Becoming

Becoming was a reality TV series produced by MTV around 2001. Each episode would follow one fan or a group of fans of a particular singer or band. Said fan(s) would be chosen to become the band/singer for a weekend and re-create a music video of one of their songs, as well as getting various gifts revolving around the artist being imitated. There was also a spin-off called Wannabes, which featured three sets of fans becoming the same band/artist and competing on a live Q&A to see who had the best impersonation. The winner would then get to perform one of the songs on stage.


 * Ambiguously Gay: Several people on the show, typically male stylists. Because it was a family show, they couldn't outright state it. Then there's the obvious fact that teenage guys becoming the likes of N*Sync and O-Town are hardly straight.
 * Acting for Two: Inverted. Several celebrities got imitated twice on the show including Britney Spears, Christina Aguleira, N*Sync, Pink etc.
 * Backup Twin: A pair of twins were used to recreate Jennifer Lopez's "Love Don't Cost a Thing". One twin played Jennifer as she walked and danced on the beach while the other performed the complicated dance routine on the postcard.
 * Costume Porn: Every episode would feature many displays of the various different outfits required for the video. They seldom picked music videos that had only one outfit.
 * Dancing Is Serious Business
 * Dyeing for Your Art
 * Genki Girl: Kristen, the girl who became Britney Spears.
 * Important Haircut: Nearly every episode featured the fan getting his or her artist's hairstyle. This would often be the biggest step toward looking like the artist.
 * Makeover Montage
 * Race Lift: The producers certainly weren't picky about what ethnicity the fans were, even if it didn't match that of the artist. As such, we got an Asian P!nk, white Michelle Williams (from Destiny's Child, to avoid any confusion), Hawaiian Ashley Poole and various others.
 * The Remake: All the music videos.
 * Romance on the Set: Played with. A couple of times real life boyfriends and girlfriends were brought in to play on screen love interests. The girl becoming Shakira and the guy becoming Eminem for example.
 * Scenery Porn: The show featured several shots of the Beverly Hills scenery, as well as various scenic shots of the location from which they picked the fans up.
 * Totally Radical
 * Wig, Dress, Accent: A lot of the time without the accent, sometimes with.