On the 20th anniversary of the release of "Wannabe," the single that launched the girl power juggernaut on the world, the writer Laura Snapes recalls her pre-teen obsession with the Spice Girls.

These 11 tracks creep up on you, as Mitski Miyawaki's coiled melodies suddenly explode into cavernous freak-outs or build to a crescendo of unbearable catharsis.

Even before Lauren Mayberry first took a stand against misogynist trolls, Chvrches' synth-pop already felt like realist emotional armor, forged in the glint of a shield. Where the band's fellow '80s pop scholars use the decade's velveteen tones to play up the decadence of isolation, the Glaswegian trio's ...