Season 2 Episode 1 - Spice Girls' Spiceworld

In this season of Sonic Subcultures, we ask ‘what makes a listener over time?’ By revisiting 10 formative records for our hosts, we trace the way personal taste can develop and evolve, and how lives intersect with cultural and subcultural moments through music.

With choreographed personas and sleek marketing, the Spice Girls were pop icons built in the boardroom. But they also opened doors.

In this episode, Marc Lajeunesse and Safa Hachi trace the blurred line between empowerment and performance, and how the Spice Girls helped reshape the pop landscape—for better or worse.

We ask: when feminism becomes a product, who does it serve?