Why NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ Almost Turns Into Another ’90s Boy Band: The Meaning Behind NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’
Why NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ Almost Turns Into Another ’90s Boy Band: The Meaning Behind NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’
NSYNC was one of the biggest boy bands of their time, with several hit songs, including ‘Bye Bye Bye.’ However, ‘Bye Bye Bye’ was first presented to a completely different boy band, and one of NSYNC’s most-recognized songs almost wasn’t released.
Fortunately for NSYNC though, they ultimately did record the song, which was placed on their highest selling album, No Strings Attached. The album itself went on to sell over 14 million copies and also featured NSYNC’s #1 hit, ‘It’s Gonna Be Me.’ Today, NSYNC and ‘Bye Bye Bye’ easily go hand-in-hand, but in the beginning, the song’s writers had a very different vision for the pop tune.
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Why NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ Almost Didn’t Happen
While everyone now associates NSYNC’s hit song ‘Bye Bye Bye’ with the popular boy band, that nearly wasn’t the case.
After ‘Bye Bye Bye’ songwriters Kristian Lundin, Jake Schulze, and Andreas Carlsson finished writing the song, they initially brought the project to the English boy band, 5ive.
Since ‘Bye Bye Bye’ was originally written with a rap chorus, the songwriters thought it would be better to bring it to a band who wanted to dabble in rap. At the time, 5ive was attempting to become a rap band, so the songwriters thought it would be a good fit.
5ive actually rejected what would become NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ as they did not want to have a rap/pop crossover and compete with other artists who were already doing that successfully.
As a result, the song was then shown to NSYNC, and boy band history was made.
As of November 21, 2023, NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ has over 498 million streams on Spotify, the music video has over 338 million views on YouTube, and “Bye Bye Bye” made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 4 in 2000.
Not All NSYNC Members Wanted ‘Bye Bye Bye’
Though NSYNC agreed to record ‘Bye Bye Bye’ after hearing it, not all the members thought it was a good idea.
NSYNC member Joey Fatone thought that it was a “cool song,” but “didn’t know it was going to be as big as it was.”
“Of course when you’re hearing it in the studio, you’re hearing everything raw or you’re not hearing it completely mixed,” Fatone told Us Weekly in a recent look back on NSYNC’s career. “Then when you hear it on the radio… it just sounds better.”
Lance Bass had a very different feeling about the song than Joey Fatone.
“The first time I heard that demo, I knew it was something,” Bass said in the same interview. “It was the first time in the studio that as I was live singing a song, I knew that this was going to be a single.”
Is ‘Bye Bye Bye’ NSYNC’s Most Popular Song?
Though NSYNC was only active the first time around for a few years, they produced a great deal of popular music. The group released their first album in 1997, but by 2002, they had already made the hard decision to part ways.
During their five years together in the late ’90s and early 2000s, NSYNC released four studio albums, their debut self-titled album, No Strings Attached, Celebrity, and their holiday album Home For Christmas.
The members of NSYNC, Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, and JC Chasez, certainly took the world by storm.
Their album No Strings Attached held the record for most copies of an album sold for over fifteen years. Many of their singles remained high in the pop charts for weeks on end, and to this day, fans still cannot get NSYNC’s catchy tunes out of their head.
In regard to which song was the most popular NSYNC song, there is not much debate.
Several singles from No Strings Attached were in the top 10 charts around the world. This includes ‘This I Promise You,’ ‘It’s Gonna Be Me,’ and ‘Bye Bye Bye.’ ‘It’s Gonna Be Me” actually held the number one slot on the Billboard Hot 100 list and ‘This I Promise You’ was NSYNC’s longest chart-topping hit on the Hot 100.
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The song ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ is certainly a strong contender for NSYNC’s most popular song, but for fans, not much can compare to ‘Bye Bye Bye.’
‘Bye Bye Bye’ was released by NSYNC in January 2000. It was the lead single for their album No Strings Attached.
Though it only peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 list, it is considered by many to be the boy band’s “signature song” and solidified NSYNC’s status as one of the biggest boy bands of all time.
Among its many accolades, ‘Bye Bye Bye’ won “Best Pop Video”, “Best Choreography in a Video”, and “Viewer’s Choice” at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards; the NSYNC song was nominated for a Grammy.
The Meaning Behind NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’
Today, fans of music expect most songs to be written by those performing it, or alternatively, for the performer to have a hand in the creation and songwriting. This is a relatively new expectation of artists, and when NSYNC was popular, this was certainly not the case.
NSYNC never claimed to write their own music, and it is publicly known that they did not write a lot of their music.
‘Bye Bye Bye’ was very production driven, according to the writers. The sound and energy of the song came first, while the lyrics came later.
The song is considered to be one of the biggest breakup anthems ever created. Carlsson was actually inspired by a breakup he went through while writing the hit song.
While the obvious message of the song is a failed relationship, fans of NSYNC think the boy band chose to record the song for a different reason.
Before releasing the song, NSYNC had just parted ways from their manager Lou Pearlman, who is also famous for forming the Backstreet Boys.
While Pearlman had founded the band and was considered to be the “sixth member of the group,” Pearlman manipulated the band member’s contracts so that they did not greatly profit from their music.
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“I was in the biggest band in the world and selling millions of records… but I can’t even afford my apartment in Orlando. I couldn’t even get a car,” Lance Bass explained to ABC about the situation with Pearlman.
NSYNC was able to part ways with Pearlman thanks to a loophole in their contract, but that didn’t stop Pearlman from suing the boy band.
Due to the public legal battle, many fans interpret NSYNC’s song ‘Bye Bye Bye’ as being a reference to cutting Pearlman out of their lives.
Justin Timberlake Was Caught Making A Huge Confession When NSYNC Played ‘Never Have I Ever’ On The Ellen Show
Ellen DeGeneres seemed to take it upon herself to make a surprising revelation about one of the NSYNC members.
Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez and Chris Kirkpatrick all make up the boy band NSYNC. They were one of many boy bands during the pop music craze of the late 90s and early 2000s. However, like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC stood out from the rest and became an iconic part of pop culture.
Fans have been waiting for 20 years and the band finally reunited in 2023. They all recorded the song “Better Place” from the upcoming movie Trolls Band Together, which stars Timberlake.
However, this wouldn’t be the first time the group would reunite. In 2018, the band reunited briefly during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. During a game of “Never Have I Ever,” DeGeneres asked a question one member in particular didn’t seem too comfortable with.
Lance Bass Said NSYNC Owed It To The Fans To Get Back Together
In February 2023, Bass spoke with Billboard about his podcast Lance Bass Presents: Frosted Tips. According to Bass, he wanted to create a podcast that “really celebrated the fandom out there” and to tell “stories we were never allowed to tell before.”
Bass was referring to his days in NSYNC and boy bands in general.
“We had to keep it very PG back in the day,” Bass said. “And there was a lot of stuff going down behind the curtain. There’s definitely a lot of secrets being told. It’s a really great look at the music industry, especially in that era. You know, how everything went down, what we all experienced. There’s so many similarities. A lot of the issues we were dealing with at the time were kept out of public view because we didn’t want the fans to know.”
Bass recorded episodes with former NSYNC members Chasez and Fatone, as well as A.J. McLean of Backstreet Boys, Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees and Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block.
During his chat with Billboard, he was asked if a proper NSYNC reunion would ever happen.
“Never say never,” Bass said. “I mean, who knew we were going to be doing Coachella a few years ago? I think it just has to be the right time; we all have to be inspired in the moment. But I do think the world needs something again from NSYNC. I always feel bad that there was no ending, because we didn’t have a final show, we didn’t have a final tour, because we didn’t know it was the final days. I think we owe it to the fans to give them something at some point. I just hope it’s before I’m 80 years old.”
Just one month after that interview, the real NSYNC reunion was set in motion. Bass would reveal the details to Entertainment Tonight, saying it was an emotional reunion.
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“It was pretty emotional, the first time we all got in the studio together,” he said. “Back in March, we decided to, you know, get back together and have some fun and it was like no [time] had passed.”
“But there was a lot of tears,” Bass added. “It was just tears of joy. And it was just a beautiful moment. Like, time does so much, and for us to finally be together, it just feels right.”
NSYNC Didn’t Get To Promote Their New Song ‘Better Place’ Due To The Strikes
NSYNC’s first new song in 20 years was released following an appearance at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The song “Better Place” was recorded for the soundtrack to the upcoming Trolls movie, Trolls Band Together, which stars Timberlake.
At the moment, the song has been the only aspect of the reunion fans have been able to consume. When pressed about any other plans, Bass said the actors’ and writers’ strikes have held them back from promoting the song, since it’s tied to a film.
“I’ve been telling the fans, like, we don’t have solid plans right now. Because, you know, we’re waiting for the strike to end. We’ve got things to do,” he explained. “But [the fans are] definitely shaping our future.”
Bass elaborated further when speaking to E! News, revealing the band had “bigger plans” for the song.
“It was kind of bittersweet because we did have bigger plans for this song,” he said. “Unfortunately, there is a SAG strike and, in solidarity with WGA and SAG, we’re not able to promote the film and song. We were supposed to perform it.”
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Fatone also spoke with the outlet and said the band will just “play it by ear and “hopefully, there’ll be a conversation” about another reunion in the future.
“This was honestly just to really get us reacquainted,” he said. “We haven’t been together in a group for over 25 years, so to do something like this—five different personalities, five different families now you’re involved with—there’s a lot of different things.”
Justin May Have Alluded To Hooking Up With A Spice Girl During An NSYNC Reunion On ‘Ellen’
In 2018, Timberlake was promoting his “Man of the Woods” album and stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show. DeGeneres and Timberlake have been friends for a long time, so there was plenty of fun banter between the two.
However, the big surprise came when Timberlake brought out the other members of NSYNC.
During the appearance, the group played a round of “Never Have I Ever” with DeGeneres.The guys answered various hookup questions about scenarios ranging from hooking up on a tour bus, dating each other’s girlfriends and joining the Mile High Club.
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However, the one moment everyone took notice of was when DeGeneres asked the guys if they’ve ever hooked up with a Spice Girl. Timberlake seemed hesitant to flip his paddle to “I Have Never,” while the rest of the guys confidently switched theirs to that side.
DeGeneres then held her paddle up to Timberlake, with the paddle reading “I Have.” Although Timberlake didn’t actually reveal if it were true, he did seem embarrassed.
