Boy band NSYNC reunited once more to kick off Season 22 of “Hot Ones,” and Chris Kirkpatrick made a comparison of their work to that of One Direction early in the episode.
“I think the crazy part about it is that you have a lot of these bands that were put together, and even really good bands,” Kirkpatrick began, with Justin Timberlake interrupting to say, “Not that that’s a bad thing!”
“Yeah, One Direction is an amazing band, but you have five guys that are amazing singers and great soloists,” Kirkpatrick continued. “So when they come out and do songs, it’s like, you fight over ‘Where’s this going to be?’ We kind of knew we sucked at singing certain things.”
The pop boy band recently appeared together on the MTV Video Music Awards to present a fangirling Taylor Swift with the first award of the night. Swift pointed out that they had to be doing something new if they were back together.
“We fell into our spots and we knew our place,” Kirkpatrick added. “I knew I’d be the high stuff. [Justin and JC Chasez] would do the leads, Joey [Fatone] in the middle and Lance [Bass] would be on the base,” he added. “It was a lot easier since we started with a sound, rather than five amazing vocalists. I mean, not to say we’re not, but I just did.”
Earlier this week, news broke that NSYNC has a new song coming out — their first in 20 years — for “Trolls Band Together.” It’s the third film in the franchise, in which Justin Timberlake returns with a major voice part. Fatone alluded to the RCA Records track, out Sept. 29, when he claimed all five members would be in a “Better Place” after finishing the gauntlet of spicy hot wings. Host Sean Evans asked the band about their approach to making a song together in 2023 versus 25 years ago.
“Is the approach closer to ‘how do we make a classic vintage NSYNC song?’” host Evans asked, “Or is it more like, ‘What would NSYNC sound like if we time-traveled to 2023?’”
“I think the trick was to try to capture both,” Timberlake replied. “For our fans that have been with us for so long, to give them something that felt not necessarily nostalgic but familiar and then see if we can take that sound and make it feel modern.”
“We listen to the world today,” Chasez said. “We’re obviously influenced by 20 years of experiences, but we still want to give them us.”
