"Spice Up Your Life" is a song by British girl group the Spice Girls from their second studio album, Spiceworld (1997). The song was co-written by the group with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, at the same time as the group was shooting scenes for their 1997 film Spice World, while production was handled by the latter two. It is a dance-pop song, with influences of Latin rhythms such as salsa and samba. The song's theme reflects the group desire to "write a song for the world" while the lyrics has been labeled as dance oriented with a self-promoting message. Released as the album's lead single in October 1997, it received an extensive worldwide promotional campaign that included a series of appearances on television programmes and presentations at award shows. The song received mixed reviews from critics, obtaining divisive opinions for its production and lyrical content. Despite the lukewarm critical reception, the song was a commercial success. It debuted atop the UK Singles Chart, becoming the group's fifth consecutive number one in the United Kingdom and has since been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It performed similarly on the music charts in the rest of Europe and Oceania, while in the United States, the song did not perform as well as their previous releases, peaking at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. An accompanying music video, directed by Marcus Nispel, features the group in a futuristic setting, inspired by the 1982 film Blade Runner, controlling every aspect of society in a dark post apocalyptic cityscape. The song has been regularly included on the setlists in most of the group's concerts and presentations, most notably their performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. Background In May 1997, the Spice Girls went on a promotional visit to the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France, where they announced their then-upcoming movie Spice World (1997). The group began shooting scenes for the movie in June. Meanwhile, Virgin Records started the first marketing meetings for the promotional campaign for their second album Spiceworld, which was set to be released in November 1997. No song had been written for the album at this point, so the Spice Girls had to do all the songwriting and recording at the same time as they were shooting the movie. Between takes and at the end of each filming day,