The Spice Girls have announced a £277 music box set to mark 30 years since the release of their debut single Wannabe, dashing fans' hopes that the group's big update would be a reunion tour.
Mel B, Mel C, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckham revealed on Thursday that they are releasing The Singles Collection, described as the first complete set of every single the group has ever put out. It goes on sale on 7" colour vinyl and CD on November 6.
The collection will also include unreleased tracks and demos, along with special anniversary messages recorded by each of the five members. Among the previously unheard material is Do You Think About Me, one of the group's earliest demos, which will be released for the first time in three decades.
Several versions are available for pre-order. The most expensive is a £277.99 bundle containing the 7" vinyl and CD pack plus a poster and stickers, while the cheapest option is a £94.99 edition covering a 14-CD box set.
Fans react with disappointment
The news devastated many fans, who flooded the group's Instagram announcement with comments. One wrote: "I'll tell you what I want! What I really really want.....A TOUR WITH ALL 5!!!" Another said: "We want a tour. Nothing else but that," while a third called it "a waste of excitement."
Another fan pleaded: "Guys we want two things- Spice World on streaming platforms and a tour with the full line-up. Please make it happen," and one joked: "I hear the millennial sign of devastation from across the world."
Announcing the release, the band wrote on Instagram: "The Singles Collection. ALL the singles. ALL the B-sides. And a few surprises from the vault… ✌️ For the first time ever, they're all together in THE SINGLES COLLECTION. 14-disc colour vinyl + CD box sets. Original artwork + B-sides. Previously unreleased demos. Including Do You Think About Me, one of our earliest demos."
The cryptic Wednesday teaser
The group had sent fans into a frenzy a day earlier by posting a cryptic video teasing a major announcement. The clip showed a newspaper on the steps of London's St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, the location used for the Wannabe music video, while the opening bars of the 1996 single played over the footage.
The newspaper shown was titled The Stage and Television Today, a publication that once covered West End shows, theatre productions, touring companies and TV casting news. A page in the paper read: "R U a Spice Girls fan with the ability to sing and dance? R U a superfan, a collector, a music lover? Spice Girls are a widely successful, global, choreographed, singing/dancing all female pop act with a record nine number ones in the UK & over 100 million global sales."
Reunion tour and Netflix deal scrapped
The box set announcement follows months of speculation over whether the five would reunite for the anniversary. In March, plans for a Spice Girls 30th anniversary tour were axed after the group could not agree on terms for a comeback, despite all five having been in talks over a series of concerts.
It also emerged weeks earlier that a Netflix project to mark the anniversary had been cancelled, with sources claiming Geri had been dragging her heels over whether to sign on.
Mel C confirmed there was no reunion in the works, telling The Smallzy Show on KIIS Radio: "No, there is no reunion. We are communicating all the time. We want to do something, who knows when. But I still feel very optimistic and I keep my fingers crossed that you will see the Spice Girls together at some point in the future."
On-off talks between the members
Last April, it was reported that Geri had got back in touch with the band's former manager Simon Fuller and flown to Miami to try to agree a deal. Then in February, Victoria rejoined the Spice Girls on Instagram for a singalong, having previously refused to go on tour in 2019. Amid the fallout over her family rift with eldest son Brooklyn, Victoria joined the group to sing at her London home, 30 years after the band first formed.
Mel B has said she is keen for the band to reunite and teased fans by liking a comment about the prospect. Mel C, appearing on Good Morning America in November to promote her ninth album Sweat, was asked whether the Spice Girls would come back together. Crossing her fingers, she said: "I remain optimistic. It's our thirtieth anniversary next year. We toured in 2019, we did a few stadium shows in the UK and it was incredible. We're just so proud of the legacy that we have and we have fans now from new generations are just loving the Spice Girls so I would like to get back on stage with the girls. We're talking and we're seeing what opportunities are out there. The thing that stops us is we feel so precious about it, we want to make sure it's the right thing and agree on the right thing."
Victoria's reluctance
Mel C has also said she would love another reunion, this time including Victoria. Of the band's 2019 shows, she said: "It was the most beautiful experience as a Spice Girl. I think because so much time had passed that we were all very present and really could appreciate what this thing meant to so many people. It was such a joyous experience. We were just able to take it in for the first time and enjoy every minute. I feel emotional because I'd love to do it again."
Victoria, however, has maintained she would not rejoin the band, pointing to her fashion career. Speaking to Andy Cohen on Sirius XM last October, she said: "Before I was in the Spice Girls, I was so self-conscious, and they made me feel that I was good enough. But being on stage, I realised as fun as it is, you know, it's not ultimately what I want to do anymore. I don't know if I could even still sing. I mean, I was never that great. It would be tempting. But could I take on a world tour? No I can't. I have a job… How good would the Spice Girls be at the Sphere? I love the idea of it."
Victoria last performed with the band at the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, and before that on their 2007-08 world tour.
The Geri and Mel B feud
In 2024, reports emerged that Geri had derailed a TV drama deal that would have netted each of the five members £1 million. Sources said a fallout between Geri and Mel B had left the band unable to find a manager capable of mediating to push projects forward.
The feud began after Mel B told Piers Morgan on his chat show in 2019 that she had had a lesbian fling with Geri during the band's 1990s heyday. Geri denied the affair took place, with Mel accused of inventing it to sell copies of her memoir, Brutally Honest. Geri left the band in 1998, midway through their world tour and on Mel B's birthday, and the group went on hiatus two years later.
Three decades since Wannabe
The Spice Girls shot to fame in 1996 when Wannabe reached number one in 37 countries. The group went on to top the UK charts nine times and score two number one albums. After leaving, Geri launched a solo career that produced four UK number one singles.
