Editing Spice Girls (section)

===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/>