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Imitation of Life is een nummer van de Amerikaanse alternatieve rockband R.E.M. uit 2001. Het is de eerste single van hun twaalfde studioalbum Reveal.

Als het aan de bandleden van R.E.M. had gelegen was "Imitation of Life" nooit als single uitgebracht. Ze dachten er zelfs over om het nummer helemaal geen plekje op "Reveal" te geven. Dit omdat ze het een typische R.E.M.-track vinden, en zichzelf alleen maar willen vernieuwen, niet herhalen. Uiteindelijk besloot de band om het nummer toch op het album te zetten, en als single uit te brengen. En met succes, want nummer wist in veel landen de hitlijsten te behalen, in sommige landen zelfs de nummer 1-positie. In de Amerikaanse Billboard Hot 100 flopte het nummer echter met een 83e positie. In de Nederlandse Top 40 haalde het een bescheiden 23e positie, in Vlaanderen bleef het steken op een 8e positie in de Tipparade.

"Imitation of Life" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was written by band members Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe and produced by the band with Pat McCarthy for their 12th studio album, Reveal (2001). The track's title comes from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film of the same name and is used as a metaphor for adolescence and adulthood. One of R.E.M.'s most pop-influenced tracks, "Imitation of Life" has been described lyrically as "see[ing] through the puffed-up performance of a hopeful entertainer", as well as the enjoyment of love.

R.E.M. chose to release "Imitation of Life" as the first single from Reveal due to its commercial potential. The song was serviced to European radio in March 2001 and was issued commercially worldwide between April and July 2001. Upon its release, the song received positive reviews from music critics, who were more complimentary toward the instrumentation than the lyrical content. Commercially, the single peaked at number 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Triple-A chart for three weeks. Internationally, "Imitation of Life" reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, giving R.E.M. their ninth top-10 single in Britain. It was also successful in Italy, Norway, and Spain, reaching the top five in these counties, and it charted within the top 40 throughout Europe and Australia.

At the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 2002, the song was nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, losing to U2's "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". A music video directed by Garth Jennings was made to promote the song. Filmed in Calabasas, California, in February 2001, the video uses a series of cameras and pan and scan techniques to create a 20-second clip of a pool party scene in which various incidents occur in both forward and reverse time. Critics praised the video for its concept, and it was nominated for two awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, losing in both categories to Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice".