20 essential songs for your Pride Month playlist

“Wannabe” by Spice Girls

Who doesn’t love the Spice Girls?

If you grew up in the ’90s, you definitely loved the Spice Girls in some capacity. Gay, straight, bi, whatever you identify as, they were the greatest girl group of a generation. Everyone wanted to be them or be with them, and they were definitely the first crush of many.

What attracted these five girls to the LGBTQ community was their flamboyant style and their message of female empowerment. They made “girl power!” cool and took over the world in the process, all while dressed in platform sneakers and mini dresses. Now that’s the best kind of girl power!

The Spice Girls also wrote their own songs, starred in their own movie (which is campy goodness), and knew how to take a stage by storm. They may have only lasted a short period of time, but they made an impact that no other girl group will ever be able to match. And that’s why they’re essential for any Pride playlist.

“Wannabe” is essential for any party playlist, really, whether that’s during Pride or any other time of the year. It brings back a sense of nostalgia that only the Spice Girls can manage to create. Suddenly, you’re not an adult in a club or at a party, you’re a child, in your bedroom, dancing on your bed and rehearsing all the dance moves you saw in their latest music video.

Any song that comes with built-in dance moves — especially as iconic as the “Zig-a-zig-ah” hip thrust — is obviously going to kill at any event. If you’re surrounded by people who don’t freak out when they hear a Spice Girls song, please find new friends. They don’t deserve you.