Editing Spice Girls (section)

===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/>