Fair warning, I’m about to get spicy in this post.
But hey, Nick keeps bringing this up.
I have a lot of thoughts so…we’re talking about it!
Now, I love Nick. We all know this. I don’t try to hide it. But it seems like interviewers keep asking the same question and he keeps teasing things but…is it bad that I don’t want it? And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me clarify it. Basically they keep bringing up the idea of a Spice Girls and BSB combo tour, or an NSYNC and BSB combo tour. This isn’t a new concept for us. Hell our group were the originators of this with NKOTB to form NKOTBSB. And that was cool! Because it was new. No shade to any Blockheads who read this (no seriously I don’t want rage tweets or comments) but then they keep doing it over and over just with different bands. Nothing new.
That sort of thing gets stale after awhile.
Would I go to a Spice Girls/BSB concert? Hell yeah. I’ve never seen Spice Girls live so I’d go in a heartbeat. Would I go to an NSYNC/BSB thing? Absolutely because I sort of kind of did that last year with the whole “BackSync” thing. I’m terrified of what presales would look like or the fan wars at actual shows though. (No really, they existed during NKOTBSB shows so pittting the two fanbases that were legitimately at war during the 90’s absolutely scares me.) But hear me out on this. Because I remember hearing these kind of comments back when NKOTBSB was happening too, and I’d totally gone and went to that too. It was better than I’d expected considering I didn’t like NKOTB at all at the time, and even discovered a few songs I liked. (Dirty Dancing, for example.)
And when they’re solo, the whole combo-thing was cool. Because it was a short lived novelty. Especially when it was for charity. But is it something I want long term?
Not really, no.
I get why they needed it back in 2011. Honestly they were still Kevin-less and not-so-fancy-free. This was plotted during the years Jive was actively screwing them over so they left the label. At this point, people weren’t checking for them beyond the hardcores. They themselves will tell you this if you asked about that time. So nostalgia? It was their ace in the hole, a way to boost up the media attention in a time where people refused to give them the credit they deserved. Credit that took them another seven years to start achieving. (Way overdue too.)
NSYNC? They’ve been broken up for years, twenty years at this point. Cause to be real we all knew when Justin Timberlake went solo he wasn’t coming back. And he didn’t. He never will, but I’m not here to trash him so I’ll stop there. Spice Girls? They sort of came back for a nostalgia reunion and sort of diappeared again. And I adored the Spice Girls. I mean really. They’re still in a lot of my playlists. But neither of them are doing anything new as groups. At all.
That’s they key difference here. Say what you want but had the pandemic not happened I’m a hundred percent positive they’d be on to brand new things. But it did so it paused things. But once they wrap that up? They’ll probably work on a new album. They’re going to hit their thirtieth anniversary next year and it’s a real anniversary because they’d been together for all those years. They still have a finished Christmas album that Nick promised in Germany will be released this year. (Holding you to this Nick otherwise you’ll have angry fans on your hands.) They’ll keep going and keeping it moving. That’s just how they are as a group.
So if I’m being honest with myself? I think they’ve outgrown tours created to purely make money off the novelty of them all being in one place, or fans who want to just relive 1999. And that’s not an insult to the groups that do do that. Rather it’s a compliment that the Boys really, truly don’t need to do that anymore. Their most recent album was in 2019 which is still considerably recent compared to the acts they’d be paired with and it was number one on Billboard. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart was their best performing single since I Want It That Way. They do not need to do this and I don’t want them to. It’s a step backwards for them.
I don’t think Nick has bad intentions with this. In fact I think he loves the idea cause he’s friends with members of NKOTB, NSYNC, and Spice Girls. He’d freaking have a blast. I think they all would…mostly. (Not touching that elephant in the room.) But I don’t think he’s thinking about this from his loyal fanbase’s perspective which is why I’m here writing this. I’m not afraid to speak up and say that honestly, I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’d sell. I get it. But I’d rather them keep growing than stagnate for ticket sales. Maybe this would’ve been the idea say, ten years ago. But now?
Sorry, but no thank you.
The Dark Side 