Synopsis
Set against a digitally created New York City, the Spice Girls perform "2 Become 1" in shifting combinations: individually, in pairs, and together as a group. Times Square lights, speeding traffic, and passing lovers create a dreamy urban backdrop as the women deliver the intimate ballad straight to camera. The studio-built illusion gives the video a glossy, wintry atmosphere, while the final image of a deer standing in Times Square adds an unexpectedly surreal touch.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was filmed in a London studio rather than on location in New York. The city scenes were created by combining green-screen footage of the group with separately filmed background material.
- The two-day shoot took place on November 5 and 6, 1996, at a studio on Old Compton Street.
- To make their hair and clothing react dramatically to the apparent city wind, the group performed in front of wind machines. They also had to lip-sync at double speed so the finished footage would move in slow motion.
- The members were dressed in winter clothing despite filming indoors, helping sell the illusion of a cold New York night.
- The deer seen in the Times Square finale became an on-set joke. Whenever someone made a mistake during filming, the group reportedly responded with a pun about the "deer."
- Victoria Beckham later described "2 Become 1" as her favorite Spice Girls video, partly because its studio setting, visual effects, and technology made it unlike the group's more performance-oriented clips.
- The extended ending was not always shown on television. Some broadcasts cut away during the long instrumental fade-out, meaning viewers occasionally missed the surreal deer finale.
- The video was later included on *Spice: The Official Video Volume 1*, released in 1997.