For the fans, by the fans
If you love boybands (which, why are you here if you don’t?) then you’ll love the newest documentary about boybands, “Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands” which has Johnny Wright ties. Featuring interviews from boybands past and present, including our own Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass, this exciting documentary takes you on a historical ride through the exciting age of fangirls and boybands.
Be sure to check out the trailer, and stream it on Paramount Plus!
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Fans still hoping for a true *NSYNC reunion are going to have to wait a little longer.
Speaking to PEOPLE on Sept. 13 at 90s Con 2024 in Daytona Beach, Fla., band member Joey Fatone said that given the five singers’ busy schedules, “we haven’t had that conversation yet.”
“Justin [Timberlake] is finishing up his tour, I’ve been doing a bunch of things with AJ [McLean] from Backstreet Boys. So that’s been great.”
But, he added, “hopefully at some point when [Justin] is done with his tour, we’ll sit down and go, ‘What are we doing?’ and figure it out. I would love to have that conversation, whether yes or no — I just want to know. Just tell me so we can move on with our lives. Either say we had a good run and be done with it, or see what we can do.”
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Meet the Kids of *NSYNC’s Bandmates
Elaborating one day later during a 90s Con panel with fellow boy banders Trevor Penick, Dan Miller, Erik-Michael Estrada and Jacob Underwood of O-Town, Fatone, 47, picked back up with the conversation, saying a second part of the question is whether or not *NSYNC would make new music, tour or both.
“Everybody has families and relationships now,” he continued of the group, which also includes Lance Bass, JC Chasez and Chris Kirkpatrick. “It’s hard to get the five of us together and it’s a huge commitment.”
“However I will say the gears are in the right direction as far as the interest from everybody.”
There are no current plans for an ‘NSync reunion tour, but if anything changes, Joey Fatone has already drawn up ideas.
“The hardest part about that is, I think, we all [haven’t] had our brains together in a long time,” Fatone, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly at ‘90s Con on Friday, September 13. “All of us have probably different views, different points, different ideas, completely different things [to include] … now that we have been separated as a group.”
Fatone was a member of the iconic ‘90s boy band alongside Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick. While the group split in 2002, they reunited 20 years later for the 2023 songs “Better Place,” commissioned for Timberlake’s animated film Trolls Band Together, and “Paradise.”
While dream-planning a potential tour, Fatone wasn’t sure how the men would create a set list.
“In general, would you wanna put the old hits out? Of course, that’s what we would do [and] that’s what I would like to see,” Fatone told Us. “That’s probably what would happen if we did go on tour, but I think for us to do it, it’s gonna be a collection of a lot of different things that we do.”
He continued, “If we happen to go on tour and if it happens to take place, people are probably gonna see something they’ve never seen before — and everything they’ve seen before.”
For Fatone personally, he’d likely add “I Thought She Knew” to the tracklist since it’s his No. 1 ‘NSync single to perform.
“It always was always my favorite,” Fatone gushed.
While Us fans can only dream of a future ‘NSync tour, Fatone is busy celebrating the band’s heyday at ‘90s Con.
NSync may not have taken home the award for Best Group at the 2024 MTV VMAs on Wednesday, but Lance Bass isn’t sweating it.
“This many years later to be nominated again … 25 years later, it’s just, it’s silly to me. I think it’s so funny,” Bass told Yahoo Entertainment. “But just honored that people even care about us this many decades later.”
The boy band member, podcaster, author and father of two admits that the awards show has special meaning to him and his fellow NSync pals, having not only performed at the event multiple times but also having reunited just last year to honor fellow pop icon Taylor Swift.
“VMAs obviously were very special to us. We were definitely in that MTV era where it didn’t matter who you were, you had to watch MTV. It was the only place to go get your music right after school. You had to watch TRL. So, with the VMAs, it’s just where we got to really have fun and put on the biggest performance,” he said.
As far as choosing a favorite VMAs performance, Bass said he couldn’t pick a favorite, but there was one in particular that stuck with him.
“The one that really stands out to me is the ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ where we did the television screen heads. I think that was so memorable,” he shared.
“Bye Bye Bye” is seeing a resurgence of its own thanks to its well-placed appearance in the opening credits of Deadpool & Wolverine.
“We approved that song for Deadpool months ago. But you never know how it’s going to be used,” Bass explained. “But when Ryan Reynolds asks for you to put a song in his movie, you say yes, you don’t need to know what the reason is.”
Reynolds eventually let the group in on how their famous song would play in the film.
“Right before the premiere, Ryan did call us and explain how he was going to use it. And I was just floored because as a Deadpool fan, I know how those openings of movies are. And the fact that he was going to use our song in its entirety to open up this movie, I could not wait to see it,” Bass said.
The hit song also has inspired Bass’s partnership with Kelley Blue Book, where he’s offering tips on saying so long to well-loved cars. (In Bass’s case, he recalls the Buick Century he inherited from his sister whose taillight he broke two weeks after he got it. “So basically my whole high school career, I had red masking tape on the taillight,” he said.)
Bass said it’s fun to see a whole new generation enjoy the song, including his almost 3-year-old boy-girl twins Alexander and Violet with husband Michael Turchin.
“I have to play it in the car to school 50 times,” he said. “Thanks to Deadpool, my kids are now obsessed with NSync. So thank you for making me look cool.”
With all of the NSync love happening right now, does the quintet have plans to reunite for a reunion stadium tour?
“We are definitely discussing what we could possibly do. It’s really hard to get all five people together in a room and really hone in on exactly what we can do,” Bass explained. “Everyone knows Justin [Timberlake]’s on tour for a little bit longer, so I don’t think any decisions are going to be made until he’s able to jump off tour and take a breath a little bit. But we’re definitely all open to doing something together. I just don’t know what that is. So rumors will be rumors until we figure out exactly what it is.”
JC Chasez is ready to delve into the world of musical theater. The *NSYNC superstar revealed exclusively via Billboard on Sunday (Sept. 8) that he’s teaming up with Golden Globe-winning songwriter and composer Jimmy Harry for a musical theater concept album called Playing With Fire. The 16-track project is inspired by Mary Shelly’s seminal 1818 novel, Frankenstein, and blends electronic pop with classical music from the romantic era to create a fresh twist on a centuries-old story.
The reimagining of the classic story came together when Harry showed Chasez a theatrical adaptation of the story by his late mother, playwright Barbara Field. Chasez was immediately captivated by the story, and the duo worked together to create an album that represents a conversation between a dying Frankenstein and his creation, The Creature, at the grave of Frankenstein’s wife, Elizabeth. Through musical conversation and flashbacks, “the two grow to understand each other and the reasons for their actions that brutally affected each other’s lives. They eventually find sympathy, love, and forgiveness for each other,” per a press release.
NSYNC was one of the most successful musical acts of the ‘90s and early ‘00s all around the world. Of course, once Justin Timberlake broke away from the group and embarked on a highly successful solo career, the boy band’s music began to fade from the charts. In the decades since, they have largely been relegated to nostalgic favorites status…but a special occasion has brought them back and made them sales champions again.
The boy band’s “Bye Bye Bye” is featured in the movie Deadpool & Wolverine, which has turned out to be one of the hottest releases of the year. The title recently passed $1 billion at the box office globally, and it’s only been in theaters for a few weeks.
Deadpool & Wolverine is so popular, even the songs in the film are experiencing huge gains. “Bye Bye Bye” is one such smash, which is selling well once again, decades after it was first released, after Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman introduced it to millions–and reminded many others how much they enjoy the track in the first place.
*NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” bounds to the top 10, to No. 8 from No. 16, on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. The song, originally a smash in 2000, is newly fueled by its synch in the box office blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, which has grossed over $1 billion globally since it premiered July 26.
It’s been more than 25 years since the world was first introduced to Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass as *NSYNC.
After first making a splash in Germany in 1996, the band went on to release their debut self-titled album,*NSYNC, in March 1998. In 2002, though, the group went on hiatus, however in the years since, the members have reunited on various occasions for personal milestones, their Walk of Fame ceremony and in 2024, to perform together live for the first time since the 2013 MTV VMAs at Timberlake’s concert in L.A.
In addition to being featured on Timberlake’s latest album Everything I Thought It Was in the song “Paradise,” the five men worked together for the first time in 20 years for the 2023 song “Better Place” from the Trolls Band Together soundtrack.
A recent reunion — sans Timberlake as he continues to tour Europe — saw the remaining four members stepping out for the July 22 premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine, which features their song, “Bye Bye Bye.”
While it’s unclear what might be in store in terms of a reunion — with Kirkpatrick telling Entertainment Tonight, “Well, we’ve been talking about it for a while. We’re kicking the tires, seeing if the car will still drive, and, you know, we’ll see where it leads” — see what everyone has been up to individually in the years since the band initially took a breather.
Turns out, Deadpool is an *NSYNC fan!
Four out of five members of the group (Justin Timberlake is currently on his Forget Tomorrow world tour) attended the premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine on Monday (July 22) at New York City’s David H. Koch Theater. JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick were seen posing on the red and yellow carpet together in videos circulating social media.
The appearance isn’t completely random, as *NSYNC’s 2000 hit “Bye Bye Bye” is featured on the film‘s eclectic soundtrack, alongside tracks like Avril Lavigne’s “I’m With You,” Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” Fergie’s “Glamorous,” “The Greatest Show” from The Greatest Showman and “You’re the One that I Want” from Grease, among many others.