Amy Britton
From fashion trends to dance moves, it is no doubt that girl bands have been influencing popular culture for decades. Girl groups have always been a symbol of girl power and offer young people role models to look up to, whilst also filling dancefloors with their chart-topping hits and giving us the perfect ballads to cry in the bathroom to. But which has had the strongest hold over us overall?
Blackpink
The four-piece girl group from South Korea has been taking over the globe since 2016. Members Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa, and Rosé have captured the hearts and minds of their fans, BLINK, through their empowering tracks and dynamic choreographies. Blackpink made history as the first-ever K-Pop group to perform at Coachella and have won countless music show awards for their EPs and album. Not only has their music been hugely successful in South Korea and the rest of the world, but the girls have also had a massive impact on fashion by being ambassadors for various high-end brands. Jennie has been nicknamed ‘Human Chanel’ helping to sell out their products within minutes of posting them. The internet is filled with makeup tutorials and fashion videos telling you how to imitate the trends set by the members, highlighting the group’s importance in pop culture.
Spice Girls
Leading the teen pop resurgence of the 90s, the Spice Girls are icons of empowerment with their preppy music style and the inverting of gender roles through their assertive lyrics. The Spice Girls helped to reinvent the music scene by catering to young girls and breaking out into a male-dominated industry. Whether you are a mega-fan or casual listener, it is near impossible to find someone that hasn’t heard of the Spice Girls and can’t name at least one track by them. Countless other artists have stated the Spice Girls as having had an undeniable influence on their own music with many future girl groups wishing to emulate the success of the band. Their distinctive personalities and emblematic stage outfits have made the group instantly recognisable to anyone that keeps up to date with popular culture.
Girls’ Generation
Despite debuting in 2007, the group first rose to fame in 2009 after the release of their track, ‘Gee’. From then on, Girls’ Generation’s popularity only continued to rise and has led to them being named ‘The Nation’s Girl Group’ in South Korea. This K-Pop group broke out into stardom in a period that was dominated by male K-Pop groups with the help of their bubblegum pop focus and colourful outfits. However, over the years, the group has been able to adapt their style and sound to remain relevant in pop culture whilst maintaining an image that makes them instantly discernible. Girls’ Generation helped to push K-Pop’s popularity across the globe with many groups owing their international success to them. The members are now more active in their solo endeavours but their legacy still persists to this day.
Destiny’s Child
The vocal powerhouses that make up Destiny’s Child cannot be ignored when it comes to the most iconic girl bands. Their R&B vibe has made them stand out in a market that is arguably oversaturated with pop artists. The combination of empowering tracks, dancefloor anthems, and trendy fashion helped bring Destiny’s Child to the forefront of the music industry in the 90s and 00s. Even after going on a hiatus to focus on their solo projects, their reunions at the 2013 Super Bowl halftime show and 2018 Coachella performances have gone down in history.
Little Mix
Having been formed after all appearing individually on The X-Factor, the group’s dynamic and rise to fame is a little unconventional. After winning the show in 2011, the girls became known as ‘the biggest girl group of the 2010s’. Their lyrics, based around themes of feminism, body positivity, and LGBTQ+ rights, have helped to amass a dedicated fanbase of people of all ages and backgrounds. In 2021, the group made history by being the first girl group to win a Brit Award for Best British Group. Their long and successful career has only continued to grow with each album they have released and has led the group to win countless accolades. In spite of the departure of Jesy Nelson from the group in December 2020, Little Mix’s popularity has never flagged.
Overall, I think that it is undeniable that the girl group that has had the biggest cultural impact is the Spice Girls. Whilst being formed in the 90s, their music and aesthetics are still relevant today. Every friendship group has had the debate of which Spice Girl they would all be and many opt to dress up in each member’s most famous outfit for Halloween. People of all ages know the Spice Girls and their music, and may have even attended one of their various reunion tours. Their ability to continue to sell out tours even after this long highlights how they still have a strong hold over popular culture. Whilst all of these girl groups have done so much to inspire women across the globe, the Spice Girls truly reinvented what it meant to be a woman in the music industry.
Featured image courtesy of Alexander Jawfox on Unsplash. Image licence can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
