page_title: Wannabe
section_title: Live performances
hierarchical_section_title: Wannabe / Live performances
caption_attribution_description: SpiceGirlWembley150619-122
context_page_description: "Wannabe" is the debut single by British girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice, released in November 1996. The song was written, composed, and recorded very quickly; but the result was considered lacklustre by their label, and was sent to be mixed by Dave Way. The group was not pleased with the result, and the recording was mixed again, this time by Mark "Spike" Stent.
  "Wannabe" is an uptempo dance-pop song which features Mel B and Geri Halliwell rapping. The lyrics, which address the value of female friendship over the heterosexual bond, became an iconic symbol of female empowerment and the most emblematic song of the group's Girl Power philosophy. Despite receiving mixed reviews from music critics, the song won for Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and for British Single of the Year at the 1997 Brit Awards.
  "Wannabe" was heavily promoted by the group.
context_section_description: The Spice Girls were in Japan when "Wannabe" went to number one in the UK. The group made their first appearance on Top of the Pops by satellite link from Tokyo, where they used a local temple as a backdrop for their mimed performance. They have performed the song several more times on the show, including the programme's 1996 Christmas special. It was performed many times on television, in both Europe and the US, including An Audience with..., the Bravo Supershow, Sorpresa¡ Sorpresa!, Fully Booked, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Saturday Night Live. The performance at Saturday Night Live on 12 April 1997 was featured in the 5-part TV musical special "SNL: 25 Years of Music", and was the first time the group ever performed "Wannabe" with a live band—their previous performances had all been either lip-synched or sung to a recorded backing track.
  The group performed it at awards ceremonies such as the 1996 Smash Hits! Awards, the 1996 Irish Music Awards, the 1997 BRIT Awards, and the 1997 Channel V Music Awards held in New Delhi, where they wore Indian costumes and entered the stage in auto rickshaws. In October 1997 the group performed "Wannabe" as the last song of their first live concert at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. The performance was broadcast on Showtime in a pay-per-view event titled Spice Girls in Concert Wild!, and was later included in the VHS and DVD release Girl Power! Live in Istanbul.
  The Spice Girls have performed the song on their four tours, the Spiceworld Tour, the Christmas in Spiceworld Tour, the Return of the Spice Girls Tour and the Spice World - 2019 Tour. After a breast-cancer scare led Geri Halliwell to leave the team at the end of the European leg of the Spiceworld Tour, her parts were replaced by Melanie Chisholm (refrain), Victoria Adams (verses), and Bunton (bridge). The performance at the tour's final concert can be found on the video Spice Girls Live at Wembley Stadium, filmed in London, on 20 September 1998. The group performed the song on 12 August 2012 at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London as part of a medley with the song "Spice Up Your Life". It was also performed as the closing song on the Spice World - 2019 Tour.
caption: The Spice Girls performing "Wannabe" on the final night of their Spice World - 2019 Tour at the Wembley Stadium in London. Their outfits were recreations based from the originals from the music video
exif: {"Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "ILCE-6300", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.4.1 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2019:11:02 10:31:24", "Image ExifOffset": "212", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "934", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "12134", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0231", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:06:15 21:20:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:06:15 21:20:42", "EXIF OffsetTime": "+00:00", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1120723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "3777/1280", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "128", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "83662979/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "83662979/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "192", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 200, 4, 4]", "EXIF LensModel": "FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS"}