Music Review: Spice Girls "Who Do You Think You Are"

Who Do You Think You Are
Album: Spice
Year: 1997

The Spice Girls engage in a dance-off with a haughty regular at the local 70s club in the disco pastiche of "Who Do You Think You Are."

Glittering guitars and shimmering horns start the single, creating a celebratory atmosphere. As usual, the Spice Girls trade lyrics. Geri Haliwell, Emma Bunton, Mel B, and Emma Bunton again singing each line, respectively. The dance-off is for everyone who feels they have to prove themselves to the regulars. Expectations are high and people aren't going to care if the competitors came from the ghetto. One guy, in particular though, has caught the attention of the Spice Girls. He got in through connections and now thinks he's a celebrity. "The race is on to get out of the bottom/The top is high so your roots are forgotten/Giving is good as long as you're getting/What's driving you it's ambition I'm betting."

Mel C and Emma Bunton are heard the most in the chorus. They take him down a couple pegs and mock him. "I said who do you think you are (Do you think you are)/I said who/
Some kind of superstar."

Then, the Spice Girls demand that he perform difficult moves on the floor, like everybody else in the club. "You have got to swing it shake it move it make it/Who do you think you are/Trust it use it prove it groove it/Show me how good you are/Swing it, shake it, move it, make it/Who do you think you are/Trust it, use it, prove it, groove it/Show how good you are."

The glittery horn returns for a bubbly solo.

For the next verse, the singing order changes. Victoria Beckham and Haliwell alternate lyrics. They tell him he's arrogant about the non-talent he has. He thinks he's a legend and everybody will remember him, even if he doesn't go there anymore. He's been talking about his abilities but not showing much of anything. He thinks he's too sexy for his shirt, causing the ladies to swoon. However, they laugh at his pathetic attempts to be cool. "You're swelling out in the wrong direction/You've got the bug, superstar you've been bitten/Your trumpet's blowing for far too long/Lining the snake up the ladder, but you're wrong."

After the chorus, the horns are back! Except this time, the Spice Girls sing along it. They advise him to not to sell his soul to fame and hedonism in exchange for being the best dancer ever! "You have got to reach on up, never lose your soul/You have got to reach on up, never lose control."

The chorus (but mostly the choreography section) is repeated at least three times to end the single.

While the showy "Who Do You Think You Are" has a punchy arrangement and infectious chorus, the Spice Girls cannot give the single that little bit of oomph it needs. A stronger singer would've been able to deliver an equally zippy vocal performance. Simply put, the vocals do not match the enthusiasm in the music.

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