#nsa20

“I know this can’t be right, hey baby come on...”

I don’t need to hash out what’s going in the world right now in March 2020. We’re all very aware of the situation at hand, and it’s scary. A lot of us feel alone, isolated, panicked, especially the people who already have problems with being alone, isolated, and panicked. Let’s not talk about that right now though.

There is another serious matter I want to discuss. On March 21st, it was the 20th anniversary for the most prolific, important album of all time, No Strings Attached by *NSYNC. The week leading up to it was filled with so much nostalgia and all around feels for *NSYNC fans around the globe. Lance Bass interviewed all the guys on his podcast, The Daily Popcast, and each interview was better than the next. Now, *NSYNC are in the headlines, with random articles filled with misquotes, poor research, bad opinions of what might’ve happened back then, because Justin went solo and it’s all his fault, right? No, wait it’s Lance’s fault. It’s the label, or Lou Pearlman’s ghost, or the Backstreet Boys, or Britney. 

No. Stop it. Let’s break it down. “IT’S JUSTIN’S FAULT.” The most common thing out of people’s mouths when talking about the break-up of *NSYNC. He wanted to go solo, he was tired of the band, he got really successful and left everyone high and dry, yada yada yada. Stop blaming him, or anyone else in the band. Get ready for my HOT TAKES people. Do I want another *NSYNC album? Well, yeah, no shit. Would I have loved another *NSYNC album if it came out in 2002, or 2003 or even 2004? Probably, but if JT creatively decided to not do Justified, would he have been creatively invested in this theoretical 4th *NSYNC album? (I know technically 5th with the Christmas album, don’t get into semantics with me you guys.) Would the album have under performed and *NSYNC just fizzle out into existence? Would Justin not have gone on to bring Sexy Back or put his dick in a box? In this weird, alternate universe of us getting an album after Celebrity, do we really, as fans, think that they would’ve stayed together like BSB? It was time. As sad as it was, and still is, that we don’t have that album after Celebrity, it’s okay. We are all okay.

I would rather have three amazing, beautiful, iconic albums to listen to over and over again, than even more *NSYNC albums that are mediocre. Maybe it’s because I’m not a huge BSB stan, but I honestly have no idea what any song they have recorded after that Incomplete song in 2005 sounds like. Not. A. Clue. Oh I listened to their first three albums. I owned them, and enjoyed Black and Blue more than Millennium. Of course if someone told me to name all the songs on those albums, to quote the *NSYNC guys, “NOPE. Can’t do it.” My point in all of this, is that did we want that for *NSYNC? Did we want them to fizzle out like that? I’m sure the BSB are fine and all, but let’s not beat around the bush here. 

Think of all the amazing things we could’ve missed out on if they had made that 4th album back then. 

FutureSex/LoveSounds Schizophrenic Until Yesterday/You Ruined Me Justin on SNL, maybe at all? In Time ( I STAND BY THIS )

You know, there’s other things. We might’ve never gotten Solo JC, and as short lived as it was, it was EVERYTHING. Fucking, everything. I think a big part of them stopping at the height of their career is what makes them so special. That 20 years later, we love them. We ship them. We’re obsessed with them. We make *NSYNC podcasts about them, and despite what my one friend said about how much can you possibly say about *NSYNC, my answer to that question is there is never enough you can say about *NSYNC. I’m still invested and figuring out things to this day, like did you guys know Joey was hot back then? Whoa, how did this fly under my radar for all these years? I was astonished when I discovered this out.

It doesn’t matter why they stopped back then, or whose fault it was, although I think Lou Pearlman’s ghost should start trending, because at the end of the day, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. From Celebrity to On the Line to Justified to Schizophrenic to now, I will forever be *NSYNC fan, JC stan, will see every movie Justin is in (except that Woody Allen movie, yikes), Lance popcast listener, Joey instagram live watcher, Chris being the best dad ever *NSYNC fan for life. 

We need to come together more than ever now, and we can all agree that *NSYNC can help do that. Whether or not you don’t agree with other fans about what may have happened or what could’ve been, just be happy with what we have, because it was glorious, and special. Now is the time for us to reunite, come on party people, there’s a quarantine party going on, and tonight is the night, everything’s gonna be all right.

Now to end with more HOT TAKES, here’s my ranking of *NSYNC’s top 20 best songs, without explanation to make it more controversial, because I don’t need to explain myself. This is from a fan that did heavy research, and is more accurate than that other ranking that’s floating around out there. Enjoy, and thank you all. 

*NSYNC’s Top 20 Songs

20) I Drive Myself Crazy

19) For The Girl Who Has Everything

18) Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

17) This I Promise You

16) Here We Go

15) It Makes Me Ill

14) I Want You Back

13) Tell Me, Tell Me... Baby

12) Under My Tree

11) Pop

10) In Love On Christmas

9) Tearin’ Up My Heart 

8)  No Strings Attached

7) I Thought She Knew

6) You Don’t Have To Be Alone (Live Version)

5) The Game Is Over

4) Bye, Bye, Bye

3) It’s Gonna Be Me

2) Just Got Paid

1) Music of My Heart

Stay *NSYNC ladies and gents.

- Tori