Spice Girls ‘The Singles Collection’ review: A tidal wave of remixes, some hidden gems – and a shout-out from Beyoncé
A Touch-era track with Victoria Beckham on lead vocal and messages of adulation from Charli xcx, Dua Lipa and Adele are among the surprises as the ‘90s icons celebrate 30 years in pop with a ‘handbag-inspired box’ of treats
“Maybe there’s another life for ‘W.O.M.A.N.’,” said Sporty Spice Melanie C (ever the diplomat) in a 2023 Attitude magazine cover interview, about one of the Spice Girls’ most storied unreleased tracks. Emphasis on the maybe.
The inaccessibility of this and myriad other outtakes remains a sore point among superfans, and alas, even this lifelong Spice Boy was disappointed by the inexplicable yet predictable omission of ‘W.O.M.A.N.’ from The Singles Collection, a glossy new box set celebrating 30 years of the group.
Then, upon seeing the words ‘Stop – Backing Track Extra Brass’, almost all was forgiven. A few new horns may seem like mere instrumental garnish to some – or, to detractors, out-and-out barrel-scraping – but to others, it’s a surprise sugar rush; a double layer of icing on an already-perfect cake.
Similar curiosities abound (‘Move Over – PlayStation Backing Track’ is on repeat here) offering aficionados fresh opportunities for analysis. Why does ‘Wannabe (No Rap)’ exist? Was it once the planned single? If so, might the catchiest, most instantly recognisable pop song of the last 70 years – as per science – have been thwarted by the absence of footsteps and a throaty cackle from the intro?
When you’ve spent decades studying these songs, even the subtlest new lens is revealing. Victoria singing Mel B’s verse on a tinny demo of ‘2 Become 1’, for example, is a thrilling glitch in the pop matrix. The unvarnished innocence in all five voices is charming and surreal.
This and three other new demos form the heart of the release. What do we discover? That the louder beats on the verses of the original ‘Mama’ transformed its tone, while ‘Love Thing’ once opened with the sort of crash, bang, wallop percussion that makes you wonder how the girls would have fared in the 1980s.
The highlight is the Touch-era ‘Do You Think About Me’, featuring a Spice Girls first: an uncharacteristically confident Victoria, all poise and polish, on lead vocal. (That same poise and polish, sadly, is why she probably won’t acknowledge it in 2026.)
Elsewhere, with only a clutch of uniformly sublime singles to account for, the remix situation gets comically out of control to compensate. Somehow, we end up with 160 songs. (On streaming, that is. The Singles Collection 14 X 7″ Coloured Vinyl Box Set is edited down to a snappy 28.)
Highlights include ‘Viva Forever – Tony Rich Main Remix’, on which the Grammy Award-winning R&B singer-songwriter ekes out more of the song’s strange, Lynchian power with a muttered rap (“young lovers, feel the freedom”) and ‘Tell Me Why (Thunderpuss Radio Instrumental)’, a throbbing, top-tier dance opera by production team Barry Harris and Chris Cox in the vein of their astonishing remix of Whitney Houston’s ‘It’s Not Right but It’s Okay’.
That it has no discernible trace of the original is, like all things Spice Girls, ridiculous and brilliant.
One gem worth revisiting: the epic, definitive ‘Wannabe (Junior Vasquez Remix Edit)’, which disassembles the original, turbocharges its individual pieces (for example, isolating the “aah” of “zig-a-zig-aah” to reveal the note’s unbridled sensuality) and rearranges it with artfully askew precision. The end result is tribal and transcendent: the girls’ collective energy caught like lightning in a bottle.
The ‘handbag-inspired box’ is minimalist chic, but the ‘exclusive Spice Girls 30th anniversary acrylic charm’ is a bit on the basic side. Then again, this reviewer is still kicking himself for throwing away the friendship bracelet that came with the group’s 2007 Greatest Hits box set.
More prized is a booklet boasting new messages from all five girls as well as famous fans – Dua Lipa, Charli xcx, Adele and even Beyoncé among them. Says Bey: “It was the Spice Girls that inspired me and made me want to do what I do and made me proud to be a girl, and proud to be who I am.” High praise indeed. Maybe she can advise on Glastonbury?