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| Spice Girls | ||
|---|---|---|
| Director(s) | Jhoan Camitz | |
| Producer(s) | Mod Films | |
| Length | 3:57 | |
Wannabe is a music video by the Spice Girls.
Music Video
Synopsis
The video starts with the words "Spice Girls" and the the location of the shooting of the video "London - St. Pancras grand hotel". The Girls are then seen running across the road and then jump in unison with Melanie C exclaiming, "We're gonna do it, we gonna do it!" A car pulls up and exit a family of four prompting them to sing a verse of Wannabe, which at the same time Emma takes the hat of a man and helps him try get money from the family. Hopeless of trying to make any difference, they proceed in running into the hotel.
As they all run in, Emma and Melanie B throw up the papers containing the names of whom are permitted into the hotel, which shock the the people hanging around the entrance. Melanie B and Geri then proceed on to singing the first verse together as all the other girls proceed further into the hotel. Then Melanie C sings her lines which is followed by a group dance routine on the staircase. Emma then proceeds on to sing her line, followed by the Mel B's and Geri's verse.
The girls enter a dining area where they wreck havoc and and party with the people including Melanie C doing a backflip on a table, rapping from Melanie Brown and Geri. At the end of the video the girls run out of the hotel and run past police officers called upon to take care of the problem at that the girls present. But the girls run past them and hop of the bus, as it drives away they wave a say "bye." The videos end with all the girls name in red on a black background.
The Spice Girls at the Midland Grand Hotel in St. Pancras, London
Development
In Girl Power! Geri wrote about the concept of the video:
"I remember the chaos and the cold. It wasn't very controlled – we didn't want it to be. We wanted the camera to capture the madness of Spice. I had very big shoes on and fell over many times. I watched it again recently and thought it was like a comedy, really. All the other girls gave me the award for being the biggest prat in it! It's the most spontaneous of our videos." - Geri
The music video for Wannabe was shot in April 1996, directed by Jhoan Camitz and produced by Mod Films. The clip appears to be one continuous take (although there were two barely noticeable edits) of the girls creating mischief at the Midland Grand Hotel in St. Pancras. Among their antics is Melanie Chisholm's back handspring on one of the tables.
Promotion
A promotional video for the song which includes clips from the making of the video was issued by Virgin Records before the official video was released. In the promo the group is seen singing Wannabe at the recording studio; they described the origin of "Spice" and their first impressions of each other, and they also sang the chorus of One Of These Girls, which would eventually was released as the B-side for their third single, 2 Become 1.
Reception
Awards and honours
The video for Wannabe gets a trial airing on UK cable network The Box music channel, which was the premiere of the music video in the UK. It was selected so frequently that it reached the top of the viewers' chart within 2 hours of going on air, staying at number-one for 13 weeks, being aired up to 70 times a week at its peak and becoming the most requested track in the channel's history.
The video won Best Dance Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. It was also ranked at number forty-one in the Top 100 Pop Videos of all time by Channel 4.
FHM magazine has voted Wannabe as the sexiest music video:
"No, of course they don't get their bits out. But here's Baby running up and down the stairs of a fabulous mansion in her pigtails and miniskirt, Posh before she became pseudo royalty and people still fancied her, Sporty when her looks still relected her nickname and the first of many, many public outings for Mel B and Geri's astonishing breasts. Their time as band may've passed but we feel their contribution to trouser arousal must be noted."