Thirty years after the Spice Girls formed, triggering a wave of Girl Power that spread the globe, the classic lineup will reunite for a project.
Though details remain under lock and key, founding member Mel B let the news slip out during her appearance Tuesday (Jan. 9) on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.
When asked about the chances of a Spice Girls reunion, Mel B (real name Melanie Brown) told Hoda Kotb, “I’ve been saying it forever. But now we’re actually going to be releasing some really good news in about a few weeks that involves all five of us.”
A reunion isn’t a cinch, she continues. “There’s five of us, five separate diaries, we’re all parents.”
The famous five is, of course, Baby (Emma Bunton), Posh (Victoria Beckham), Ginger (Geri Halliwell-Horner), Sporty (Melanie Chisholm) and Scary Spice (Mel B) – an outfit that landed No. 1s on both sides of the Atlantic during a hot streak in the late 1990s.
Will Spicemaniacs be satisfied by what’s to come? Apparently so. “100%,” enthuses Mel B. “And it’s going to be the gift that keeps on giving, without saying too much about it. I’m going to get myself into so much trouble.”
The Spice Girls assembled in 1994, and had a global phenomenon two years later with their debut single, 1996’s “Wannabe.” The catchy track logged four weeks at the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1997, and is one of the group’s nine U.K. No. 1 singles. “Wannabe” is still powering along, passing one billion streams on Spotify over the recent holiday period. The Brits’ debut LP Spice spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and 15 weeks at the summit of the Official U.K. Albums Chart (followup Spiceworld logged three weeks at No. 1 in the U.K. in 1997).
It takes something special to gather the girls. The last time all five performed together was for the London Olympics in 2012, though the pop act hit the road for a tour in 2019, doing so as a four-piece without Victoria Beckham.
The Spice Girls did reunite in 2022 for the occasion of Geri’s 50th birthday, an event that doubled-up as the 25th anniversary of their Spiceworld, their sophomore album. Geri had left the group in 1998 to embark on a solo career, but returning to the fold in 2007 for the Return of the Spice Girls Tour.
Reunion talk aside, Mel B used her stint on the Today with Hoda & Jenna couch to discuss her return to the America’s Got Talent judging panel, her MBE, her book, her forthcoming wedding and the Royal Mail’s special collection of Spice Girls stamps. “It is massive,” she says of the new stamp issue. “For the Royal Mail, it’s usually the Queen, and the King” on the stamps. “And now it’s the Spice Girls.”
Watch the interview below.