Boy Bands Could Learn From Boyz
(11.26) Source - Spin: It's the year 2007 and the Grammy-winning band *NSYNC (come on, we're just imagining here) has just put out its fifth album. And it's really quite good.
Most folks don't remember the not-as-cuddly members' names anymore, so the band calls their release Justin, Chris, Lance, JC and Joseph (the name Joey was just so immature) to remind everyone. Critics actually like it. They say the guys' voices have never sounded better and that they've finally grown into their musical talent.
Which unfortunately means, they've also grown up.
They are now officially a man group in a boy group's world. And if that's not bad enough, all the new boy groups - the ones like *NSYNC used to be - have not only severely threatened the man group's chance to make it big again, they thank the man group for their inspiration.
It could very well happen. After all, *NSYNC has said that they patterned themselves after Boyz II Men. And the above scenario describes Boyz II Men's not-so-boyish life right now. Nathan Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris have aged.
They aren't the same hungry teen-agers from Philly who got a break when they sang for New Edition's/Bel Biv Devoe's Michael Bivins backstage at a concert. They're not the same smooth-strutting brothers who put out the Grammy-winning Cooleyhighharmony, which contained the ultimate club and high school dance hit of 1991, "Motownphilly."
Sure, they've got 34 million record sales to their name. Sure, they have their name on ballads like, "I'll Make Love to You," "End of the Road," and "One Sweet Day," (with Mariah Carey) that are some of the chart-happiest singles in music history.
But they've also got kids, wives, medical problems (McCary has scoliosis, which has made it impossible for him to dance) and bellies. Their last release, 1997's Evolution was, relatively speaking, a commercial disappointment and spawned talk that the group would be breaking up. And, after a three-year hiatus, they're trying to make a comeback in the Total Request Live era.
Now they're back, with a new CD, Nathan, Michael, Shawn, Wanya and, they hope, a new vitality. The group had more creative input on this release, writing and producing some of the songs, including "Pass You By," themselves (with a little help from their friends like She'kspere who has worked with Destiny's Child and Pink).
The result is quintessential, classy Boyz II Men - graceful ballads about sweet love, not the wild thing - with a couple of surprises thrown in. They've gone up-tempo without going "Thong Song" on songs like "Bounce, Shake, Move, Swing" and "Beautiful Women."
They're the Oprah in a hip-hop world of Jerry Springers. The men's grace and desire to take the higher road might keep them from ever being "cool" again, but it just might keep them alive and kicking.
*NSYNC, are you gentlemen paying attention?
*NSYNC Visited By Rock Star
(11.25) Source - Reuters: Last night's latest concert date in *NSYNC's sold-out No Strings Attached Tour found the five guys face to face with none other than rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who watched the first of two sold-out concerts at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas from the side of the stage. Van Halen was accompanied by wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli and son, Wolfgang Van Halen, who watched the concert from a more comfortable location in the seats of the stadium.
Richard Marx On *NSYNC And 'This I Promise You'
(11.22) Source - Launch: Richard Marx wrote and produced *NSYNC's current single, "This I Promise You," from the group's latest album No Strings Attached. That is at least part of the reason why Justin Timberlake's vocals in the first few verses of the song sound remarkably like Marx, who is known for his own popular ballads like "Endless Summer Nights" and "Right Here Waiting." Timberlake didn't even realize how much he sounded like Marx on the track until the *NSYNC singer got a strange phone call from his father.
Marx explains, "Justin told me that when he sent the whole album to his parents--you know, the advance CD without any of the credits or anything--his dad called up and said, 'Wow, the album's great, but why is Richard Marx singing on this ballad?' So, that's pretty funny. I think it is just that they lived with my demo of it--and we both have a raspy voice. But," Marx chuckles, "I'm not dating Britney Spears."
Working in the studio with *NSYNC was much better than Marx ever expected. He tells Launch that he was a bit apprehensive at first because he had heard a few rumors about *NSYNC before he ever met them in person. "I could make up some bad stories about *NSYNC, but I'd be making them up," he says. "I went down to Florida to do their vocals last year when they were making the album, and I really have to admit I went in thinking...I'd heard the rumors that they were like a lot of these other boy bands: They relied a lot on studio technology, that they weren't really that great as singers, and I was going to have to do a lot of studio tricks to make them sound great. I went in thinking that and, man, was I wrong. I was as wrong as I could have been."
The studio experience was so positive, and the song did so well - reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 - that Marx recently reunited with *NSYNC to record a Spanish version of "This I Promise You" "A couple of months ago I came into New York just for the day to do that, and they had one day off of their grueling tour and they got to spend their one day off in the studio with me singing in Spanish," Marx says. "You know, this is also nine trillion album sales later, and I'm thinking, OK, they're going to be copping an attitude--they've got to. Somebody's going to be trippin' without luggage here. Somebody. Not one of them. All five of them worked so hard. Justin and JC, the two lead singers, they worked so hard with me. I can't rave enough about them."
In between that project and writing and producing for acts such as Shedaisy, 98 Degrees, Michael Bolton, and Natalie Cole, among others, Marx found the time to release his own new album, Days In Avalon, in October. The album was released on Marx's record label, Signal 21.
*NSYNC Have Become Boy Toys
(11.22) Source - Infobeat: At least the boy band have become one of the fastest toy selling items on sale this Christmas in the USA. New York toy-maker Living Toyz is having trouble keeping up with production as their 10 inch marionette *NSYNC dolls are flying off the shelf as fast as they are being put on. The dolls are based on the cartoon characters from their It's Gonna Be Me video. They are currently for sale in K-Mart, Target, Toyz-R-Us and FAO Scwarz stores across America and retail for $20. Meanwhile, *NSYNC is out to raise more than $500,000 for charity with their annual. This year they have issued a toy challenge to their fans. Each fan attending one of their concerts on Nov 26, 27 and 28 is urged to bring along a toy to be donated to the *NSYNC charity Challenge for the Children.
Manifest Destiny
(11.22) Source - TV Guide: On the heels of "Independent Women Part 1," their single off the "Charlie's Angels" soundtrack, Destiny's Child are recording a new CD, "Independent Women." Not that they don't want help from a few good men. "We're trying to get *NSYNC [on the CD]," says Destiny's Beyonc� Knowles. "And we're talking about Michael Jackson - we're working with the same producer that he is." While she feels "a little pressure" about the new release, due in February, Knowles is happy to take the heat: "We're becoming the celebrities we've always wanted to become."
Star Advice With *NSYNC
(11.22) Source - Popcentric: Say "Bye Bye Bye" to your problems - 'da boys' are here! In need of some star advice? Well, you're in luck because *NSYNC, the most happening boy band in the world, will be on hand from December 4th to help with your problems.
*NSYNC say: "It's great to be able to give something back to our UK fans - they have been really supportive. We can't wait to get answering the problems - between us we've been through a lot of ups and downs and we will be pulling on all our experiences to try to help others."
So if you've got a problem you'd like JC, Joey, Lance, Chris and Justin to help with, use our form or email email us before Monday November 27. The five guys will take turns to respond to a different problem (they can't answer all your letters) and you can read their advice at So...every day between Monday 4 December and Sunday 17 December.
To submit your questions and read the guys advice just click to BBC Online
*NSYNC Not Impressed By New BSB Album
(11.21) Source - WorldPop!: *NSYNC's Lance Bass thinks the new album by rival boy band the Backstreet Boys is too far removed from their old sound, but admits it is still likely to break the record for first-week album sales.
'It's way more ballady,' Bass said of Black & Blue, released worldwide this week. 'I think they're just trying to change their market too much. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.'
The record for first-week album sales is currently held by *NSYNC's No Strings Attached. However Bass said that if Black & Blue did manage to sell more than 2.4 million copies to break the record, they had the Thanksgiving Day holiday to thank. 'The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. It doesn't bother us. We were surprised that we broke their record,' the singer said.
The boy bands have been at loggerheads ever since *NSYNC signed to Backstreet Boys' record label, Jive, and promptly broke their previous sales record - 1.3 million first week copies of 1999's Millennium.
Backstreet's Back, Ready To Rumble
(11.21) Source - Rolling Stone: Despite a slew of superstar-status releases by the likes of the Wu-Tang Clan ("The W"), Erykah Badu ("Mama's Gun"), Elton John ("One Night Only") and Nine Inch Nails ("Things Falling Apart") hitting stores today, retailers, media and industry leaders will focus full attention on "Black & Blue," the third album by the Backstreet Boys. At stake are the bragging rights to the fastest-selling album in the ten-year history of SoundScan, something rival boy band *NSYNC stole from the Boys back in March when their "No Strings Attached" outsold "Millennium" by more than two-to-one (or 2.7 million to 1.1 million copies).
Boys Eyeing Record
(11.21) Source - Jam! Music: What's Black & Blue and platinum - make that multi-platinum - all over? The Backstreet Boys' new album. It arrives in record stores today as the biggest pre-Christmas CD release. Black & Blue is expected to exceed rival boy band *NSYNC's North American record for first-week sales of 2.5 million, set in March by No Strings Attached. The two groups are based in Orlando, Fla., and share the same record label, Jive-Zomba.
"I bet we can break their record and our record combined the first week out," Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean told Teen People.
Backstreet Boys have sold 55 million albums worldwide in just three years. More than five million copies of Black & Blue - not to be confused with the 1976 Rolling Stones album of the same name - are being shipped in the U.S., with an additional 500,000 copies in Canada.
Even *NSYNC's Lance Bass predicts Black & Blue will top No Strings.
"They will break the record. I mean, it's the biggest shopping week of the year," Bass told The Toronto Sun in an exclusive Canadian print interview last week when *NSYNC was here for two sold-out SkyDome shows.
"The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. It doesn't bother us. We were surprised that we broke their record (1.3 million of BSB's 1999 album Millennium in its first week). But I think people focus too much on that."
Black & Blue features 13 new songs, including a ballad written by Canadian Dan Hill.
To promote the new record, Backstreet Boys are on a whirlwind, 100-hour promotional tour of six cities on six continents. They've already visited Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Capetown and Rio De Janeiro and arrive in New York City today.
*NSYNC's Bass already has heard Black & Blue and says his rivals have a more adult-contemporary sound.
"It's way more ballad-y," Bass said. "I loved the first new song (Shape Of My Heart) they released...I think they're just trying to change their market too much. It wasn't as fun as I thought it'd be."
Backstreeters Do it Their Way
(11.22) Source - New York Daily News: Given their love for coordinated white suits, synchronized dance moves and silky harmonies, you might think the Backstreet Boys live their lives in a musical fantasy world, where they never suffer the small humiliations of daily life. You'd be wrong.
Backstage at a recent taping of the "Rosie O'Donnell Show," the Boys demonstrated that, despite selling more than 55 million albums over the last three years and being worshiped as gods by droves of screaming girls, they are, in fact, mortal. Backstreet's back, despite competition from boy band rivals *NSYNC and 98 Degrees.
It began with the food - a big bag of burgers from McDonald's. "We're Burger King," groans Brian Littrell, referring to the massive ad campaign the group waged on behalf of Whoppers this summer. It was *NSYNC, the band's loathed rivals, who shilled for Big Macs. "We're not touching it," declares Nick Carter of the enemy burgers. But a few minutes later, the Backstreeters have eaten their way through almost everything in the bag, and Carter lets out a tremendous belch.
"The way I see it, the more deeply you get into this business, the more you've got to be real," he announces as a makeup man applies a light dusting of coverup to his forehead. As if the wrong burgers weren't enough, Carter further aggravates his bandmates with his nonstop singing of Men at Work's goofy '80s hit "Down Under."
But it's all in keeping with the band's playful camaraderie. Howie Dorough is mocked by his bandmates for being "in love with Ricky Martin." And, after much teasing, A.J. McLean has to confess that he's addicted to picking at his right thumb, which is on the verge of getting gory. "It's such a habit that I'll be picking at it until I bleed," he admits. "I'll pick right through the Band-Aid. Everyone in my family does it."
Perhaps A.J.'s nervous tic has been exacerbated by the pressure the whole band is feeling. Tomorrow, Backstreet releases "Black & Blue," an album they hope will extend the band's run of multiplatinum albums and reestablish the act as the biggest vocal group - don't dare say "boy band" - of its
generation.
Claims on that title have been bouncing between the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC all year. In May 1999, Backstreet set sales records when fans rushed out to buy 1.13 million copies of "Millennium" in its first week of release. But *NSYNC set the bar higher, more than doubling that number in March, when "No Strings Attached" racked up 2.4 million in sales.
Bad blood long has simmered between the bands, which were both products of pop Svengali Louis J. Pearlman and are both signed to Jive Records. 'Black & Blue' shows a more manly side of the Boys. "We're like a good car design, where they just keep stamping them out," Richardson says of the competition. "Making copies! Copy-rama! It's kind of frustrating. It's kind of sad."
Backstreet now says it wants to leave Jive, but fears lawsuits. "The thing is, how can we ever make a move or differentiate ourselves when our own record company knows our schedule as well as theirs," Littrell asks. "So every spot that we go and hit, they trail right behind. We think it's a conflict of interest. But what can you do?"
To ensure "Black & Blue's" maximum impact, the group has embarked on a 100-hour, round-the-world promotional tour, during which the band plans to make stops in Tokyo, Sydney, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro. Tomorrow, the band is slated to land in Times Square, announce tour plans and turn in yet another appearance on MTV. The band also has secured itself the cover of this month's Rolling Stone, and its "Rosie" appearance airs today.
But even as the Boys globetrot to push the new album, they're trying to downplay expectations of massive sales. "We really just want to make our fans happy," Carter says. "Everybody's concerned about the record because we broke it the first time. When we did it, it was one of the highlights of our careers. But it might never happen again, and if that's the way it is, then that's cool."
The album may be a tough sale even to its core audience, since the band has kept photos off the cover and instead selected a simple black-and-blue design. "That's basically showing that we don't need to put pictures on the front of albums and we want to let the music speak for itself and try to get away from that whole image thing that's been going on," Carter says.
Richardson compares it to the Beatles' white album and AC/DC's "Back in Black." But Carter says the title also describes the band's psychic state after taking "a lot of punches." To strike back at critics who have dismissed them as nothing more than the product of teen frenzy and some exceptionally talented Swedish producers, Backstreet vowed that they would have more creative input on this album.
2001 AMAs Call For Fans Help
(11.20) Source - Allstar: The American Music Awards are asking fans to cast their votes via the Internet for the Fans' Choice Award, which will be given out during the awards show on Jan. 8, 2001 in Los Angeles and telecast on ABC. The nominees, which were determined by a blue ribbon panel, are: *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Faith Hill, Eminem, and Creed. To cast your vote, just go to americanmusicawards.com. You have until Jan. 8.
*NSYNC Calls For Unwrapped Toys In L.A.
(11.20) Source - Allstar: *NSYNC is continuing its charitable ways this holiday season, as the boy band kings have announced the Challenge for the Children Toy Drive.
The group is encouraging each fan who attends one of its three upcoming L.A. shows (Nov. 26 at the Staples Center and Nov. 27-28 at the Great Western Forum) to bring a new, unwrapped toy for those less fortunate in the L.A. area.
A collection site for the toys will be set up at each entrance gate at both venues.
Lil' Bow Wow Barks On *NSYNC Tour
(11.20) Source - MTV: Thirteen-year-old rapper Lil' Bow Wow, already known for sparking hysteria among his young fans, will witness teen madness on an even larger scale this month as a late addition to *NSYNC's No Strings Attached tour.
The rapper, whose debut album, Beware of Dog, was certified gold in October, will join the tour as an opening act beginning Friday (November 24) in Las Vegas.
From there, he'll open for *NSYNC on six more dates, including a tour-ending show in San Diego, California, on December 2, according to a statement from his label, So So Def/Columbia. Lil' Bow Wow duets with his mentor, Snoop Dogg, on his latest single, "Bow Wow (That's My Name)."
Other opening acts on the current leg of *NSYNC's tour have included the pop acts Baha Men, Dream and SoulDecision.
Lil' Bow Wow tour dates with *NSYNC:
11/24 - Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden
11/25 - Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden
11/26 - Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
11/27 - Inglewood, CA @ Great Western Forum
11/28 - Inglewood, CA @ Great Western Forum
12/1 - San Diego, CA @ San Diego Sports Arena
12/2 - San Diego, CA @ San Diego Sports Arena