Spice Girls’ Wannabe Gets A Feminist Makeover

London: Spice Girls’ 1996 hit single Wannabe — the song that made the iconic girl group what they are today — has got a feminist touch aimed at gender equality, quality education, an end to child marriage, and more, ahead of a United Nations meeting in September.

The video features artists from India, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK, USA and Canada, a diverse roll-call that includes superstar Bollywood actor from Sri Lanka, Jacqueline Fernandez.

Spice Girls popularized the phrase ‘Girl Power’ in the late 90s and early 00s, and now their biggest hit Wannabe, which topped the charts in 22 countries at the time of its release, has been re-released by the Global Goals campaign. In 2014, Wannabe was rated as the most easily recognizable pop song of the last 60 years.

Launched by the Project Everyone initiative set up by filmmaker and Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis, the empowering viral clip emphasizes the need for greater awareness of a number of key women’s issues, from the gender pay gap to child marriages. It stars a range of stars from across the globe, including Canada’s Taylor Hatala, Sri Lanka’s Jacqueline Fernandez, Nigeria’s Seyi Shay and the UK’s M.O.

More than 250,000 have viewed the video since its upload on Tuesday, with both Victoria Beckham and Mel C applauding it on social media.

“This is about modern day girl power.” the video’s British director MJ Delaney said. “The Spice Girls were about a group of different women joining together and being stronger through that bond. These differences are what we want to celebrate in this film while showing there are some universal things that all girls, everywhere, really really want.”