Low-rise jeans, Nokia cell phones, chunky highlights, the orange VHS of the Rugrats movie, and blow-up chairs; some things are so perfectly late ‘90s and early 2000s that you can’t imagine that spread of time without them. Another staple of that time frame that we look back on — with a hint of regret, maybe, but laced with a lot of fondness — is *NSYNC.
The boyband that stole all of our hearts, comprised of Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Joey Fatone, was a mainstay in music for our formative years. We can’t think back to growing up without realizing their impact on our hearts as we fell in love, had our hearts broken, and practiced synchronized choreography with our besties in our rooms for hours on end.
With hits like “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You,” “Pop,” “Gone,” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” — you can’t look back at the history of music without seeing *NSYNC all over it. Luckily, we don’t have to speak of *NSYNC in the past tense anymore, because due to a recent VMA appearance and an upcoming track on the Trolls 3 soundtrack, everyone is dreaming of new music and memories with our favorite boyband, and it looks like these might be dreams that soon come true.
So, just who are the members of *NSYNC, what have they been up to, and are we driving ourselves crazy thinking of a new album or tour? As always, we’ve got you covered.
Justin Timberlake
Frontman Justin Timberlake was most notably the “leader” of *NSYNC, and after the band went their separate ways, he formed a career of his own in music, songwriting, and producing before becoming an actor as well. Timberlake is one of the most recognizable talents from the late ’90s and early 2000s, and we’ve been a fan of him for a significant chunk of our own lives.
Some of Timberlake‘s biggest movie roles to date include The Social Network, Bad Teacher, Friends with Benefits, and In Time. Timberlake even voiced Branch in family musical Trolls in 2016. One of Timberlake’s biggest solo albums was released in 2002, filled with songs like “Cry Me a River,” and “Rock Your Body.”
In 2006, Timberlake released another album with a huge number of songs to listen to from “Lovestoned” to “What Goes Around Comes Around.” His most recent album dropped in 2018 and fits into the pop, R&B, electronic, funk, and soul genres. Alongside his extensive professional career, Timberlake is currently married to his wife, Jessica Biel, who is known separately for being a famous Hollywood actress. The duo have been married since 2012, and share two children together. Timberlake has over 63 million followers on Instagram, and has sold over 88 million records worldwide throughout his journey in the music industry.
Joey Fatone
Joey Fatone was the baritone of *NSYNC, and he definitely added a splash of fun to the boy band with his flamboyance and flair. Fast forward to 2007, and Fatone participated in the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars. Fatone even came in second place — which is pretty impressive, if you ask us. It seems very likely that Fatone was able to lean on his dancing skills from his time in *NSYNC many years down the line. In his personal life, Fatone has been married to his wife Kelly Baldwin since 2004, and they currently have two kids together. On Instagram, Fatone has over 362,000 followers.
Fatone also had the important role of playing himself in an episode of How I Met Your Father alongside another friend and band member, and if you didn’t see the episode, we’ll fill you in shortly.
Lance Bass
Moving on from *NSYNC to succeeding as a talented TV producer, actor, and dancer beyond the band is exactly what Lance Bass has done. Bass has been married to his husband Michael Turchin since 2014, and they seem to be really happy together. He came out in 2006 as the cover story for People Magazine and won the Human Rights Campaign Visibility award that same year. Bass chose to write an autobiography called Out of Sync in 2007 describing all his experiences. Anyone up-to-date on Netflix reality TV shows will recognizes Bass from a few episodes of The Circle.
Bass also had a stint on Dancing with the Stars, where he came in third place. He was also in episodes of 7th Heaven, Gravity Falls, and was a panelist in Unicorn Hunters. Fans also know that Bass also starred in an episode of How I Met Your Father with Fatone, and the pair had a brilliant time playing themselves on the series.
JC Chasez
JC Chasez is one of the other tenors from *NSYNC who shared the singing position with Timberlake. As of 2021, it turns out Chasez and Timberlake are actually still good friends. Chasez currently has over 227,000 followers on Instagram, where he considers himself an “artist, songwriter, producer, foodie, and goofball” according to his bio. The URL section on his profile will send you straight to *NSYNC‘s official merchandise store where fans can purchase T-shirts, phone charms, scrunchies, socks, hats, buttons, bomber jackets, limited edition records, and more.
Chasez is still very much connected to his *NSYNC roots, which is fairly obvious from a few scrolls through his Instagram page. These days, Chasez is also very adamant when it comes to convincing his fans to stay in the loop with politics and current events. One of his posts from 2020 simply says the word “VOTE” in bold capital letters, right before the election.
Chris Kirkpatrick
Chris Kirkpatrick is considered one of the founding members of *NSYNC, and during his time with the band he was the countertenor. Along with being part of *NSYNC, he also performed with Bravo All Stars and Sureshot for a few years as well. Kirkpatrick has been married to his wife Karly Skladany since 2013, and they share one child together. On Instagram, Kirkpatrick has over 156,000 followers and one of his most recent images is a picture of Bass’s floating face on the buttocks of a pair of jeans. Kirkpatrick also posted a playful TikTok video of himself with Fatone and another friend doing a dance together towards the end of 2021.
Will there ever be an *NSYNC reunion tour?
The Celebrity Tour in 2001 was the final time *NSYNC hit the road together, and while we’ve all been holding out hope that they’d reunite and allow us to cry in stadiums with thousands of our fellow boyband lovers, the dreams we have about it are simply that — dreams.
At least, they’re just dreams for now. As we said above, *NSYNC has reunited as of late in several ways. From appearing together at the VMAs to debuting a song for the Trolls 3 soundtrack, we have a feeling they’re keeping some things under wraps until the right time.
With music as a universal language, it brings us back to beautiful memories and promotes healing where we need it most; there’s always a reason to hope where *NSYNC is concerned. Another beautiful piece of the puzzle is that the guys are still great friends, with no bad blood between them and no secret competition that would make them taking the stage together impossible; it’s not wrong to cross your fingers and hope that they’ll find their way back to one another soon enough.
While it’s also not promised, we think there might be a day, not too far off in the future, when we all get together to sing our favorite *NSYNC songs together again, and we can’t wait.