*NSYNC Soars above Signs of A
Teen-Pop Fizzle
Entertainment
News Daily --
On its new hit ``Pop,'' 'N Sync grumbles
that it's ``sick and tired of hearing all these people talking about/What's
the deal with this pop life and when's it gonna be fading out?''
The quintet's answer: no time soon
- or, as the song promises, ``We got thee gift of melody/And we're gonna
bring it to the end.''
But while ``Pop'' receives saturation
airplay and 'N Sync's fans gear up for the July 24 release of ``Celebrity,''
the group's fourth album, band member Lance Bass acknowledges that pop
seems to be on a downturn at the moment. Record sales are declining and
box-office returns are dropping, even for the band's archrivals, the Backstreet
Boys, and the era of the so-called boy bands may be waning.
``Yeah, pop is definitely not going
to be as big in the next few years as it has been,'' says Bass, 'N Sync's
22-year-old bass voice. ``I mean, it's been enormous. I think we're very
lucky to be one of the ones that kind of stand out. It's terrible for a
new pop group or pop act right now - all the new pop artists are kind of
getting lost in the dust. Nobody really cares anymore.
``So a lot of the baby acts will
be disappearing,'' he says matter-of-factly, ``and the ones that really
made it and stand up will last. Like in the '80s, when pop was huge - it
was Madonna and Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, and look at them now.
They continue to do what they do, even though they've been through phases
when pop wasn't big. They already established themselves, they had their
fan base and they were always huge.''
That's heady company, but Bass doesn't
hesitate to put 'N Sync on that level.
``We always focus on what we have
to do,'' he says. ``We never look out and say `Ooh, they're doing this,
we have to do this.' I think that's what keeps us separated from the rest
of the pack - we're constantly thinking `How can we progress?'
``I think all the rest of the groups
and people out there are looking at everybody else and going, `Oh, I've
got to do something similar to that, because look how great that worked,'''
Bass says. ``By the time they do it, it's already old news and we're already
two steps ahead. As long as we keep focusing on what we have to do, we'll
be good.''
The latest test of 'N Sync's staying
power will come with ``Celebrity.'' The new album comes complete with sky-high
expectations, given that the band's previous album, ``No Strings Attached''
(2000), sold a record 2.4 million copies in its first week.
It's quite possible that 'N Sync
fans will continue to buy, buy, buy at that level - ``Pop'' soared to No.
1 on MTV's ``TRL,'' and 'N Sync has been filling stadiums during its current
tour. But Bass says that the Orlando-based group won't necessarily be crushed
if ``Celebrity'' doesn't live up to its predecessor.
``I'm kind of hoping we don't beat
it,'' Bass says. ``There's going to be huge competition with `No Strings
Attached,' definitely - it's one of those things where everyone's going
to expect us to beat the record from last year and all that type of stuff.
But I'd rather not beat it and end it now, so that the next time we release
an album we don't have to beat `Celebrity,' because eventually we're going
to have to sell less than we have.''
That said, Bass adds that he and
bandmates J.C. Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Justin Timberlake
still think they have a winner with ``Celebrity.'' Written and produced
primarily by the band members, the album is another creative step forward
for 'N Sync, he says.
``Pop,'' co-written and co-produced
by Timberlake, is a case in point. With its staccato beats and herky-jerky
rhythms, Bass says, it's not at all radio-friendly.
``It was scary to release it, actually,''
he says. ``We just wanted to see how it would do, and everyone says the
first time you hear it you're like, `Whoa, this is different.' And then,
the more you hear it, you're like, `OK, that's cool.' Then it just, like,
blew up.''
The rest of ``Celebrity's'' 13 songs
- 10 of which the group performs each niight on its flashy ''2001 Popodyssey''
tour - take 'N Sync even further afield from the slick sounds of its first
three albums. Contributors and guests run the gamut from techno favorite
B.T. (Brian Transeau), who co-produced ``Pop,'' to R&B hitmaker Brian
McKnight and hot producers such as Rodney Jerkins and longtime 'N Sync
collaborators Max Martin and Kristian Lunden. Stevie Wonder even plays
harmonica on one track.
Bass says that ``dirty pop,'' a phrase
from ``Pop,'' is an apt description of what 'N Sync was after, adding that
the group has also embraced the new two-step blend of techno and R&B
styles that's currently popular in Britain.
``The thing that we want to show
with this new album is just a different sound,'' he says. ``Every album,
we try to create and evolve into whatever we're trying to go to in the
next level. I think you're going to hear a lot of sounds that you've never
heard before.''
He admits that executives at Jive
Records weren't necessarily happy with the final tracks for ``Celebrity.''
``They were like, `I don't know.
I don't like that song. I don't think you should go there. It's too different,'''
Bass recalls with a laugh. ``And we're like, `No, that's what we want to
do - we don't want to do 10 `Bye, Bye, Byes' or three `God Must Have Spents.'
That's why every song on this album is different from each other, and they're
all cool.'''
It's already been a big year for
'N Sync, including a Super Bowl performance, the induction of Michael Jackson
into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and now ``Celebrity.'' There's even
a new series of Barbie dolls dressed as 'N Sync fans.
``I didn't even know we were doing
it,'' Bass says of the dolls, ``but I think that's pretty cool.''
The group has even survived that
pinnacle of superstardom, the celebrity death rumor - a widely disseminated
report that Timberlake and his girlfriend, Britney Spears, had been killed
in an auto accident. The story was false, and the Dallas radio personalities
who started the rumor were eventually fired.
``Justin and Britney are definitely
alive,'' Bass says. ``I can't believe that spread so fast - CNN, ABC. I
don't see how they can actually report stuff like that and not even get
it for a fact.
``The thing that really makes us
mad is, when it hits the news that fast, you don't even have time to call
your families and tell them it's not true,'' he adds. ``He had family members
who really thought it was true because they saw it on CNN, and they were
all, like, devastated.''
But Bass acknowledges that such rumors
are a modest price to pay for the success 'N Sync has experienced.
``It's way more relaxing now, definitely,''
says Bass, who also produced and, with bandmate Fatone, acts in the upcoming
film ``On the Line.'' ``You go through a lot of crap the first four years
of your career, and I think it's harder on a group like us that's definitely
not respected at all at the beginning. You really have to fight the criticism
and all the comparisons.
``So, yeah, we definitely had a long
way to go, and we worked our butts off to get here,'' Bass concludes. ``Now
it's comforting to know that you can do whatever you want to and be very
creative, and know that you're in control. You have your fan base that
are going to get it and respect it, even in the industry. Getting respect
from your peers, it's a great honor.
``We feel like we're in a really
good place.''