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.

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).

[2] In 2019, Emma Bunton covered the song, as a duet, with Robbie Williams on her fourth solo album, My Happy Place.

[3] In December 1994, the Spice Girls persuaded their former managers—father-and-son team Bob and Chris Herbert—to set up a showcase in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men at the Nomis Studios in Shepherd's Bush, London.

[4][5] Producer Richard Stannard was originally at the studio to meet pop star Jason Donovan, but he ended up in the showcase after hearing Melanie Brown, as she went charging across the corridor.

In January 1995, Chris Herbert booked the group's first professional songwriting session with the producers at the Strongroom in Curtain Road, East London.

[6] In her autobiography, Brown recalled that the duo instinctively understood their point of view and knew how to incorporate "the spirit of five loud girls into great pop music".

[9] Brown hinted at this development in her autobiography, commenting: "When [Rowe] and Geri started making eyes at each other I knew what was going on, even though they denied it.

[11][12] A Spanglish edit that traded verses between the English and Spanish versions was created by DJ Mike Rizzo and production director Bill Schultz for New York-based radio WKTU.

[25] In a review of the group's 2007 compilation album, Greatest Hits, Talia Kraines of BBC Music called it "shimmering", adding that "only a cold heart could fail to love their first festive #1".

[26] Larry Flick of Billboard magazine said that "they are surprisingly adept at weaving warm and romantic imagery over a sweet melody", adding that "[Everyone] will delight in the track's arrangement of soft harmonies and delicate acoustic guitar riffs".

[27] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune said that their first album "is a compendium of slick secondhand urban pop encompassing [...] G-funk synths on 'Say You'll Be There' [...] and Babyface's guitar and strings balladry on '2 Become 1'".

[28] Digital Spy's Nick Levine noted that the group's slower songs were "probably their strongest suit", and thought that the song "manages to combine every element of the perfect Christmas ballad–a touch of elegance, a hint of romance, a soupcon of sexiness and a generous sprinkling of sparkle–and still finds time for a coy safe sex message".

[29] Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly said that it is "too slow, and the lyrics appear to have been written by a safe-sex-loving unicorn", adding that "it's almost impossible to identify the individual Spice Girls by their voices here, so airbrushed are the proceedings".

[30] A reviewer from Music Week rated the song five out of five, adding, "No turkey this as Spice Girls virtually guarantee a third chart topper and look a strong bet for the Christmas number one with a seasonally lush ballad.

"[31] Time magazine's Christopher John Farley called it a "slumberous ballad [...] [that] seem[s] designed to amuse, titillate, ingratiate".

[40] "2 Become 1" sold 1.14 million copies in total,[41][42] giving the Spice Girls their second and final million-selling single in the UK.

[66] The music video for "2 Become 1" was directed on 5–6 November 1996 by Big TV!, in a two-day shoot located at a studio in Old Compton Street, London.

Cinematographer Stephen Keith-Roach, who worked in other music videos such as Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" and U2's "Discothèque", was in charge of the photography.

[17] The shoot involved the group dressed in winter coats, wandering around the studio against a green screen, interspersed with close-up camera angles, so that the backdrop could be superimposed later.

[8] The music video features the group wandering around Times Square in New York City, with fast moving cars appearing around multi-coloured lights.

Such a scene, according to the group's first official book Girl Power!, gave them a running gag all throughout the shoot—"Whenever anyone made a mistake it was, 'Oh, deer'.

"[17] The song was performed many times on television, including the Bravo Supershow, GMTV, Live & Kicking, Noel's House Party, and Top of the Pops.

[69][70] In October 1997, the group performed "2 Become 1" as the eighth song of their first live concert at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey.

After Halliwell's departure in 1998, Bunton sang the first and third lines of the chorus alone during the Spiceworld Tour, but in the Christmas in Spiceworld Tour Beckham replaced Halliwell during the first and third lines of the chorus along with Bunton, while Brown replaced Beckham during the second and fourth lines of the chorus along with Melanie C. [74][75][76][77] The performance at the Spiceworld Tour's final concert can be found on the video: Spice Girls Live at Wembley Stadium, filmed in London, on 20 September 1998.

After the "Too Much" performance, each of the girls emerged from a cocoon of oversized swan wings and danced around a set of barber's poles while singing the song.