Five wise women once said 'if you wanna be my lover, you've gotta get with my friends;' and that oh-so-poignant promise providing the soundtrack to primary school discos for decades has stuck with us to this day.
In 1996, the Spice Girls quite literally exploded onto the pop scene preaching girl power, feminism and an ethos of equality. So who better to give us the ultimate guide to International Women's Day 2021 than Sporty Spice Melanie C?
Yup - we caught up with Mel twenty one years later (literally HOW?) with one mission; to find out how the hell should we all be practicing girl power these days.
So behold, Sporty Spice's top tips on defying the patriarchy and doing it for the women all day, errryday.
Don't let anybody take the piss
"Girl Power’s work in progress for me, too. I’ve found myself at an age where I’ve realised I have to be responsible for myself; and I think becoming a mum made me realise that. I have a little girl and it’s my responsibility to lead the way. Spice Girls song title, see what I did there?
"What I’ve found from having a little girl is I make better choices. I don’t let people walk all over me and I will stand up for myself; I have to set an example for her."
Be good to yourself
"Be kind. I think a lot of women – and guys – go through life thinking ‘I’m not good enough, I’m not slim enough, I’m not pretty enough. How are we supposed to move forward when we have such a negative impression of ourselves?"
Don't give a f**k. Strive to succeed.
"Take it from the Spice Girls; anything’s possible. Rollerblade into an office and backflip onto a table. Yeah, we did that somewhere. We were so single-minded that we were going to succeed, and we got there in the end.
"It wasn’t plain sailing and it didn’t happen overnight. A lot of people said we couldn’t do it, but that spurred us on."
Support one another, yeah?
"Something that we so wonderful about the Women’s March recently was the solidarity. Everybody coming together; the power of the people.
"Often, we can be our own worst enemy. It’s such a terrible thing and it happens in the media and on social media; women don’t support women or men don’t support women. But, on a human level, we’re all in this together.
"Fundamentally, we all have the same needs and if we could just acknowledge that the world would be a better place. A lot of it’s fear, selfishness and miscommunication."
Trust your intuition
"The pressures that are put on young women are scary. My mum said something to me that’s been a good piece of advice throughout my career; never do anything you’re not comfortable doing.
"We all instinctively know what’s right for us, and we need to listen to that more. Trust yourself."
Friends come first
"When the shit hits the fan, you know who your friends are. It’s important to lean on those people and allow them to lean on you. Support is a very important thing."
Stay strong through the setbacks
"I was in Soho recently with my little girl and boyfriend’s children, and they were asking why there were LGBTQ+ flags everywhere.
"What I love about my daughter’s generation is she knows I have friends of all sexualities. That’s just the way it is. There’s no preconception. That’s what’s really exciting about moving forward.
"Obviously there are generations that don’t feel that way because of certain things, whether it’s social or cultural influence that can bleed into further generations, but all these things are moving in the right direction.
"Feminism, girl power. Sometimes we have setbacks, but overall it’s moving the right way. We’ve come this far."