WORD NERDS: this is NOT your nanay's blog

My first concert ever was a Spice Girls concert that I went to with my mom. Reader, you have to understand that it took me years to admit this. Throughout all of middle school, I would say that I had never been to a concert. Perhaps I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity or the right conversation about "most embarassing concerts" to come up sometime. But really, it was the Spice Girls' absence coupled with the fear of being labelled as "uncool" in early adolescence that led me to become a chronic liar and charlattan to R&B/Hip Hop when it came to concert-going. But anyway, yes, I went with my mom. Back in the day when tickets were only $40 each. Even then, I knew it wasn't "cool" to go with my mom but I went because my friends were going with their moms. We bought our tickets the day after my friends and I danced to the Spice Girls' "Spice Up Your Life" in our elementary school's talent show. (It took us several months to figure out our own choreography. We even had our friend pretend to be our manager, just like the movie. AND these 4th graders asked us if we were the real Spice Girls.) Then the day after we purchased our tickets, Geri Halliwell left the damn group! I felt like we should have gotten a discount on our tickets since she was the "leader" of the group. How the hell were they gunna preach "forever friendships" when they couldn't even get their shit together? This is probably why I never understood why girlfriends seemed so willing to ditch their girlfriends for boyfriends. Soon after Geri left and after the Spice Girls' trial run at being a 4-person group, I, like every other dedicated fan, grew up and let go. But I waited.

And these are the Spice Girls after they announced their World Reunion Tour. 10 years later, my 10-year-old self inside was elated at the fact that they were back together. Now, after a considerable amount of studying race and gender representation, I can't help but deny academia here. This is one subject I have a hard time critiquing as a blogger. 

I saw their show on their first night in Las Vegas and I must say that it was AMAZING. I did, however, reflect on how they should have just stayed together and taken over the world. I did realize that although the little girl inside of me was happy, I wished for them some more personal growth as artists outside of their commercialized images. 

So I hope this isn't just an isolated stint of Girl Power that will die after the tour's over and resurface when they need to make some money. Mainstream and the independent artist scene need more female representation. I'm looking forward to it but this world can't wait for another 10 years to go by before we realize that we had a good thing. I understand that some females pay the prices emotionally when they are thrown into mainstream, but I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for females to feel comfortable and to be heard but not at the expense of censoring or limiting ourselves. I'm not asking for women to be given a voice because would imply that we don't have one. That's not it. So I'm waiting.

x_magsalita