From the lollipops and posters to the cassette tapes and concert tickets, I owned every bit of Spice Girls merchandise that I could find when I was 12. As any other pop music-obsessive fan of the ’90s will tell you, the Spice Girls were more than a girl group, they were a freaking global phenomenon.
However, for those not fortunate enough to be familiar with the era of Lisa Frank stationery, Boy Meets World, and the rise of nu-metal, the Spice Girls movement may be completely lost on them. That happens to be the case with Billie Eilish, the 17-year-old singer with America’s No. 1 album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?.
A pop phenom in her own right, Eilish recently confessed that she had no idea the Spice Girls were an actual, legitimate music group. For the longest time, the Los Angeles-based Eilish believed the iconic outfit was fake, its members created solely for Spice World, the 1997 British comedy starring the Spice Girls.
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“I thought all the music was written for the movie,” she explained while guesting on Capital FM’s Breakfast program (via NME). “I thought all the characters were cast for those characters. I didn’t figure it out until two years ago.”
“I watched that movie like 40 times,” our 2018 Rookie of the Year mentioned last week during a chat on Ellen. “I remember seeing Spice Girls [were coming back] and thinking, ‘Oh my god, they’re re-enacting the movie.’”
The Spice World film was heavily featured in my rotation, sandwiched between the original Jumanji and Goofy Movie. But while it’s awesome in its own so-cheesy-it’s-brilliant way, here’s hoping Eilish has since discovered the existence of the Spice Girls’ three albums, especially their 1996 debut, Spice. Heck, maybe Eilish will even catch the Girls on their upcoming reunion tour?
Revisit the Spice World trailer below.
In support of her first-ever full-length, next month Eilish will launch her “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP Tour”, featuring rapper Denzel Curry and brother Finneas. She’s also expected to perform at a long list of festivals, including Coachella this weekend, and later at European fests including Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury, Pukkelpop, and Lollapalooza Stockholm. Find tickets to her upcoming gigs by heading here.
As for the Spice Girls’ reunion tour — sans Posh Spice — that kicks off in June. Tickets can be found here. If you’re like Eilish and need a Spice Girls refresher, perhaps begin by grabbing some of their vinyl releases here.
