Now I’ve talked about NSYNC and BSB’s rivalry before. Mainly on this post about things that fans never forget. Because I know there’s younger fans in this fandom, I’m going to give a quick summary of what it was like in the 90’s. You see once upon a time, Backstreet Boys were born into the world. NSYNC came after, almost like the little brother. Now this was thanks to the ever-greedy Lou Pearlman. Both groups were eventually on Jive’s record label, and both groups tended to work with the same producer. They were played against each other by Lou. Then the media came in.
Basically you weren’t allowed to like both. If you did? You damn well didn’t admit it to anyone. NSYNC were the Pepsi to BSB’s Coke. I owned the debut album from NSYNC. I fell off after that, mainly because of a growing dislike of Justin Timberlake. (No offense intended NSYNC fans, I’m just explaining.) But I never admitted it to anyone really. I always loved BSB more but, you couldn’t say so. And it’s so easy to fall into the battles of who was better. Whether it was at school, or voting and calling in on TRL.
That rivalry never died. At least, not between the fandoms.
But it did amongst the Boys for the most part. I already posted my review of the recent “BackSync” event as we’re calling it now on my Nick blog, Forever Rebel since Nick was a driving force behind it. But even before that, Chris and AJ were performing together and having fun at the charity event. AJ was singing NSYNC songs and it felt kind of weird to want to sing along. The same could be said for the pride event that just went down. Hearing Nick do that big belt on Bye Bye Bye or hearing him start off with JT’s traditional hey hey…?
I sang along. Of course I did.
Nick’s big belt gave me chills. But it felt weird. You get something so engrained in you from your childhood, it’s hard to step away from it. Even when it’s silly. And I must not be alone in that. Because I jokingly made a tweet about Nick doing it better than Justin could, wow did NSYNC fans come out in force! To the point where I had to delete it because fans were getting very nasty in my mentions. I was a bit shocked.
It felt like 1999. Or what 1999 would’ve been like if Twitter existed back then.
Now it’s okay to give some playful shade, to joke about it. But guys, it’s not that serious. The guys are clearly friends. Hell they were friends before this! Dead 7 anyone? At the event, Lance was pretty awesome. Joey was hilarious. (I felt bumping into him on my way to the bathroom.) Chris seems pretty nice. And I really developed an appreciation for their voices as the only onces I ever really noticed prior vocally was Justin and JC. (Fun fact, I actually own JC’s solo album because Blowing Me Up With Her Love caught my attention.) I couldn’t have told you what Lance sounded like solo, before now.
But I also get the confliction. Thing is, I actually find this new project pretty cool. I like it better than I do NKOTBSB if I’m being honest with myself. It feels more authentic, they’re all clearly having a blast if Lance’s and AJ’s social media are any sign. Why not just ride this crazy wave and see what comes of it? And while I doubt Justin will accept Nick and AJ’s invite to join in, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I hope JC does. Hell maybe Chris can join in next time, Howie or Kevin too! Sometimes when you mix things you didn’t think could go together, you get something pretty wild in the best of ways out of it.
Until we get that BSB Christmas album…
Until the DNA World Tour comes back…
Hell until Nick or AJ release more solo music…
Rock on BackSync, rock on!
(Though please consider changing it to N’Street!)
The Dark Side 