50 Fun Facts About NSYNC

NSYNC joined which star on a remake of "Trashin' the Camp", a song from his 1999 Disney soundtrack?

Phil Collins. In Tarzan the song plays as Terk, Tantor and the gorillas wreck the professor's campsite; Collins later cut a doo-wop version of it with NSYNC.

NSYNC's Joey Fatone played cousin Angelo in which hit 2002 romantic comedy?

My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Fatone came back for both sequels, and in the 2016 film his comic-relief cousin comes out as gay and introduces the family to his partner.

Whose mother, Lynn, inspired NSYNC's name by remarking how "in sync" the five voices sounded?

Justin Timberlake. His mother, Lynn Harless, went on to put together and manage a girl group of her own, Innosense, alongside Lou Pearlman.

Besides sounding like "in sync", NSYNC's name is a play on what?

The last letters of their first names: JustiN, ChriS, JoeY, JasoN and JC. When Jason Galasso quit, his replacement Lance Bass was billed as "Lansten" so the name still worked.

NSYNC shared the 1999 hit duet "Music of My Heart" with which singer?

Gloria Estefan. Diane Warren wrote it for Music of the Heart, a classroom drama directed, improbably, by horror specialist Wes Craven, and it earned both Oscar and Grammy nominations.

NSYNC's debut single "I Want You Back" was first released in 1996 in which country?

Germany. The group had signed with BMG's Munich office that year, so the single came out there first, more than a year before its American release.

Which sitcom star played an elf in NSYNC's 1998 Christmas video?

Gary Coleman. The band asked for him by name for "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays", the single from Home for Christmas, in which his elf drafts them to deliver the presents for an ailing Santa.

Lou Pearlman's contract paid him an extra share of NSYNC's earnings by counting him as what?

Its sixth member, good for a one-sixth cut on top of his manager's fees. Original member Jason Galasso showed the contract to a lawyer, then left the group without signing it.

Lou Pearlman assembled which boy band on the first season of the ABC reality series Making the Band?

O-Town. Viewers watched Pearlman and a panel of judges pick the members on camera, and the series outlasted his part in it, moving from ABC to MTV.

After settling with Pearlman in 1999, NSYNC released all their later albums on which label?

Jive Records. NSYNC's switch to the label drew a $150 million lawsuit from Pearlman and BMG, but a judge refused to block the move and the two sides settled.

NSYNC dance as marionettes in the "Bye Bye Bye" video as a nod to what?

Being controlled by their former manager, Lou Pearlman, from whom they had just broken free. To get the look, the five danced strapped to bungee cords.

Which newcomer opened for NSYNC on tour in late 1998, just as her debut single was taking off?

Britney Spears. NSYNC knew the job she was doing: only weeks earlier they had been an opening act themselves, warming up the crowd on Janet's Velvet Rope tour.

Three NSYNC members filmed cameos as Jedi, later cut, for which Star Wars film?

Attack of the Clones. Joey Fatone, JC Chasez and Chris Kirkpatrick were dressed as Jedi and taught lightsaber moves for the big battle; Bass and Timberlake missed the shoot, and both say they were sorry to.

NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" lost Record of the Year at the 2001 Grammys to which song?

"Beautiful Day" by U2 won. NSYNC's nominee had nearly gone elsewhere: its writers first offered "Bye Bye Bye" to the British boy band Five, who walked away from it.

NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" shot back into the charts in 2024 after featuring in which film?

Deadpool & Wolverine. Deadpool dances the video's original routine through the opening fight, with professional dancer Nick Pauley, not Ryan Reynolds, inside the suit.

Which NSYNC album sold a record 2.4 million US copies in its first week on sale?

No Strings Attached. Months of delay over the group's legal battle only built the hype, and the one-week record it set stood for 15 years, until Adele's 25.

"Bye Bye Bye" stalled at No. 4, so which single gave NSYNC its only Hot 100 number one?

"It's Gonna Be Me" spent two weeks at No. 1 in the summer of 2000. Its video turned the five into toy-store dolls, a look built with hours of prosthetic makeup rather than computer effects.

Which president joined the "It's Gonna Be May" joke by posting a photo of himself with Timberlake?

Barack Obama. On April 30, 2014, his Facebook page ran a picture of the two captioned "It's gonna be May"; the joke works because Timberlake sings the hook's last word, "me", like the month.

Timberlake says which hitmaker told him to sing "me" as "may" on a 2000 NSYNC hit?

Max Martin, by Timberlake's account: he says it was a specific note from the Swedish hitmaker, whose slightly broken English, he argues, made the writing team's lyrics catchier and easier to remember.

Which singer-songwriter wrote NSYNC's ballad "This I Promise You"?

Richard Marx. He had meant the ballad for a three-woman vocal group; asked whether he had a song for NSYNC, he gave it to them instead.

NSYNC co-headlined the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show in January 2001 with which rock band?

Aerosmith. The show opened with a filmed sketch in which Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock hyped up the two bands backstage, before the groups traded songs and then shared the finale.

Which singer brought four NSYNC members on stage during her set at Coachella?

Ariana Grande. With Timberlake absent, she took the fifth spot herself as the group sang "Tearin' Up My Heart".

Which rapper was added to the 2002 single remix of NSYNC's "Girlfriend"?

Nelly. His label asked whether he was trying to ruin his career by rapping with a boy band; he said he didn't care, and the Neptunes' remix became the single.

Trance producer BT brought his "stutter edit" technique to which NSYNC single?

"Pop" ends with Timberlake beatboxing because BT overheard him doing it under his breath and recorded it through a pair of broken headphones. Guinness later counted 3,642 edits in the track.

JC Chasez spent seven seasons as a judge on which dance competition series?

America's Best Dance Crew. Chasez judged the MTV contest from its first season in 2008, won by Jabbawockeez, the crew who went on to headline their own show in Las Vegas.

Timberlake first wrote NSYNC's "Gone" for which superstar, who turned it down?

Michael Jackson. Once NSYNC had released it he called back wanting to recut it as a duet with Timberlake alone; it never happened, but Timberlake says the call gave him the confidence to go solo.

What was the name of NSYNC's 2001 stadium tour in support of the album Celebrity?

PopOdyssey Tour. By booking nothing but stadiums, NSYNC took about $90 million from just 44 dates, one of the biggest hauls of 2001.

What is the title of Timberlake's debut solo album, released in November 2002 during NSYNC's hiatus?

Justified. Timberlake recorded it in just six weeks with the Neptunes and Timbaland, trading the boy-band sound for R&B, and it went on to win a Grammy.

What was the title of JC Chasez's 2004 debut solo album?

Schizophrenic. It arrived weeks after the Super Bowl halftime furore, which had already cost Chasez an NFL halftime slot of his own at the Pro Bowl.

With what did organizers replace JC Chasez at the 2004 Pro Bowl halftime show after the NFL dropped him?

Hawaiian hula dancers. Days after the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction the NFL scrapped Chasez's set, even though he says he had already agreed to swap songs and soften two words of the lyrics.

In 2002 Lance Bass moved to Star City, Russia, to train for a paid seat aboard what?

A Soyuz capsule bound for the International Space Station. Bass earned his cosmonaut certificate, but lost the seat weeks before the October launch when his backers failed to pay the $20 million fare.

Lance Bass came out as gay in July 2006 in a cover story for which magazine?

People. The cover line read simply "I'm Gay"; Bass said he had kept quiet through the NSYNC years for fear of damaging the group and his bandmates' careers.

Joey Fatone finished second on Dancing with the Stars in 2007, losing the mirror ball to which Olympian?

Apolo Anton Ohno. Fatone and partner Kym Johnson came back for the 2012 all-star season, where the former runners-up were the second couple voted off.

NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick voiced teen idol Chip Skylark on which Nickelodeon cartoon?

The Fairly OddParents. Kirkpatrick sang Chip's songs himself, among them "My Shiny Teeth and Me", and says that on a later school visit he signed more autographs as Chip than as himself.

Lou Pearlman got 25 years in prison in 2008 for running what?

A Ponzi scheme, one of the longest-running in American history. The judge offered to take a month off Pearlman's sentence for every $1 million he helped return.

Lou Pearlman fled the US in 2007 and was arrested in which country?

Indonesia. A tourist on holiday in Bali recognized Pearlman, and the tip led to his arrest at his hotel there after months on the run.

All five NSYNC members reunited in April 2018 to receive what?

Walk of Fame star, on Hollywood Boulevard. It was unveiled on April 30, which let JC Chasez remind the crowd: "Tomorrow, it's gonna be May!"

The reunited NSYNC presented an award to which star at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards?

Taylor Swift. "I had your dolls," she told them as Lance Bass handed her a friendship bracelet, then demanded to know what their reunion was leading to.

NSYNC's 2023 comeback single "Better Place" was recorded for which animated film?

Trolls Band Together. The film is about a boy band getting back together, so Timberlake, one of its voice stars, reunited his own for their first new song in over two decades.

Timberlake played Napster co-founder Sean Parker in which 2010 film?

The Social Network. The real Parker, Napster's co-founder and Facebook's first president, saw Timberlake's cocksure version of him and called the film "a complete work of fiction".

NSYNC's "Better Place" earned a Grammy nomination in which category?

Best Song Written for Visual Media, a songwriters' prize, so the nomination named Timberlake and his two co-writers. They lost to Jon Batiste's "It Never Went Away".

NSYNC voiced themselves in a 2001 episode of which cartoon, about a boy band hiding Navy messages in its songs?

The Simpsons. In "New Kids on the Blecch", Bart's boy band Party Posse sings the chorus "Yvan eht nioj", which is "join the Navy" backwards.

At age 11, Timberlake competed on Star Search singing country songs under what name?

Justin Randall, his first and middle names. He came out dressed as a cowboy to sing country, and the future superstar lost.

Timberlake and Chasez were both cast members of which Disney Channel show in the early 1990s?

The All New Mickey Mouse Club. Castmate Ryan Gosling moved in with Timberlake's family for several months of the run, when his own mother had to go back to her job in Canada.

Bass and Fatone starred in which 2001 rom-com about a Chicago man searching for a girl from the "L" train?

Bass's own production company made it, and Timberlake and Kirkpatrick appear in cameos.

"Tearin' Up My Heart" was originally pitched to which group before NSYNC recorded it?

Backstreet Boys. Kevin Richardson says his group was offered the song first and turned it down; both acts were recording songs from the same writing team at the time.

NSYNC played their first gig in 1995 at Pleasure Island, a nightclub district in which resort?

Walt Disney World. The lineup was barely three weeks old: Lance Bass had only just flown in from Mississippi to audition as the group's bass singer.

Which country band's 1999 cover of an NSYNC ballad featured the group on backing vocals?

Alabama. Only months after NSYNC's own hit with "(God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You", their version, with the boy band singing backup, climbed to No. 3 on the country chart.

Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick starred in Dead 7, a 2016 zombie western from a story by which fellow boy-band singer?

Nick Carter. He has the story credit and stars, and he cast his wife Lauren alongside singers from several boy bands; the screenplay itself is by Sawyer Perry.

Which ABC sitcom's lead used a fake ID to see NSYNC play in a 1999 episode?

Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Sabrina's fake ID comes from the Other Realm, and the price of using it is that her magic turns as phony as the license.