influential radio programmers, TV networks, and magazines. In addition, the music video was placed into heavy rotation by MTV. Critical reception "Wannabe" received mixed reviews from UK music critics. Paul Gorman of Music Week called the group "smart, witty, abrasive and downright fun". He described the song as a "R&B-lite debut single", and noted influences from Neneh Cherry in it. In a review conducted by the British pop band Deuce for Smash Hits magazine, the group described "Wannabe" as "limp", "awful", and "not strong enough for a debut single." Kate Thornton, editor of Top of the Pops magazine, commented that the all-girl group idea was "not going to happen;" she considered it too threatening. In her review for The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan called it a combination of "cute hip pop and a vaguely feminist lyric", she was also surprised that "considering the slightness of 'Wannabe,'" the group had an overwhelming amount of offers from record companies. NME characterised the song as "a combined force of Bananarama, Betty Boo and Shampoo rolled into one." Dele Fadele of the same magazine called the rap during the song's bridge "annoying", and added, writing of the group's music: "It's not good. It's not clever. But it's fun." The magazine named "Wannabe" the worst single of the year at the 1997 NME Awards. Conversely, it won for Best Single at the 1997 BRIT Awards, and for International Hit of the Year and Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards presented by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. The song was ranked at number 33 in VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s", and at number 111 on NME's 2011 list of "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". In the United States, reaction to the song was also mixed. In a review of the group's debut album, Edna Gundersen of USA Today said that "Wannabe" is "a melodious but disposable tune that typifies this debut's tart bubblegum and packaged sexiness." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called it "insidiously snappy, ... [that] is shaping up as this year's 'Macarena.'" Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune said that "'Wannabe' has UGH written all over it," adding that it was "relentlessly catchy and horrifyingly hummable". The Buffalo Newss Anthony Violanti called it "irresistible". Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe described it as a "maniacally zippy single", and Stephanie Zacharek of Salon referred