Earworm #33: Spice Girls — Wannabe

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want

AI-generated Spice Girls — not bad! It added another woman of color, which seems appropriate.

Why did the Spice Girls’ 1996 debut single and anthem “Wannabe” wannabe in my brain first thing of the new year?

Let’s explore together and see if we can discover the earworm significance of this undeniably catchy tune.

Cardamom, Nutmeg, Turmeric, Rosemary and Thyme

“Spice Girls 2008 01 cropped” by Spice_Girls_2008_01.jpg: Eric Mutrie from Canada derivative work: Frcm1988 (talk) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I was late to board the boy band bus and girl group gondola. Until the 21st century, I didn’t know an N’SYNC from a Backstreet Boy or a Pussycat Doll from a Spice Girl.

I do recall the Spice Girls plastering the media and the Billboard charts back in the mid-90s, but to be honest, I did not listen to the radio or watch much TV back then. Most of 1995 was spent living on an organic farm in Canada, and when I returned to the States, I lived in a converted garage with no internet…