This week, my task is to identify an "undervalued" pop song and find a new way to evaluate that song that will assign it more cultural "value." Rather than address the question "Who is doing the evaluating?" I am going to assume that most people agree that my chosen song, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, is not widely considered to be an important contribution to the world of music.
Instead, my argument here is that "Wannabe," as well the music and image of the Spice Girls in general, provide an important influence on female adolescent development.
The Spice Girls arrived on the scene in 1996 with "Wannabe," the first single from their album "Spice." "Wannabe" became number 1 on the charts in 31 countries. The group, made up of five young British women, was formed as competition to the era's popular "boy bands" and was marketed directly to preteen girls.
Part of the marketing strategy was to give each band member a "personality" or nickname. Victoria became "Posh Spice," Melanie B became "Scary Spice," Melanie C became "Sporty Spice," Emma became "Baby Spice" and Geri became "Ginger Spice." The idea of these "personalities" is brought out to the point of parody in "Spiceworld," the Spice Girls' feature film which was released in 1997.
(from imdb.com)
Scary Spice: [as they are talking about being stereotyped] You know, I think it's the same with fish
[points out fish in tank]
Scary Spice: I mean, look at this, you've got the spotty one, that's *wacky*. You've got the fluffy one, that's *cute* And then you have this... ugly loser one. That reminds me of my ex boyfriend, Steven
Scary Spice: Ugh
Ginger Spice: Did you *know*, that the largest fish ever is the manta ray?
Posh: [continuing] And then you've got the little *ginger* one, which is full of *useless* information, about *manta rays*!
Ultimately, though, this marketing decision works in concert with adolescent development. Because adolescents form their identities by comparing themselves with others, young girls could pair themselves with each of the Spice Girls flat "personalities" and choose the one most like themselves. Once they'd made their choice, young girls often called themselves a "Baby" or a "Sporty," and dressed like the Spice Girl of their choice. This "trying on" of personalities, as well as "music's ties to identity" (Powers) in general, make the Spice Girls an important part of identity formation in preteen girls.
Another marketing decision made by the Spice Girls was their overall message of "girl power." The band's credo seemed to be that equal rights between the sexes and outward displays of femininity and sexuality are not mutually exclusive. This challenges and extends the typical response to media representation of femininity that "frames achieving an ideal, beautiful appearance as central to defining one's identity as a female" (Beach, 2007). The typical response to this is to disregard the outward feminine appearance altogether, but the Spice Girls promote embracing outward appearance IN ADDITION rather than INSTEAD OF equal rights based on inner traits.
The content and voice of many of the Spice Girls' songs show women asking men for what they want and making their relationship expectations explicit, challenging representations of women as passive members of their relationships. During the time the Spice Girls were popular, feminists had a lot to say about them and their "girl power" message. Using feminist analysis (Beach, 2007), I find that the Spice Girls portray women as sexually confident and assertive in their relationships.
Wannabe
Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna zigazig ha.
If you want my future forget my past,
If you wanna get with me better make it fast,
Now don't go wasting my precious time,
Get your act together we could be just fine
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna zigazig ha.
If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,
Make it last forever friendship never ends,
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.
What do you think about that now you know how I feel,
Say you can handle my love are you for real,
I won't be hasty, I'll give you a try
If you really bug me then I'll say goodbye.
Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna zigazig ha.
If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,
Make it last forever friendship never ends,
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.
So here's a story from A to Z, you wanna get with me
you gotta listen carefully,
We got Em in the place who likes it in your face,
we got G like MC who likes it on an
Easy V doesn't come for free, she's a real lady,
and as for me..ah you'll see,
Slam your body down and wind it all around
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,
Make it last forever friendship never ends,
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.
If you wanna be my lover, you gotta, you gotta, you
gotta,
you gotta, you gotta, slam, slam, slam, slam
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down zigazig ah
If you wanna be my lover.
The song "Wannabe," above, portrays a woman asking for what she wants in a relationship and making her expectations explicit. The speaker also initiates a dialogue, asking her partner what he wants from the relationship. My interpretation of the lines "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends/Make it last forever, friendship never ends" is that the speaker expects her partner to act like a friend as well as a lover, which suggests equality in the relationship.
The Spice Girls were popular when I was a preteen girl, and I found myself buying albums, making collages of their pictures and choreographing my own dance moves along with thousands of other girls. As much as I am reluctant to admit it, because of the timing of the Spice Girls' success and my age at the time, the Spice Girls likely did have an impact on my development as a young adolescent female. I identified with Baby Spice as an11-year-old, which made me identify as more innocent, slightly less sexualized as the other members of the band. As I watched the film "Spiceworld," however, I began to see myself in Geri, who was the most articulate and was the "ideas" girl (see the manta ray quote from imdb, above). While many might see the Spice Girls and their music as danceable, slightly trashy pop from the late 90s, there are many young women today who can trace at least part of their identity development back to the first time they heard "Wannabe."
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1 comment:
"provide an important influence on female adolescent development"
Absolutely no doubt about your thesis, but I'm thinking that there are at least two important levels in which the Spice Girls, Dixie Chicks, and other bands that have been explicitly developed by music industry marketers play out in adolescent development.
(1) Individual level - In the end, most adolescents will identify to some degree with a role or character choice that is most like them and most unlike them, with the remaining choices falling into categories or class types and therefore easily dismissible in terms of the roles that they and other people like them offer the adolescent. The first two choices are probably healthy ways to allow the adolescent to explore depths of self on one's own and with friends who identify with their own role choices.
Cultural level - This concerns me because popular music has always been a media focused on celebrity first. Our current media culture supports the notion of celebrity as a much more important level of identity than the individual level where the adolescent begins to ask, often for the first time, "Who am I?", i.e., "How am I like this celebrity?"
I guess my questions would be, how closely did you and your friends follow the off-stage lives and expressions of your Spice Girl favorites and attempt to emulate those personas beyond what was expressed in the music alone? How much might these celebrity personas have eclipsed (or derailed) your explorations and the trajectories of your own developing personalities?
Both the individual and cultural levels have impact on the "cultural value" of "Wannabe" and any pop song. The value for the adolescent seems to be on the individual level, but the cultural level seems to carry more weight in terms of value, i.e., what adolescents value.
Another interesting way to explore this subject might be in the realm of folk music where the message of the song often (but not always, e.g., Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez) comes before the persona of the artist.
For a fabulous experiment on your very own self, check out Jonatha Brooks new album, "The Works", a collection of previously unknown Woody Guthrie songs.
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