How ‘Bye Bye Bye’ set *NSYNC free 25 years in the past:…
It would possibly sound loopy, however *NSYNC was at risk of going “Bye Bye Bye” earlier than the boy band’s signature track was launched 25 years in the past on Jan. 17, 2000.
After scoring hits equivalent to “I Want You Back” and “Tearin’ Up My Heart” on their self-titled debut album — launched in 1997 in Germany and 1998 within the US — the group was locked in a extremely publicized legal battle with former supervisor Lou Pearlman and former label RCA Records. After suing Pearlman for fraud and misrepresentation, they have been countersued with the risk of no longer with the ability to document or carry out underneath the title *NSYNC.
But after going through an unsure future, the quintet of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick settled out of courtroom and mentioned goodbye to all that drama with “Bye Bye Bye,” the smash single that discovered them embarking on a new chapter with a new label, Jive Records, and a new perspective.
*NSYNC emerged from its legal battles with former supervisor Lou Pearlman and former label RCA Records to release “Bye Bye Bye” in 2000. WireImage
The first single from *NSYNC’s blockbuster album “No Strings Attached” was a tie-cutting assertion that took them to the stratospheric heights on the daybreak of the new millennium.
“I guess it was the right timing — let’s be real,” Fatone, 47, solely informed The Post. “It occurred [right after] the lawsuit. All eyes have been on us. What was occurring? Are they gonna put a new album out?
“It’s a message more about a girl and a guy and their relationship, not so much about the business itself. But it kind of worked that way.”
Indeed, for *NSYNC, the breakup track was a defiant declaration of independence.
“It was the emancipation of a boy band that had legions of fans on a global basis,” mentioned Barry Weiss, former president of Jive Records. “It was a perfect epithet to the first stage of their career and represented their emancipation, where they took matters into their own hands.”
And as *NSYNC gave “Bye Bye Bye” a entire new that means, they capitalized on all of the controversy.
“The whole court case and the whole dispute … played out in the court of public opinion,” mentioned Weiss. “So it also gave tremendous momentum to the song when it came out. The record sort of encapsulated everything that was going on with the group and their struggles against Lou Pearlman and the big bad wolf of the record company, and it all just played into the public sympathy and led to a huge explosion of the song on impact.”
Former *NSYNC supervisor Johnny Wright (third from left) joined the group once they acquired their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. WireImage
Although it couldn’t have performed out any higher for *NSYNC, the superbly timed tune wasn’t designed to be a shrewd energy transfer.
“When we cut that record, we had no knowledge of what was going to go down with the lawsuit with Lou, and so it wasn’t like a preconceived situation that, ‘Oh, this is the song,’ ” mentioned Johnny Wright, *NSYNC’s former supervisor who now manages Timberlake. “It just happened to play into that.”
But whereas it appears as if “Bye Bye Bye” was at all times meant to be for *NSYNC, the track was first given to a different boy band: Five, a British quintet managed by Simon Cowell.
“This boy band was kind of more on the rap side, and the lead singer of the band was trying to sing, ‘Bye, bye, bye’ and he was like, ‘This song is ridiculous,’” mentioned Andreas Carlsson, who co-wrote the tune with its producers Kristian Lundin and Jake Schulze. “Halfway by the track, it’s like, ‘I can’t sing this crap with a British accent!’
*NSYNC reunited in 2023 for the premiere of “Trolls,” for which they recorded “Better Place.” WireImage
“So they left and didn’t want to do the song. So we were sitting on the song. And thankfully we were able to give it then to *NSYNC. It was serendipity.”
Ironically, Fatone mentioned, “We actually got handed ‘Slam Dunk (Da Funk) by Five one time, and we turned that down.”
The track all started with the title. “When ‘Bye Bye Bye’ came up, it was just like filling in the blanks,” mentioned Carlsson, whose lyrics have been impressed by his own breakup. “It was ‘bye bye bye’ to my ex-girlfriend.”
Musically, the Swedish tunesmiths — who had beforehand labored with the Backstreet Boys — have been influenced by ’90s R&B and hip-hop.
“We’re all excited about it,” mentioned Joey Fatone of recording “Bye Bye Bye.” “Hopefully it … makes you want to bop” Getty Images
“It was like, ‘Hey, if Destiny Child can do ‘Bills, Bills, Bills,’ we can do ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ ” mentioned Carlsson, who would additionally go on to co-write “It’s Gonna Be Me,” the second single from “No Strings Attached.”
“We thought we had swag.”
And *NSYNC was prepared to maneuver in a more R&B/hip-hop direction.
“That’s kind of what we listened to, and that’s really what Justin’s vocals are like,” mentioned Fatone.
“They were all into basketball and sneakers,” added Wright. “They were into things that warranted that music to represent who they really were.”
“Bye Bye Bye” co-writer Andreas Carlsson reveals that the track was first given to British boy band Five. WireImage
Recording the track at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, Fatone mentioned that he and his bandmates have been immediately optimistic about it.
“We’re all excited about it,” he mentioned. “And, you know, you always think, ‘OK, hopefully it has potential. Hopefully it moves you or makes you want to bop your head.’ ”
Jive Records was instantly hooked by “Bye Bye Bye.” “Johnny Wright had sent it to us while we were in discussions with them, and we thought that this was like an instant, one-listen hit,” mentioned Weiss. “We were just like, ‘This is a f—king smash.’ ”
Based on “Bye Bye Bye,” Jive Record pursued *NSYNC — despite the fact that the label was already home to a different main boy band within the Backstreet Boys. “The Backstreet Boys were really pissed off,” mentioned Weiss. “NSYNC didn’t really give a s—t.”
“We have been similar to, ‘This is a f—king smash,’” said former Jive Records president Barry Weiss (at *NSYNC’s “Celebrity” release social gathering in 2001) of first listening to “Bye Bye Bye.” WireImage
And amid the legal battles, “Bye Bye Bye” acquired its stay premiere earlier than they have been even allowed to release the track.
“When the Radio Music Awards came up,” mentioned Wright, “we were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to go play that show and we’re going to perform this record so that no matter if we lose the [battle], and someone else gets the record, it’s going to be out there that we cut this and we put this record into the public first.’ ”
“Bye Bye Bye” would go on to launch record-setting gross sales of “No Strings Attached” after the album’s release on March 21, 2000 and even earned a Record of the Year Grammy nomination in 2001. And 24 years later, the track was embraced by a entire new technology when it was featured within the opening sequence of 2024 blockbuster “Deadpool and Wolverine,” with Ryan Reynolds’ character doing the long-lasting choreography from the video.
“It was ‘bye bye bye’ to childhood,” mentioned Joey Fatone of *NSYNC’s 2000 smash “Bye Bye Bye.” Getty Images for MTV
“Which is even crazier with the whole trending of now people going, ‘Oh look, it’s the Deadpool dance,’ ” mentioned Fatone. “You’re like, ‘No, it’s not a Deadpool dance. It’s truly ‘Bye Bye Bye.’ “
For Fatone — who joins the solid of the Broadway musical “& Juliet” on Tuesday for 9 weeks — the track nonetheless makes him need to bust the strikes a quarter century later.
“It brings me back to a time when we were learning how to be adults,’ ” he mentioned. “It was ‘bye bye bye’ to childhood.”
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