, in several cases, transcend the pop genre altogether."<ref name=sinclair8789/>

===Lyrical themes===
[[File:Victoriaandemmaonpoleslv.jpg|right|thumb|215px|Beckham and Bunton performing "2 Become 1" in [[Las Vegas]] on 11 December 2007. The song, which addresses the importance of [[safe sex]], has been praised for its sex-positive message.<ref name="Power"/>]]

The Spice Girls' lyrics promote female empowerment and solidarity.<ref name="spice girls bio"/><ref name=bbcgp/><ref name=ferber>{{cite web|url=https://www.bustle.com/p/16-spice-girls-lyrics-that-were-way-ahead-of-their-time-deserve-a-rewind-79032|title=16 Spice Girls Lyrics That Were Ahead of Their Time in the Best Possible Way|work=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]]|date=16 May 2018|first=Taylor|last=Ferber|access-date=1 March 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210301154924/https://www.bustle.com/p/16-spice-girls-lyrics-that-were-way-ahead-of-their-time-deserve-a-rewind-79032|archive-date=1 March 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> Given the young age of their target audience, Lucy Jones of ''[[The Independent]]'' said the Spice Girls' songs were subversive for their time: "The lyrics were active rather than passive: taking, grabbing, laying it down – all the things little girls were taught never to do. 'Stop right now, thank you very much'. 'Who do you think you are?' 'I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want'."<ref name=lucyjones/> [[Musicologist]] Nicola Dibben cited "Say You'll Be There" as an example of how the Spice Girls inverted traditional gender roles in their lyrics, depicting a man who has fallen in love and displays too much emotion and a woman who remains independent and in control.<ref name=dibben>{{cite journal|title=Representations of Femininity in Popular Music|first=Nicola |last=Dibben|journal=Popular Music|volume=18|issue=3|date=October 1999|pages=331–355|doi=10.1017/S0261143000008904 |s2cid=193240799 |issn=0261-1430}}</ref> The Spice Girls emphasised the importance of sisterhood over romance in songs such as "Wannabe", and embraced [[safe sex]] in "2 Become 1".<ref name="Power"/>

Lauren Bravo, author of ''What Would the Spice Girls Do?: How the Girl Power Generation Grew Up'' (2018), found that even when the Spice Girls sang about romance, the message was "cheerfully non-committal", in contrast to the songs about breakups and unrequited love other pop stars were singing at the time.<ref name=bravo/> Writing for ''[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]]'', Taylor Ferber praised the female-driven lyrics as ahead of their time, citing the inclusivity and optimism of songs such as "Spice Up Your Life" and the [[sex-positivity]] of "Last Time Lover" and "Naked". Ferber concluded: "Between all of their songs about friendship, sex, romance, and living life, a central theme in almost all Spice Girls music was loving yourself first."<ref name=ferber/>

===Vocal arrangements===
{{Blockquote
 |text = Five women in a band together, sharing songwriting credit and vocal duties equally, was a new concept in British pop in 1996.
 |source = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' in a retrospective review of ''[[Spice (album)|Spice]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/spice-girls-spice/|title=Spice Girls: Spice|first=Aimee|last=Cliff|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=19 May 2019|access-date=23 February 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210223155113/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/spice-girls-spice/|archive-date=23 February 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

Unlike prior pop vocal groups, the Spice Girls shared vocals, rather than having a lead vocalist supported by others.<ref name=sinclair200830>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|p=30}}</ref> The group did not want any one member to be considered the lead singer, and so each song was divided into one or two lines each, before all five voices harmonised in the chorus. The group faced criticism as this meant that no one voice could stand out, but Sinclair concluded that it "was actually a clever device to ensure that they gained the maximum impact and mileage from their all-in-it-together girl-gang image".<ref name=sinclair200830/>

The Spice Girls' former vocal coach, Pepi Lemer, described their individual voices as distinct and easy to distinguish, citing the "lightness" of Bunton's voice and the "soulful sound" of Brown's and Chisholm's.<ref>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|p=17}}</ref> Biographer Sean Smith cited Chisholm as the vocalist the group could not do without.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2019|p=286}}</ref> Sinclair noted that while Chisholm's [[Ad libitum|ad lib]]s are a distinctive feature of certain Spice Girls songs, the difference in the amount of time her voice was featured over any other member was negligible.<ref>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|p=164}}</ref>

While vocal time was distributed equally, musicologist Nicola Dibben found that there was an "interesting inequality" in the way that vocal styles were distributed within the group, which she felt conformed to certain stereotypes associated with race and socioeconomic background.<ref name=dibben/> According to Dibben, most of the declamatory style of singing in the group's singles were performed by Brown, the only black member, and Chisholm, whom Dibben classified as white working class; this was in contrast to the more lyrical sections allotted to Beckham, whom Dibben classified as white middle class.<ref name=dibben/>

===Songwriting===
The Spice Girls did not play instruments,<ref name="Sinclair 2008" /> but co-wrote all of their songs.<ref name=Sinclair20085354/><ref name=spicelinear>''[[Spice (album)|Spice]]'' (liner notes). Spice Girls. Virgin Records. 1996. CDV2812.</ref><ref name=spiceworldlinear>''[[Spiceworld (album)|Spiceworld]]'' (liner notes). Spice Girls. Virgin Records. 1997. CDV2850.</ref><ref name=foreverlinear>''[[Forever (Spice Girls album)|Forever]]'' (liner notes). Spice Girls. Virgin Records. 2000. 7243 8 50467 4 2.</ref> According to their frequent collaborator Richard Stannard, they had two approaches to songwriting: [[Sentimental ballad|ballads]] were written in a traditional way with the group sitting around a piano, while songs such as "Wannabe" were the result of tapping into their "mad" energy.<ref name=songwriters>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Barrett|title=Spice Girls: The singers' songwriters|work=[[Music Week]]|date=10 November 2007|page=20 |id={{ProQuest|232217960}}}}</ref> [[Eliot Kennedy]], another regular co-writer, said that songwriting sessions with the Spice Girls were "very quick and short".<ref name=Sinclair20085354>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=53–54}}</ref> He described his experience working with them:
<blockquote>
What I said to them was, "Look, I've got a chorus—check this out." And I'd sing them the chorus and the melody—no lyrics or anything—and straight away five pads and pencils came out and they were throwing lines at us. Ten minutes later, the song was written. Then you go through and refine it. Then later, as you were recording it you might change a few things here and there. But pretty much it was a real quick process. They were confident in what they were doing, throwing it out there.<ref name="Sinclair 2008">{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=45–46}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Absolute's Paul Wilson recalled an experience whereby he and Watkins were responsible for writing the backing track and the group would then write the lyrics. Watkins added: "I wasn't an 18-year-old girl. They always had this weird ability to come up with phrases that you'd never heard of."<ref name=Sinclair20085354/> He said the members would create dance routines at the same time as writing songs,<ref name="sinclair49" /> and that "They knew what they wanted to write about, right from day one. You couldn't force your musical ideas upon them."<ref name=sinclair49/>

From the onset, the Spice Girls established a strict 50–50 split of the publishing [[royalties]] between them and their songwriting collaborators. As with their vocal arrangements, they were also adamant on maintaining parity between themselves in the songwriting credits.<ref name=Sinclair20085152>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=51–52}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Adams, Brown, Bunton, Chisholm and Halliwell are collectively credited as "Spice Girls" in the songwriting credits for ''Spice'' and ''Spiceworld''.<ref name=spicelinear/><ref name=spiceworldlinear/>}} Sinclair said:
<blockquote>
The deal between themselves was a strict five-way split on their share of the songwriting royalties ''on all songs'' irrespective of what any one member of the group had (or had not) contributed to any particular song. Apart from ease of administration, this was also a symbolic expression of the unity which was so much part and parcel of the Spice philosophy.<ref name=Sinclair20085152/>
</blockquote>

Sinclair identified Halliwell as a major source of ideas for the Spice Girls' songs, including many of the concepts and starting points for the group's songs.<ref name=Sinclair20085354/> [[Tim Hawes]], who worked with the group when they were starting out, said Halliwell's strength was in writing lyrics and pop [[Hook (music)|hooks]], and estimated that she was responsible for 60–70% of the lyrics in the songs he worked on.<ref name=mcgibbon9798/> The group's collaborators credit the other members of the group as being more active than Halliwell in constructing the [[melodies]] and [[harmonies]] of their songs.<ref name=mcgibbon9798/><ref name=sinclair49/><ref name=Sinclair20085354/> Matt Rowe, who wrote several songs with the Spice Girls, agreed that Halliwell was particularly good when it came to writing lyrics and credits the lyrics for "Viva Forever" to her. He felt that all five members had contributed equally to the songwriting.<ref name=Sinclair20085152/>