by Chelsea Ives

With each year that passed bringing me closer to finishing my university degree, I began to feel older and more decrepit than I ever ought to feel. Every year it seemed each generation became less infatuated with the suave, seductive boy bands of my youth, and I became accustomed to the fact that millennial’s would never feel the same kind of love for the music and boy bands as I did when I was a pre-teen girl, freakishly hoarding burned CD’s scrawled on with black sharpie.

Such was true for my copy of NSYNC’s  2000 album No String’s Attached. I was particularly fond of “Bye Bye Bye,” the lead single from the album. Everyone knew the scandal of NSYNC’s legal battle with their manager Lou Pearlman and former record label, so as much as I was hoping the song meant JT and his then-girlfriend (Brittany Spears) had split, the song was speculated to be about the bands split from their former label.

The song features heavy kick and bass, and catchy lyrics which are impossible to get out of your head. Not to mention NSYNC stomping in unison to a dance that would become iconic with the ability to get your entire high school in a flash mob. NSYC’s lyrics spoke to the hearts of many: like puppets being played with, “(Bye bye) Don’t wanna be a fool for you / Just another player in your game for two”. “Bye Bye Bye” boasts a theme and beat that will never get tired.

I used to lament the fact that millennial’s would miss out on the best generations of music: with every year, and every new boy band hair flipping their way onto the music scene with less classy swagger and more haughty grins, I was increasingly aware of the distance between new age music and 90’s classic’s like NSYNC.

But that changed in 2018. Backstreet’s back, baby! With their single “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” it was only time before the other popular 90’s boy bands would reunite and follow suit.

And follow they did!

Just March 1^st of 2019, New Kids on the Block released their first song in 11 years – even paying homage to “Bye Bye Bye,” in their music video by dangling by strings like marionettes.

NSYNC by today’s standards may not be the most attractive boy band there ever was, but in the 90’s they were every teenage girl’s daydream. And maybe we’ll be seeing more of them soon.