Nearly 30 years after the release of “Wannabe,” Melanie C is looking back on the song that transformed five young women into one of pop music’s most influential acts. Appearing in Vevo’s The Story Behind series, the Spice Girls member revisits the creation of the band’s iconic debut single and the unforgettable music video that helped launch a worldwide phenomenon.
Released in 1996, “Wannabe” quickly became a global sensation, reaching No. 1 in 37 countries and introducing the world to the Spice Girls’ bold personalities, infectious energy, and message of friendship. The single paved the way for the group’s remarkable success, leading to more than 100 million records sold worldwide and cementing their place as the best-selling girl group in history.
During the episode, Melanie C reveals that the chart-topping hit came together surprisingly fast. The song was written in just 15 minutes during a session with producers Matt Rowe and Richard “Biff” Stannard, who encouraged the group to stop overthinking and simply be themselves. That creative freedom, she explains, allowed the Spice Girls’ chemistry to shine through naturally, making “Wannabe” feel like the perfect introduction to who they were as a band.
Melanie C also revisits the making of the song’s now-legendary one-shot music video, filmed at London’s St. Pancras Hotel. She recalls spending an entire day rehearsing the ambitious sequence before cameras rolled and reflects on the group’s energetic spirit both on and off set. Whether they were rollerblading through meetings, climbing on tables, or turning everyday moments into memorable performances, the Spice Girls embraced their playful personalities long before the cameras started filming.
Looking back on the song’s enduring legacy, Melanie C expresses gratitude for everything “Wannabe” has brought into her life. Nearly three decades later, she says the experience remains a defining part of who she is and that she will always proudly be a Spice Girl.
Vevo’s The Story Behind offers fans an intimate look at the making of one of pop music’s most recognizable anthems, celebrating the enduring influence of a song that continues to inspire generations of listeners.
“I’m Melanie C aka Sporty Spice and this is The Story Behind ‘Wannabe’ The video for Wannabe was so exciting, it was our first ever video. It was like everything we dreamed of. We were in a hotel. It’s in Pancras Station, which is in London, and at the time that hotel was empty. It was like kind of derelict in places, but it was all dressed.
We were in the studio with Matt and Beth, who are fantastic collaborators. It was probably one of the first songs we’d ever written. And Matt and Beth said to us, you just just do anything. There’s absolutely no rules. And I think they were really smart in doing that because we were so chaotic. We were like a ball of energy, and they wanted to capture that in a song.
I think Wannabe was written in about 15 minutes, we were just dicking around and as soon as we heard it we were like this is us, it’s an introduction to who we are as a band and the kind of chaos and mayhem that we create everywhere we go. So once we had that song we kind of knew we found our identity.
It was a little bit cold in that location. You can probably tell by watching the video. And we had an amazing cast of characters. And again, like the song itself, we just wanted to show what we were like. We were going into like record labels, management companies, magazine buildings causing chaos. We were like, sometimes I remember like me and maybe would wear rollerblades. If we didn’t have the rollerblades on, I’d be doing backflips on the table. And, you know, probably some of the things we were living in life were more ridiculous than the things we showed in our videos or in the film.
The director had an idea to shoot the video in one take which is brilliant, amazing, it was groundbreaking at the time but to get the Spice Girls, 5 crazy girls to do a video in one take is quite a huge undertaking so we rehearsed all day long and of course Sporty had to do a backflip every single time on a table no less but it was really fun, we were so excited and had so much energy because our fantasies and dreams were coming true.
30 years since Wannabe was released and I just look back so romantically, nostalgically, I feel so proud. All the Spice Girls do. We have this incredible legacy. We’ve all gone on to have fantastic careers. We got together, we had this magic spark between us. We conquered the world like we set out to do. And I’m still here making music.
I feel really grateful for that time, I will always be a Spice Girl.
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