Q

Spice Girls' debut album Spice: 20 years later

q hosts a listening party with three former die-hard fans to discuss the album's fun, empowering and downright problematic sides.
The Spice Girls' breakout debut album, Spice, was released on November 4, 1996. (Getty Images)

Twenty years ago, Spice Girls released their debut album, Spice

The album sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and launched the phrase "Girl Power" into the pop culture canon. Fans everywhere pondered which Spice they were: Baby, Ginger, Posh, Scary or Sporty? 

To mark this occasion, q invited three previously die-hard fans — Jessie Reis Huggins, Indrit Kasapi and Samantha Lapierre — to have a little listening party in our studios and to discuss what these songs mean to them now.

While all three of our guests grew up in different places and lived through different experiences, they were drawn to the Spice Girls' "unapologetic" attitude. Huggins explains, "It was their confidence, the fact that they knew who they were."

WEB EXTRA | Below are some behind-the-scenes photos of the q listening party.

Spice Girls experts Jessie Reis Huggins, Indrit Kasapi and Samantha Lapierre revisiting Spice Girls' debut album Spice in the q studios in Toronto, Ont. (Vanessa Greco/CBC)
Jessie Reis Huggins, Indrit Kasapi and Samantha Lapierre posing with Spice Girls memorabilia in the q studios in Toronto, Ont. (Vanessa Greco/CBC)
Spice Girls experts Jessie Reis Huggins, Indrit Kasapi and Samantha Lapierre posing inside the q studios in Toronto, Ont. (Vanessa Greco/CBC)