They won consistently with all three of their major releases, *NSYNC, No Strings Attached, and Celebrity, sitting at the top of the charts. In just three albums, spanning from 1998 to 2001, the boys carved a lane and inspired a wave of artists who are redefining the meaning of mainstream culture. It’s present everywhere from their successors in One Direction to alt-R&B singers like PartyNextDoor.
The five boys put down their mics 17 years ago, but their impact is undeniable. In reality, it was their traditional pop sound that sounded forced. *NSYNC’s genre-bending sound set them apart from their contemporaries because it came natural to them, rather than feeling like a gimmick. The band members had a variety of backgrounds-coming from places like Memphis, Mississippi, and Maryland-with each having music roots in country, soul, and go go, so they wouldn’t remain pop clones for long. The group’s marriage of pop and their interpretation of R&B, soul, and country was inevitable.
The best parts of *NSYNC are when the band fused pop with the edge of R&B and hip-hop on songs like “ Giddy Up” and “Here We Go”-a sound that made up a quarter of Billboard’s charts. The album opener reeks of adolescence and exaggerated emotion steeped in cliches: “It’s tearing up my heart when I’m with you/But when we are apart I feel it too.” It’s ridiculously dramatic but that’s apart of its appeal, which makes sense considering it was co-written by pop songwriter Max Martin. But what the boys got right was their ability to bank on the feelings of teenagers who were spending over $2 billion on pop music. *NSYNC is filled with dance inspired productions and heavy ballads, which might cause you to skip a few tracks in today’s music landscape. Their boy next door charm was sprinkled throughout their introduction to the world, which at times felt like they were guys you’d pass on the way to your locker.
Coming off the heels of an era of alternative rock were five all-American boys who weren’t discovered in Los Angeles or New York, but a city most popular for retirement and family vacations. Right away, the boys of *NSYNC were hard to dislike.
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