Let's Take It Back To 1998...

It's been 25 years since *NSYNC's debut album was released. How time flies...

I was scrolling through Facebook as I do and an article came up from PEOPLE that made me stop scrolling and clutch my chest. “*NSYNC Remembers U.S. Debut Album 25 Years Later: 'A True Homecoming'” the headline read. Thankfully, I was already laying down. How in the world was that 25 years ago?! More importantly, WHEN DID I GET OLD? It was a really enjoyable interview with 4 out of 5 members of the group reflecting on the early days. It’s a long read, but I really liked it! 

Reading the article got me to thinking about how important *NSYNC was and still is to me. Today is not only the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut, this week is also the 23rd anniversary of their album No String Attached! So enjoy this stroll with me down memory lane if you will. Maybe you want to queue up my *NSYNC playlist while you read. Buckle up, it’s a long one.

Here We Go…

It was the summer of 1998. I was packing to spend the summer with my brother and his family in suburban Illinois. There was nothing on TV because it was July, and I was aimlessly flicking. When I got to the Disney Channel, I saw five guys I kind of recognized. I knew who *NSYNC was; in my mind they were an inferior Backstreet Boys (oh to be 12 and wrong!). I was a LOYAL Backstreet Boys fan at 12. But there was nothing else on, so I gave their little concert a chance. Little did I know it would change my life.

After watching the concert, I was HOOKED. They were such good dancers, they could sing, and most importantly, they were CUTE. I had heart eyes for Justin immediately, and we all know that hasn’t wavered in 25 years. What can I say? He had whatever that special thing was that made it impossible to look away from him when he was on screen. But all of the guys had something dynamic about them; they were so talented. Their dancing was sharp, even when it was fluid. It never looked like work, even when it clearly was. Those early dances were super athletic! They were jumping and flipping all over the place. Their energy was up, but it was never chaotic. They were, for lack of a better phrase, in sync.

Pretty immediately, I declared that Justin and JC were my number one and two. It’s not surprising given that they were the lead singers. I feel like it’s important to say here, because people love sending me stuff that declares JC the best singer in the group: I KNOW. I can still be a Justin girl and know that JC had the pipes. My ears aren’t broken! To this day, his riffs and ad libs can reduce me to a pile of goo. Just needed to clarify.

Tearin’ Up My Heart

The thing is, when I go back and watch stuff, I grossly underestimated how talented Joey, Chris and Lance are. Joey and Chris especially. Joey’s baritone is really something to behold — his voice is incredibly smooth. Is his dancing a little hammy (and JC once called it)? Yeah, but he’s a theatre kid, this is not a surprise. Chris also really held his own. He only got to sing lead on “I Drive Myself Crazy” but if you hear the version where JC sings lead, you can see that Chris’ voice is just so much better on that track. 

I went back and watched the Disney Channel concert in preparation to write this (and also because, nostalgia) and they really did the damn thing. Everyone knows that the only reason they got the concert is because the Backstreet Boys bailed at the last minute, but fuck if you can’t tell that they put in the WORK it took to pull it off. The BSB did a Disney concert the following year to promote their album Millennium, and it was fine, but it wasn’t as good as the *NSYNC concert. 

*NSYNC stands out from their peers from the very beginning. They made it clear that they were always going to push themselves to be at the top of their game, and it shows in all of those early performances. I went back and watched a bunch on YouTube, including ones I had never seen before. Their music also always had a little more soul underneath, even the super poppy songs like “Here We Go” or “I Need Love”.

After that Disney concert, my obsession came out in full force. I spent that whole summer in Illinois listening to the album with all of the girls I made friends with at day camp. That was also the first summer of TRL, except at the time it was called Total Request; it wasn’t even live yet! Every day I would rush down to the basement to see where the video for “Tearin’ Up My Heart” would be in the top four. It always came between “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” by the BSB, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith and “Are You That Somebody” by Aaliyah. Justin Timberlake in a tank top in a bed? My tweenage hormones were on FIRE. 

For the Girl Who Has Everything

When I came home, I was ready to spread the good word. There were still a few weeks left of summer, and I went to hang out at the house of a family friend. Their younger daughter was just as obsessed with *NSYNC as I was. We instantly became best friends, begging my mom to take us to see them doing a mini concert at Macy’s in Herald Square. She’s still one of my best friends to this day. 

I threw myself headfirst into fanaticism. I had notebooks, pens, magazines, posters. All of it. My walls were plastered with their smiling faces on every conceivable surface. I bought their official book and carried it around like it was a sacred tome. I indoctrinated all of my school friends into the cult of *NSYNC too. It was fun to have people to obsess about them with at school and at home. And boy did I. 

In March of 1999 me and my best friend Dana went to see *NSYNC in concert. It was my first ever concert, an early 13th birthday present. We had 10th row seats at Nassau Coliseum and it was so much fun. During the song “Sailing”, Joey flew right over us. He was Dana’s favorite and she was so excited. I remember he got hit in the butt with a glowstick. That was the first of three times we’d see them in concert together. 

A few years later, I was able to get my hands on their European debut album, thanks to the import section of the Virgin Megastore. (RIP) That album has five different tracks than the American album, and honestly, there are a few they should have kept. They have a cover of Boston’s “More Than A Feeling” that beautifully shows off their harmonies, and another ballad “Together Again” that gives each of them more singing time. “Best of My Life” is a Boyz II Men-esque ballad that again shows off just how good their voices are. Only “More Than A Feeling” and “Best of My Life” are available on streaming as far as I know. They also had a single during the in between called “U Drive Me Crazy” that I love. 

Here’s their joint performance from the 1999 VMAs with Britney Spears because I love it.

But if you want it, here’s my heart…No Strings Attached

On March 21, 2000, my blessed mother took me and six of my friends into Manhattan for the day. Why? Because *NSYNC was going to be on TRL that afternoon and doing an in-store signing at the Virgin Megastore. It was a real experience, let me tell you. Some of my friends had never taken public transportation in the city before; even the ferry ride was new to them. Just getting to Times Square was already an adventure. 

Of course there was no way we were going to get wristbands for the signing, girls had been camped out in front of the store for DAYS. It was very cute that we thought we had a chance. But we got our CDs and my mom took us to Central Park for a few hours to kill time. I don’t remember the details, but I imagine there were a lot of shenanigans. Remember, there were seven thirteen year old girls let loose on the city on a school day. We were high on the freedom of an excused day off and knowing that we would get to see our boys through some very tall windows in a few hours.

After lunch, we headed back to Times Square for the festivities. By now, Dana and I were old pros at standing outside in front of the MTV building. We were able to suggest the best part of Broadway to stand at to see inside the windows. We were going to be spending the next few hours looking up and being prepared to scream when we saw any figures moving. Others would scream at every van with tinted windows that drove around the corner, but with it being Times Square, that felt like a waste of vocal power. 

I don’t really remember much about TRL besides standing on the street and screaming a few times. I didn’t know what was said or done until I got home that night and watched the tape. It was never really about the show though; more the experience of going. Even 23 years later, it remains a cherished memory. I still think my mom was batshit crazy for taking us, and have told her such over the years. She insists it was worth it because it made us all happy. 

I’ll Be Good For You

Strings is such a big part of who I am, even today. It was an influential time in my life — it consumed my entire 8th grade experience. “Bye Bye Bye” came out in the winter of ‘99, and it blew our minds. I still remember the first performance of the song at the Billboard Music Awards. Chris had cut his hair, which was a big deal, and the choreography is slightly different. 

Oh the choreography for that song. My friends and I rehearsed it painstakingly at least several times a week during whatever downtime we had in either dance or drama class. I had to be JC, which really hurt my Justin loving sensibilities, but I’ve come to embrace it. I can STILL do the choreo, but I don’t do the parts on my knees, because I can get down, but I can’t get back up. I’ve (half) jokingly told Beth that if the DJ plays the song at our wedding, I will do the dance in my poofy princess gown. 

Last year on a whim, I decided to watch the Live from Madison Square Garden concert (bitterly, that tour is the only one I didn’t see live) and was shocked that I still remembered so much choreography. I can’t remember what day it is most of the time, but I can still do the breakdown of “It’s Gonna Be Me”. Dance is more sense memory than anything else, but still. 

We were so obsessed with *NSYNC that our dance teacher picked “Space Cowboy” as the song to represent the U.S. in our dances from around the world Spring Concert program. And we somehow convinced our teachers to choose “Music of My Heart” as our graduation song. 

Bringin’ da Noise

If you ask me what my favorite *NSYNC album is, I will emphatically say No String Attached. I love all of their albums, but this is the one I’ll put on just because. Or if I need something comforting and familiar, it’s my go-to. I think it’s the perfect example of what they did so well. You have your more pop songs like “It’s Gonna Be Me”, “Bye Bye Bye” or their international single “I’ll Never Stop” (all produced by Max Martin’s Swedish cohorts) and then you have your harmony driven ballads “This I Promise You” (written by 90s ballad king Richard Marx) and “I Thought She Knew”, but then you have songs like “It Makes Me Ill” and “Space Cowboy” that have that signature “dirty pop” sound that they cultivated. “Space Cowboy” featured a rap by Left Eye, which was also a pleasant surprise at the time. Fun fact: if you’re a Housewives fan, Kandi Burruss wrote and produced “It Makes Me Ill”. Even more fun fact: Ariana Grande interpolated that song in her single “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored”. She even had JC, Chris, Joey and Lance perform with her at Coachella 2019, which happened to fall on my birthday that year.  

The guys really got to stretch their musical muscles on Strings. Justin wrote one song, “I’ll Be Good For You”, which really laid the groundwork for the songs he would write on *NSYNC’s next album and his future solo stuff. JC wrote “Space Cowboy”, the title track, “Bringin’ da Noise” and “Digital Getdown”. That song blew my 13 year old mind. Mainly because it was very overtly about cyber sex. My friends and I of course knew that instantly, because there’s a good chance a bunch of us engaged in said behavior at that point. But to hear our boys singing about it?? It was the best thing ever. The performance of “Digital Getdown” from the Live at Madison Square Garden concert will be forever burned in my mind. 

Just Got Paid

No Strings Attached was a super big deal industry wise as well. After a highly publicized legal battle with their former record label and Lou Pearlman, the svengali who gave them the money to start their career, they signed to a new label and were FINALLY able to release new music. It got rave critical reviews, but more importantly, it sold 2.4 MILLION copies in its first week. No one had ever done that up until that point. The Backstreet Boys had sold over a million copies the previous year with Millennium, but *NSYNC smashed that record and never looked back. It was a record they held for 15 years, until Adele released her much anticipated album 25. Personally, I think Strings is a better album, but kudos to her for doing that at a time when people weren’t even buying physical albums anymore. 

Strings did another really important thing for 90s and 00s pop: it changed the game of what pop meant. *NSYNC was the first group to lean into that R&B fusion, working with more producers from that genre. Call it appropriation or whatever you want, but it absolutely changed what a lot of artists were doing at the time, including BSB, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and others. 

That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You

I know this was a long one, and I appreciate you all hanging in if you’ve read this all the way to the end. It’s hard to be concise about 25 years of memories. Regular musings will return hopefully next week. I’d love to do more deep dives like this, especially about late 90s/early aughts pop culture and pop music. If it’s something of interest, please let me know! I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.