Back-Sync's back, alright! Every '90s boy band fans' heart fluttered this past week when part of *NSYNC and part of Backstreet Boys joined forces for one epic night. Lance Bass and Joey Fatone of *NSYNC and AJ McLean and Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys headed to the Grove in L.A. for a Pride night event.
You were either really happy this happened or are still living in the '90s and fighting over which boy band is better. Either way, there was no animosity between the boy banders when they teamed up for a good cause. In fact, they all seem to be good friends today. They got together for Bingo Under the Stars- a night celebrating Pride and benefiting the Trevor Project and L.A. Pride.
Will there be an *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys collaboration? Was this a one time thing? Here's what happened during the mini-Back-Sync performance and what the future means for the boy banders.
8 It's Been A Long Time Coming
Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC were the two biggest boy bands of the late '90s and early '00s, with BSB still going strong today. Despite the media pitting the bands against each other, there was never any rivalry between the members. During rehearsal for the Back-Sync performance, AJ McLean told Variety, “This has been a long time coming. Everybody’s wanted us to do something together and now we get to come together for an amazing cause.”
Nick Carter joked that he could have never seen a collaboration between the bands when they were still together. “Twenty years ago? Hell no!” laughed Carter. “I’m kidding, because I still don’t understand why we didn’t get an opportunity to do more things together, but we learned that it was managers and stuff happening behind-the-scenes that prevented it. Better late than never, right?”
7 Lance And Nick Were Sort Of The Organizers
A few months ago Carter and Bass were playing games with our hearts when they teased a possible collaboration between the two. During an Instagram live, which featured the two singers and Fatone, Carter made a statement. "Since it is Pride Month, I guess we can kind of tease something," Carter began. "What we're talking about doing…We can't give away too much. So basically, Lance, Joey, myself, A.J. maybe, we're just going to say we're going to be doing something special. We're going to announce it in the next week…And it's going to be huge. It's going to be really big and we're really excited."
Bass is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and for the rest of them, Pride holds a special place, so they knew they had to team up for this special event.
6 The Rehearsals
AJ McLean posted some hilarious videos on his TikTok. Aside from actually rehearsing for the event, the guys had a little bit of fun on their own. They goofed around, talked about future projects and even reenacted a famous scene from Friends.
In a behind the scenes video, McLean posted the foursome rehearsing *NSYNC's famous dance to their hit song, "Bye, Bye, Bye." You could hear Carter and Fatone's vocals, and it took you right back to 1999. McLean and Bass rocked the dance, and Back-Sync was officially ready to perform!
5 The Performance
RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Michelle Visage and musician Todrick Hall made a surprise appearance to introduce Back-Sync. McLean started off the performance with his solo song, "Love Song Love," which he recently released in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Then the rest of them came out, and it was just pandemonium. The foursome performed "I Want It That Way" and "Bye, Bye, Bye" to a sold out crowd. One fan even tweeted that Carter sang the latter better than Justin Timberlake.
4 The Bingo
The performance was only part of the night to benefit Pride. The night kicked off with Bingo hosted by Bingo Boy (Jeffery Bowman) and drag queen Roz Drezfalez. McLean's eight-year-old daughter Ava and her friends won a round and rushed to the stage to claim their prize, which was a gift certificate for dinner at Bistro 1759. Many of the prizes were for shops and restaurants around The Grove.
They all worked with Nick Carter's brother-in-law, Corye Conrad, vice president of strategic alliances, events and entertainment for the Grove, to organize the night on the shopping precinct’s level eight rooftop. After the performance, the musicians presented cryptocurrency check for $1 million in $TINKU tokens to the Trevor Project, on behalf of their involvement with Mission Tsuki.
3 What The Future Means For The Two Bands
This performance seemed like it was a new era for the two bands and just the beginning of ongoing collaborations. BSB's AJ McLean hopes the two bands can one day perform a Las Vegas residency or tour. Meanwhile, Nick Carter wants to form a mega boy band. He wants to get members from BSB, *NSYNC, NKOTB, O-Town, or 98 Degrees and do a "supergroup, tour and album."
NSYNC's Joey Fatone has another idea though. He would love to see Back-Sync on a film set together, with more boy banders involved. Fatone and McLean starred in Carter's 2016 film, Dead 7, along side Chris Kirkpatrick (*NSYNC), Howie Dorough (BSB), Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees), Erik-Michael Estrada and Jacob Underwood (O-Town). They have previously discussed doing a prequel of the film.
2 The Rest Of *NSYNC Didn't Know About It
Apparently, they weren't all in sync on this one. A few years ago, Lance Bass told Us Weekly that the former band has a group chat that they talk in frequently, but this time Joey Fatone and Lance Bass didn't discuss this event in the group chat. “We kept it so secret from everyone, so they probably don’t even know this is happening. It was a so last-minute, like, ‘You know what? Let’s do something for Pride,'" he told Variety.
But that's ok. The event was just as meaningful. *NSYNC has reunited a few times in the past, post-break-up including Justin Timberlake's Video Vanguard Award performance, birthdays, Coachella, and their Walk of Fame ceremony.
1 They Want Justin Timberlake Involved
Whatever the foursome decides to do next, they definitely want more boy bands involved, especially if Back-Sync decides to tour. Despite the recent controversy over Justin Timberlake, AJ McLean feels like it has to be all or none and wants Timberlake and the rest of the guys to join.
“The more the merrier,” said McLean. “Fans still want a Backstreet/*NSYNC tour, but it’s got to be all 10 of us. It’s the only way to make it work, so I think he’d be sleeping on it if he didn’t do it, but he’s a dad doing his thing and I completely respect that. This four is a dream team right now.” Save up your coins because the nostalgia could be hitting us again real soon.