The state of girl groups, 20 years after the Spice Girls

Way back on July 8, 1996, Posh, Scary, Sporty, Ginger and Baby first asked listeners what they really, really want.

Twenty years have passed since Wannabe launched the Spice Girls into international superstars. And still, the girl power-preaching group occupy a unique place in music, reaching heights in the U.S. that all-male ensembles like N’Sync have eclipsed, but their fellow female artists haven’t always been able to match.

In the wake of the Spice Girls’ success, we’ve seen several waves of girl groups come and go — some striking it big, some dissolving into in-fighting, and some challenging our definition of "girl groups" at its core.

After Wannabe, here were the four eras of girl groups that defined U.S. music.

The R&B queens

The Spice Girls may have belonged to a late-90s golden age of girl groups, the likes of which we haven’t seen in the U.S. since. But that doesn’t mean their perky, bubblegum pop defined the era’s sound. That honor belongs to TLC, Destiny’s Child, Divine and the other R&B-inclined female groups of that time, whose singles’ successes eclipsed their British counterparts — Destiny's Child’s Independent Women Part I beat Wannabe on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as did TLC’s Creep, Waterfalls and No Scrubs.

The '90s standards-bearing groups didn’t have particularly long lifespans; TLC’s success was cut short after Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died in a car accident in 2002, while Destiny’s Child disbanded in the mid-00s. But, considering that Destiny’s Child’s reunited on the Super Bowl stage in 2013 and a rumored hologram of TLC’s Lopes is in the works, it’s clear fans want more.

The plastics

Call the 2000s the dark days for girl groups on the U.S. charts. Bookended by N’Sync’s blockbuster release of No Strings Attached in 2000 and the formation of One Direction in 2010, the decade wasn’t as kind to its newly-formed female groups.

The trends that defined much of pop culture during that era, from the rise of reality TV to the idolization of Paris Hilton’s brand of dumbed-down female celebrity, also defined its most popular girl groups. The Pussycat Dolls peaked with Don’t Cha in 2005, the same year that Danity Kane formed on Diddy’s Making The Band reality show. Looking back, both groups were remarkable in their blandness, which extended from their shared brand of mid-00s hyper-sexuality — picture short-shorts, midriffs and trucker hats — to their weakly-provocative pop songs. Neither group would make it to 2010.

The all-female collabs

But don’t mistake the lack of girl-group success during the 2000s for an absence of collaborations from women in music. As girl group anthems slipped from the top of the charts, one-offs singles from female pop powerhouses took their place. Unofficially kicking off with the classic Lady Marmalade remake with Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya and Lil Kim, the trend stretches all the way into the new decade — look to 2014’s Fancy with Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX and Bang Bang with Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande and Jessie J.

A few notable examples along the way: Let Me Blow Ya Mind from Eve and Gwen Stefani (2001), Me Against The Music from Britney Spears and Madonna (2003), Lose Control from Ciara and Missy Elliott (2005) and Telephone from Lady Gaga and Beyonce (2010)

The #girlsquad

Looking at 2016, pop culture's defining crew of young, famous women isn't a music group at all; it's Taylor Swift and her small army of BFFs. One of the #squad's newest members is Fifth Harmony's Camila Cabello, recently seen teaching Taylor's crew the moves to their Work From Home dance.

The relationship between Swift and 5H — the highest-charting girl group since Destiny's Child — is more important than just a Coachella dance party. From the Spice Girls' early girl-power feminism to the Pussycat Dolls' sex-sells M.O., we've seen one example after another of girl groups holding up a mirror to their pop culture landscape. Fifth Harmony became America's biggest girl group partially because their set of values — sisterhood, empowerment, candid honesty with fans — aligns with Swift's, and aligns with how the public increasingly wants to see its female celebrities.

Fifth Harmony are helping define a new era of girl groups. Considering the girl group's track record post-Wannabe, that's just fine with us.