The *NSYNC Boys Dropped A New Single Today And I Don't Hate It
Rolling Stone - SOMETIMES, GOOD THINGS come with a sacrifice. For pop fans, in the case of ‘NSync reuniting in the studio for the first time in more than two decades, it means that the song they made, “Better Place,” was created for the forthcoming animated sequel Trolls Band Together. But at this point, we’ll take what we can get.
The bright bop sees the group come back together and includes the upbeat chorus: “Just let me take you to a better place/I’m gonna make you kiss the sky tonight//Yeah, if you let me show the way/I’m so excited to see you excited.”
Over the past month, the reunited five-piece — Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Justin Timberlake, and J.C. Chasez — have been making up for lost time. A few weeks ago, they presented an award to Taylor Swift at the 2023 MTV VMAs, appearing together for the first time since earning their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018 and hitting the stage during Timberlake’s VMAs Video Vanguard Award performance in 2013. Their last musical release, the “Girlfriend” remix featuring Nelly, dropped in 2002, a year after they released their last album, Celebrity.
I figured for certain somebody else would have already blogged this today, but it appears it didn't make the cut when compared to when Taylor Swift is planning her next bowel movement. You know we'll have you covered on that.
But like I said in the headline, I don't hate this song.
Am I going to drop it at peak hour at Zouk in Las Vegas? No. But does this song work in today's awful pop music landscape? Absolutely. Does it work in what I think is one of the better computer animated kids movie franchises, Trolls, out there? Even more so.
I'm sure everybody with kids has seen Trolls 1 or 2 by now, or if you're a weirdo like me who doesn't have kids, but just has a million friends with a million kids and have happen to see them, you'll agree: they're pretty fucking good.
Personally, I was introduced to it at my business partner Bobby's house by his two daughters, and I was hooked from the opening intro where there's an underwater performance of Daft Punk's "One More Time".
The buildup where the DJ is telling them to wait for it, and the little things freaking out, followed by the drop and seeing two little kids jump around the room dancing had me cracking up.
Compared to other pixar type movies I thought both Trolls were really well done, good stories, with awesome musicians involved (Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Anderson .Paak, Gwen Stefani, to name a few. They also had Max Martin produce the cover songs for it.)
Enough of sucking Trolls dick, great movies, and this song is going to fit perfectly in the new one coming out November 17th. And it has more big names being added to the cast: The movie will follow Branch as he reunites with his brothers — voiced by Troye Sivan, Eric André, Daveed Diggs, and Kid Cudi — to get their childhood boy band, BroZone, back together.
It's cool seeing these guys back together. Mainly because it's good to know that Timberlake really is that guy. He basically left these guys in the dust 20 years ago, blasted off into solo-super-stardom on his own, locked down and wifed arguably the hottest chick ever, Jessica Biel, became even more of a household name and American icon, and has been doing whatever he damn pleases.
He could have easily pumped out another solo project, but he decided to get the boy band back together. Pretty cool.
Lord knows Joey Fatone needed that call.
Daniel Boczarski. Getty Images.
Advertisement
Kris Kirkpatrick, made most famous by Eminem in "Without Me", now has a shot at redemption.
Lance Bass is a gay icon now so I'm not sure how the new songs are gonna go and if they're still going to be directed towards the girls that got away or just ambiguous people, but we shall see in November when the new album drops.
p.s. - how the fuck did JC Chacez fall off so hard back in the day? Guy was a stud and he had pipes just as good as Timberlake. Hot take: his verse on "I Want You Back" was better than Timberlake's by a mile