by Cardi B’s Heart Belongs to the Spice Girls
By Music Fan
Cardi B recently made headlines when she named the Spice Girls as the band that truly holds the key to her heart and soul. In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the rap superstar gushed about her lifelong fandom of the trailblazing British pop group.
“I’ve loved the Spice Girls ever since I was a little girl,” Cardi confessed. “Their music, their style, their attitude – everything about them inspired me. They gave me the confidence to be myself and embrace my femininity and power. The Spice Girls showed me and so many other young girls that we could be whoever we wanted to be – even if it meant being a little bit loud or outrageous!”
Cardi went on to explain how the Spice Girls’ smash hit “Wannabe” instantly grabbed her attention when she first heard it as a child in the 1990s. “From the very first line of ‘Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want,’ I was hooked. I memorized all the dance moves from the music video. While all the other little girls were into Barbie, I was obsessed with the Spice Girls.”
The rapper also credited the Spice Girls’ bold, unapologetic style as a major influence on her own fashion sense. “I loved how they mixed feminine and edgy pieces together into these iconic looks,” she gushed. “Baby Spice’s pigtails andplatform sneakers, Scary Spice’s leopard prints, Sporty Spice’s tracksuits and Posh Spice’s tiny Gucci dresses – they all inspired me to take risks with my own style growing up. The Spice Girls taught me to have fun with fashion and not be afraid to stand out.”
However, it’s not just the Spice Girls’ music and fashion that Cardi admires. She also believes their message of girl power and female empowerment had an immense impact on her and many other young women. “They made me feel proud to be a girl,” Cardi reflected. “They gave me confidence and taught me that women should stick together and lift each other up, not tear each other down. They showed me that I could be just as successful in a male-dominated industry by embracing my femininity, not hiding it. The Spice Girls made me feel like I could conquer the world.”
In fact, Cardi credits the Spice Girls’ mantra of “girl power” as part of the reason she’s become such a dominant force in the male-dominated world of hip hop today. “I might seem tough and outrageous, but deep down I’m still that young girl who found inspiration in the Spice Girls’ message that girls can do anything,” she said.
Over the years, Cardi has continued to pay homage to her favorite girl group through music. She’s sampled the Spice Girls’ songs like “Say You’ll Be There” and “2 Become 1” on her own tracks, reinventing their hits for a new generation. She even named her hit single “Money” after Scary Spice’s iconic line, “I want my money.”
“I try to reinvent that fierce, fun, fearless Spice Girls energy in my own music,” Cardi explained. “I want my fans to feel as pumped up and empowered listening to my songs as I felt watching the Spice Girls perform in their heyday.”
In 2018, Cardi got the chance to meet her idols when she attended a Spice Girls reunion show in London. She was even invited backstage, where she nervously met Mel B, Mel C, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham face to face.
“I was shaking, I couldn’t believe it was really them!” Cardi squealed. “But they were all so down to earth and sweet. We sang some Spice Girls songs together backstage. It was such an incredible moment for me to finally tell them how much their music meant to me.”
Cardi regularly pays tribute to each Spice Girl’s signature style in her live performances, music videos and red carpet looks. She’s channeled Sporty Spice’s casual cool tracksuits, Scary Spice’s bold prints and colors, Posh Spice’s sleek black dresses and glamorous shades, Ginger Spice’s avant-garde looks and Baby Spice’s cute and bubbly style.
“I love recreating their iconic outfits as a way of honoring their influence on me,” Cardi explained. “It’s my way of showing my fans where I got my style inspiration from and introducing the Spice Girls to a new generation. Their music and style still feels so fresh today.”
In recent years, Cardi has also used her massive platform to champion the Spice Girls’ message of unity and female empowerment. She frequently speaks out about gender equality and regularly uplifts other female artists in the industry.
“I want today’s young girls to feel that same girl power spark that the Spice Girls ignited in me,” Cardi said. “We have to lift each other up and celebrate each other’s success and talents. There’s room for all of us to thrive in this industry.”
It’s clear that Cardi will always have endless love for the fab five who helped shape her into the confident, outspoken superstar she is today. Even as she continues to break new ground in hip hop, her “wannabe” days of idolizing the Spice Girls are never far from her heart.
“I’ll be a Spice Girls fan for life,” Cardi declared. “They showed me I could make my dreams come true, no matter how wild, fun or ‘wannabe’ they might be. The Spice Girls gave me the key to believing in myself. And for that, I’ll always be forever grateful to them.”
It’s no surprise that the trailblazing British group made such a lasting impact on the first-generation fans like Cardi, who came of age during the peak of Spice Mania in the late ’90s. With their catchy songs, bold fashions and outspoken personalities, the Spice Girls captured the hearts of a generation of young girls.
From the very beginning, the group championed messages of female friendship, fun and empowerment. Their lyrics were often about supporting each other, celebrating their differences and not being afraid to be yourself – radical ideas at a time when many pop lyrics still focused on heterosexual relationships and traditional gender roles.
“We got a lot of flak in the early days for singing about female friendship instead of typical boy-girl relationship stuff,” Mel C, known as Sporty Spice, later recalled. “But we wanted to shake things up and write about what was important to us and our young female fans.”
The Spice Girls’ nicknames themselves – Sporty, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Scary – encouraged fans to embrace their own identities. You could be sporty, girly, glamorous or goth – the Spice Girls taught fans to be proud of who you are.
“Us embracing those nicknames showed girls they didn’t have to conform to one version of what a woman should be,” Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) reflected. “We could celebrate all flavors of being a young woman.”
Their lyrics regularly emphasized themes of loyalty, friendship and mutual support – radical ideas in the competitive world of pop music. In hits like “Wannabe,” “2 Become 1” and “Spice Up Your Life,” they sang about sticking together, having each other’s backs and celebrating teamwork over solo success.
“Boy and girl groups at that time were about romance or singledom,” Mel B, known as Scary Spice, said. “We wanted to write songs about the power of friendship and how important it is for women to truly be there for each other.”
The Spice Girls also championed diversity, with each member representing a different background and persona. Their differing identities showed fans that being a Spice Girls fan could mean whatever you wanted it to mean. You could relate to Sporty, Scary, Ginger or Posh based on whatever parts of yourself resonated with their style and attitude.
“We were so different, and we celebrated that,” Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) said. “We wanted each girl to be able to relate to at least one of us.”
Indeed, while their nicknames captured their core identities, the Spice Girls were constantly evolving. They frequently took inspiration from London’s dynamic club scene, mixing tracksuit dresses, platform boots, crop tops, Union Jack merch and more into their eye-catching wardrobes. Their clothing celebrated fearless fashion experimentation, showing fans they could play with different looks.
“We dressed for ourselves, not for anyone else’s approval,” Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) said. “We wanted our style to encourage fans to be playful with fashion and be their most authentic selves.”
And although the Spice Girls eventually parted ways for solo careers, their legacy of girl power lives on. Nearly every modern female pop star owes something to the Spice Girls’ brand of unapologetic feminism and boundary-pushing style.
“So many big female artists today like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj carry on that Spice Girls spirit of celebrating your individuality, embracing girl power and not being afraid to be loud,” noted music historian Marcia Anderson. “You can draw a direct line from the Spice Girls to the bold, expressive female pop stars we see today.”
That’s certainly true for Cardi B, who considers passing on that Spice Girls’ spirit of empowerment to be a key part of her own legacy.
“I hope I can inspire my fans to embrace being unique, stick together and lift each other up like the Spice Girls inspired me,” Cardi told Rolling Stone. “I wouldn’t be who I am today without them or their message. I’ll always be so grateful to the Spice Girls for inspiring a generation of girls to find their voices and share their talents with the world.”
Twenty-five years later, it’s clear that message is just as important today as ever. With artists like Cardi B paying homage to their groundbreaking girl power ethos, the Spice Girls’ legacy continues to inspire audacious women to be proud of who they are. Because as the Spice Girls famously sang: “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.”
