When there was S Club 7, everyone wanted to be Rachel. Cheryl was the favourite in Girls Aloud, Nicole Scherzinger is the only name we knew back when Pussycat Dolls were at large and of course, Beyoncé was queen of Destiny’s Child. If we all look deep into our nostalgia driven hearts, we know who the most popular member of the Spice Girls was too. But just to make it official, a study has gone and confirmed what we already knew.
YouGov did survey of 31,000 people and asked who their favourite Spice Girl was. Baby Spice came up on top winning 37 percent of the vote, followed by Sporty at 23 percent, Ginger at 19 percent and Scary bringing up the rear with just 9 percent of people saying that they liked her best. Shock horror, amirite?
The survey found out lot of other things like how those who liked Scary Spice best were most comfortable calling themselves a feminist, Posh Spice fans are most likely to agree with the statement 'my friendship group is a really important part of my life' and, unsurprisingly, Posh's fan base are more fashion-conscious than those who preferred the other band members.
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In a nod to those playground arguments about who would get to be which member of the Spice Girls in your conflated school talent contest, it seems who you pick as your favourite band member says a fair bit about your personality. But, why is it that so many of us are drawn to the 'Baby' types, and uninterested by the 'Scary's?
The name 'Scary Spice' no doubt didn't help with her popularity with young girls, but there's as much to be said about the fact that Mel B was set the personality of the animalistic (hello leopard print), forceful (you'll notice she stomps and punches a little more than the other girls in their music videos) and assertive (big hair, loud frequently featured laugh) one in the group. Not to mention her inherent position as the only woman of colour.
Emma Bunton's character was far more appeasing of course. Cute, blond and innocent looking. Allow me to be analytical for a moment. Even without being specifically told so, we're kind of subconsciously conditioned to favour Baby Spice. Against names like Scary, Posh, Ginger and Sporty, she's the only one to have a name that suggest a familial or personal connection. Also it helped that she, as a character, was neither mean nor outspoken. She was inoffensively beige. And the world secretly loves beige.
While the Spice Girls and their clever management team did it intentionally, assigning characters to members of the band is something we're all familiar with. Even with groups like One Direction, who would you assign the role of hearthrob? The correct answer is Harry Styles, although Liam Payne had a little look in the early days before Harry was solidified as lead singer. Zayn was the bad boy, Niall was the nice guy and sadly Louis often found himself as the 'other guy'.
It's all an intentionally divisive and cynically really smart marketing tool to make us identify with (and then favour) a particular band member, you see. And evidently the Spice Girls really nailed the brief with Baby.
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1 of 18The outfit game was so, SO strong with these three. If you don't know all the words to No Scrubs, where you been? TLC were also the biggest selling girl group in the world until the Spice Girls came along...
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.
With news emerging that a Spice Girls reunion might be in the works though the jury’s out on whether Victoria Beckham will join the other four now’s a great time to reminisce back on all the memories that made us fall in love with the fab five.
Just kidding, it’s time to rank ‘em and decide who is the best. The criteria for this test are simple personality, vocal chops, style, and general iconic-ness, each scored out of a possible 10 points.
5. Emma Bunton AKA “Baby Spice”
With one of the group’s smaller voices and meeker personalities, Baby Spice (Emma Bunton) brought no shortage of pink-soaked frocks and platform shoes to the group but little else. With the other members serving vocals, personality and sass, at some point, the lollipops and mini-backpacks just don’t seem to cut it. While the rest of the girls’ aesthetics seemed like they could one day lend themselves to solo stardom, being infant-like never seemed like a marketable trait outside the confines of the group as has been proven by history.
Personality: 3/10
Vocal chops: 4/10
Style: 4/10
General Iconicness: 4/10
Overall score: 3.8
4. Victoria Beckham AKA “Posh Spice”
Though Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham, née Adams) served some major ~lewks~ during her Spice Girls tenure, her contributions to the groups’ songbook lacked. Nowhere was it more obvious that Beckham was often an afterthought then on the radio single for “2 Become 1,” where Geri Halliwell lost two lines of song so that listeners could hear Beckham’s solo voice. Beckham gets extra points for her performance in Spice World, which was more comically broad and engaging than most of the other girls sans Halliwell, that is.
Personality: 2/10
Vocal chops: 2/10
Style: 9/10
General Iconicness: 8/10
Overall Score: 5.3
3. Melanie Brown AKA “Scary Spice”
Young gays of color remember well being forced to play Scary Spice (Melanie Brown) when everyone played Spice Girls on the playground or is that just me? In retrospect, however, that turned out to not be such a bad fate. As the unstoppable personality of the Spice Girls, Brown brought the volume and spunk and was a huge reason that the group’s first song, “Wannabe,” was such a huge hit. And while Beckham brought the fashion, Brown’s looks were the epitome of personal style. Who could forget her hair cones or her trend-setting amount of leopard? While Bunton and Beckham could’ve been replaced by someone equally meek or fashionable, Brown was too unique to be replaced.
Personality: 8/10
Vocal chops: 6/10
Style: 9/10
General Iconicness: 7/10
Overall Score: 7.5
2. Melanie Chisholm AKA “Sporty Spice”
Sporty Spice has the range. Her status in the group is cemented, oddly enough, by our willingness to listen to her past the group’s expiration date. Face it, everyone: “I Turn to You” is a bop. Chisholm’s pared-down aesthetic allowed her tomboy personality and vocals to shine. You’d be lying to me and yourself if you’re telling me that you haven’t belted “Boy who thinks he CAAAAAAN” from “Too Much” in the shower. With both the vocal chops and the aesthetic cohesiveness, Chisholm was one of the Spice Girls’ boldest flavors.
Personality: 7/10
Vocal chops: 10/10
Style: 6/10
General Iconicness: 8/10
Overall Score: 7.7
1. Geri Halliwell AKA “Ginger Spice”
There’s only one argument to make when it comes to why Halliwell is the group’s most iconic member: the group fell apart without her. That’s not a knock to the group itself, but rather telling of the fans’ reaction to a girl group recipe sans Halliwell’s particular tang. Though she wasn’t the strongest vocalist or best dancer, Halliwell often just felt like the group’s de facto leader. In Spice World, she was branded as the smart, outspoken feminist. Her slogan, “Girl Power!” might as well have been the group’s unofficial slogan. With her tight outfits and look-at-me red hair, she served the drama that every gay man craved in an icon. All hail Ginger.
Personality: 9/10
Vocal chops: 7/10
Style: 8/10
General Iconicness: 9/10
Overall Score: 8.3
Following the news that the much-hyped "Spice Girls reunion" will be an animated superhero film, a recent YouGov survey has revealed the most popular member of the girl group.
Baby Spice is apparently the most popular Spice Girl, the poll of more than 31,000 Brits found, with more 37 per cent of the vote. She was followed by Sporty Spice, at 23 per cent, then Ginger, at 19 per cent, and Posh on 12 per cent. Scary Spice was reportedly the least popular of the group, with just 9 per cent naming her the best member.
However, the survey found that Scary Spice fans were most likely to describe themselves as "feminist" - 31 per cent were happy with the term, compared to 15-20 per cent for fans of the other Spice Girls. Her fans were also the biggest music lovers - almost one in five described themselves as a "music obsessive" - more than twice as much as those who preferred another band member.
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Rumours of a Spice Girls reunion ignited after a picture of the former members together emerged online. However, Victoria Beckham - AKA Posh Spice - said: "The girls are not going on tour... we were just bouncing ideas around. Brainstorming."
Variety later reported in March that all five members have signed off on their likenesses being used in a "girl power" themed superhero film, with each group member having a power related to their personality.
Mel B - AKA Scary Spice - recently dropped a heavy hint that she and her former bandmates had been invited to the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who will be married on 19 May this year.