2 Become 1

"2 Become 1" is a song by the British girl group the Spice Girls. Written by the group members, together with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice (1996). "2 Become 1" is an R&B-influenced pop ballad that features instrumentation from a guitar, an electronic keyboard and string instruments. The lyrics focus on the bonding of two lovers, and also address the importance of safe sex. Its Big TV!-directed music video, which features the group performing against time-lapse footage of Times Square in New York City, was completely shot against a blue screen at a studio in London. The backdrop was later superimposed. Released as the group's third single on 16 December 1996 by Virgin, it was generally well received by music critics and was a commercial success. It topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, becoming the group's third consecutive chart-topper, their second million-selling single, and their first Christmas number-one single in the United Kingdom. In July 1997, the song was released in the United States, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, and receiving a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It performed similarly internationally, peaking inside the top ten on the majority of the charts that it entered. The song was named "Song of the Year" at the 1998 ASCAP London Music Awards. In 2019, Emma Bunton covered the song, as a duet, with Robbie Williams on her fourth solo album, My Happy Place. In December 2024, an orchestral version by Bunton with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra was released.