Post Nsync Reunion Post

Fair warning, I’m going to wax poetic on Nsync. I realize this may sound strange to some; a 25-year-old gushing about men ranging from the ages of 32-41 that were formerly part of a boy band, but I’ve realized in the last couple of days—I don’t care.

None of my current friends knew me at the height of the Nsync craze. They didn’t see how utterly obsessed I was with those five boys. I was ten when their first album debuted in the United States, and like every other girl in the country, I hopped on the Nsync train and never looked back.

I was part of the 2.4 million people who purchased “No Strings Attached” in the first week of its debut. I waited outside of the music store on July 24, 2001 to purchase my copy of “Celebrity”. I had wall-to-wall posters covering every inch of my bedroom (and even some ceiling space).

I videotaped every single appearance, performance, award show, music video, public appearance, commercial—ANYTHING—featuring those five boys. I bought the VHS tapes (oh, how this dates me), I bought the bonus remix albums, I bought the piano sheet music (because I fancied myself a skilled piano player, obviously), I bought the lip gloss, I bought the marionette dolls and bobble heads.

If there an Nsync product, I was begging my parents to buy it for me or saving up babysitting money to buy it myself.

I was fortunate enough to see them in concert twice; once for the “No Strings Attached Tour” and once for the “Pop Odyssey Tour”. Each concert was the event of my year.

I listened to their albums incessantly. I memorized every song, every little nuance and loved every minute of all three albums and Christmas album.

These boys were my life for almost four years. 

Look at how adorable they all were!

Then Justin Timberlake announced his releasing a solo album. I remember getting an uneasy feeling about it, because despite all the sayings to the contrary, I knew Nsync was going to take a backseat. I knew, deep down inside, that the days of Nsync were ending. It is tough enough in any situation to realize that things are going to change and that things are going to become different, especially for a young teen going through rough changes in terms of growing up who craves stability.

I was fourteen when Nsync was placed on the back burner for Justin’s career. And I ate Justin’s solo career up.  I started drinking his tasty kool-aid in 2002 and continue to sip daily. (Although, I think it’s something to be said that I’ve disliked every single he’s released. They all grew on my eventually and I cannot imagine disliking “Like I Love You” now, but I initially did not like it.)

I saw Justin live for the “Justified/Stripped” Tour. I bought his debut album and actually enjoyed it. I remained spoiler free for his 2006 release of “FutureSex/LoveSounds”. I’m currently bathing myself in “The 20/20 Experience”. I hopped on his acting train and watched him act on the big screen.

That’s not to say I didn’t have love for the other members either. I bought JC’s “Schizophrenic” album and actually had the pleasure of meeting him in 2004 while he was out promoting the album. I followed Lance, Joey and Chris’s non-Nsync activities.

But with each passing year and with Justin becoming more and more of a pop phenomenon, I knew the likelihood of the group getting back together was becoming more and more dismal. And it upset me.

I think the majority of my sadness towards that realization was because there wasn’t ever any closure. They never truly officially said they had broken up. It was portrayed as a hiatus to let Justin try something new. And then, suddenly, there is no Nsync. Then came the rumors of nasty falling out between all the members and the memories of a fun-loving group of boys—brothers—became tainted with bitterness.

In the ten years since Nsync stopped performing together, I grew up. I took down my posters, I got rid of my seemingly childish memorabilia and threw out my piles of VHS recordings of their performances. My hopes for a reunion dwindled down to near non-existence.

I just recently turned twenty-five and I was having a difficult time coping with that fact. I know twenty-five isn’t as big of a milestone as say turning thirty or forty, but I was smacked with the realization that I’ve lived a quarter-century and suddenly felt insignificant. To cope, I turned to nostalgia. I began listening to Nsync albums again, blasting them through my iPod speakers, letting them be the soundtrack to my everyday life.

I started listening to them when I read. I started listening to them while I cleaned. I started listening to them when I worked out (which I highly recommend). I started listening to them on my way to work. I started listening to them while I did nothing, just lying around the house.

With each song that played, I was transported to a time where things were simpler. My biggest worries in 2000-2001 were surviving middle school without some everlasting shame. I didn’t have to worry about a job, maintaining a home or balancing a budget. 

With each song that played, I remembered how much fun I used to have being their fan. And more importantly, how much fun those five guys seemed to have with each other. Watch any YouTube video from 1997-2002 with those guys and you’ll realize how much they enjoyed each other. They were goofy and stupid together and that camaraderie permeated everything they did. 

 Like this. HOLD THE PICKLE.

I began hoping once again for a reunion. 

I cannot even put into words the feelings I had after the initial rumors surfaced of a possible Nsync reunion at the VMAs on August 25, 2013. I felt like I’d been waiting for so long that a reunion was never within the realm of possibility. I got jittery and jumpy and almost didn’t want to believe the rumors because I didn’t want to be disappointed if it never came to fruition. I’d survived the breakup and didn’t want to relive all those feelings of utter letdown if the Internet was just spinning fancy tales. 

I tuned into the VMAs boiling with nervous energy and a rolling mass of anticipation. I knew that if Nsync did reunite, it was supposed to be a surprise, but that didn’t stop me from panning the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of them sitting together. When the commercials announced Justin was performing and possibly “not so solo”, I literally began to shake. I couldn’t text my friend back without a tremor in my fingertips as she texted me “OMG, not so solo!”. I knew her excitement was mostly for me (she’s rather indifferent towards Nsync), but in that moment, I knew she shared my feelings. 

When Jimmy Fallon came out to announce Justin’s performance, I was bouncing in my seat. My heart was pounding my ears and I couldn’t think straight. With each passing minute of his performance, I grew increasingly nervous. After almost nine minutes of performing, I thought maybe the rumors were false. While Justin was undoubtedly killing it (and snatching everyone’s wig), each new song intro was one of his own. 

When the opening lines of “Pusher Love Girl” morphed into “Gone”, all rational thought went completely out the window. As the silhouettes of the four other members of the band slowly rose from the stage, my hands flew to my face in awe and I immediately started crying. I missed most of their performance together because I was a blubbering mess and saw it in its entirely through multiple replays on my DVR after I calmed down. 

 Ten years and they've all still got the moves.

Ten years of waiting for a public performance and it had finally happened. Was it exactly how I pictured? No. Would I have liked for it to have been longer? Most definitely. But here’s the thing: this was Justin’s night. He was being honored for all of his spectacular work in the past eleven years as a solo artist and I don’t think an Nsync reunion should have trumped that. 

That being said, they honored themselves and I’m forever thankful Justin realized that those four other guys were such a monumental part of forming who he is and paving the way for his success. Say what you will about Justin Timberlake, but he would have gone nowhere without Nsync as his starting point. With all the rumors of animosity between everyone and Justin, I found it incredibly humbling of Justin to not only perform again with Nsync, but to give them attention after the performance was over (I mean, he turned his back on the audience and let the other four guys have their moment), and also share the Video Vanguard Award with the rest of the group. 

Justin Timberlake: classiest mofo you'll ever witness

Also, I can’t not mention this—the 2000 VMA Nsync performance is hands down the best performance in VMA history. Fight me on it. No other group could come close to what Nsync did with that performance, so be still by beating heart when they paid homage to that performance with their rendition of “Bye Bye Bye”. I also wasn’t expecting them to have actual choreography, so seeing all five guys dancing to classic Nsync choreography from thirteen years ago just about killed me. 

If you don't like this, you're wrong

Way to bring it boys, way to bring it. 

Their performance was something I’d been waiting for since 2003. No one I’m really close to today understands exactly what that performance meant to me. I’ve been getting some flak from coworkers and friends in real life thinking, “Really? You got that excited about an Nsync performance?” 

Yes, I did. I stated it before—this performance meant closure for me. It put an end to all those he said/he said rumors of Justin and Lance, or Justin and JC hating each other. It put an end to all the “we’ll never perform again” comments. It put an end to all the naysayers claiming they couldn’t be nearly as good as they were ten years ago. If they never perform together again, it gave me a definitive end to their legacy. 

They went out there and proved to every artist watching that they still have star power. Days before the performance, Nsync reinstated their Twitter handle and hundreds of thousands of people instantly started following it. We went nuts over one lone tweet and in that moment, I swear, we were all teenagers again. 

I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to see them perform live again and despite whatever endeavors they may choose to do next—whether it be solo or together—each of them should know, I’ll follow with just as much enthusiasm as I did all those years ago.

I'll love these boys forever