Spice Girls 20th anniversary: 'Wannabe' gets feminist remake asking women what they 'really really want'
Spice Girls Victoria Beckham and Mel C have applauded the Global Goals campaign initiative
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Your support makes all the difference.Girl power has been given a feminist remake for the 20th anniversary of the Spice Girls, with a new video for “Wannabe” calling for an end to violence against women ahead of a United Nations meeting in September.
The Global Goals campaign has released a parody of the iconic 1996 hit, which heard Baby, Ginger, Posh, Scary and Sporty Spice tell all future lovers that before any “zigazigah-ing”, they’d “gotta get with their friends”. Simply meaning be friends with them back in the Nineties, friends before boys, no funny business.
UPDATE: The Spice Girls have announced official reunion under the name GEM
Launched by the Project Everyone initiative set up by Love Actually filmmaker and Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis, the empowering viral clip emphasises the need for greater awareness of a number of key women’s issues, from the gender pay gap to child marriages. It stars a range of stars from across the globe, including Canada’s Taylor Hatala, Sri Lanka’s Jacqueline Fernandez, Nigeria’s Seyi Shay and the UK’s M.O.
More than 250,000 have viewed the video since its upload on Tuesday, with both Victoria Beckham and Mel C applauding it on social media.
“This is about modern day girl power.” the video’s British director MJ Delaney said. “The Spice Girls were about a group of different women joining together and being stronger through that bond. These differences are what we want to celebrate in this film while showing there are some universal things that all girls, everywhere, really really want.”
Global Goals’ rallying statement written alongside the clip reads: “In 2015 world leaders promised to put girls and women first when they signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fix climate change and tackle inequalities.
“Girls and women are disproportionately affected by these challenges and are key to building resilient communities to withstand them.
“That’s why we need to ensure World Leaders and the Secretary General of the United Nations listen to the voices of girls and women and put them first in policies and plans.
“2016 is our chance to use our collective power and tell world leaders what we really really want for girls and women. If you make the noise, we’ll get your message to world leaders at the UN in September. The Global Goals will only ever be achieved if governments, businesses, communities and you invest in girls and women.”
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