-The first time I stepped on stage and I heard that crowd, I felt that energy, and it’s like I told
you, you can’t explain what it’s like for one person to be feeling 60,000 people’s
energy. And when it’s that strong, you know, and they’re this intense,
it’s like, it’s electric. It really - no matter how bad my back hurts
or how sick I feel, when you step on that stage and you feel
that energy, everything else goes away.
-I was on Star Search. I did do Star Search. Alright? Let it go.
-What was your score?
-I got three and a quarter stars.
-Who’d you lose to?
-Some girl who sang some Broadway song.
We don’t want to be anybody else, we want to be NSYNC, you know? Wherever it takes us,
wherever it takes us, I think it’s gonna be in a positive direction because we surround
ourselves with positive energy.
We kind of halfway produce and direct everytime we do something because usually it’s
our concepts, you know, that are used for the videos. I mean, that’s like everything else that
we do. I mean, we direct our music, we direct our -
We help direct our videos, we’re heavily involved in everything we do, so.
We put out music that we feel is us and we feel that we’re taking our sound to a different place,
you know, and that’s what’s important to us. You know? If we sell two records this, you know,
this first week, but we sell, you know, so many albums down the road, that’s what’s important.
And we wanna stick around for longer than the first week.
-When did you know that you wanted to do a solo album?
-Honestly, it’s always been in the back of my head. It’s always, always been in the back of
my head since I was a little boy. That’s why I felt the need to kind of - as an intro to the album on
"Like I Love You,” at the end of the song, I felt the need to kind of let people know I have
dreamed about this since I was a little boy. And that I never thought that the success of NSYNC
would end up this way and that I would be able to do this like I'm doing it.
And that’s what that means.
I think it’ll do whatever it does, you know? That’s kind of out of my hands. As far as
I’m concerned, you know, I made the best possible record I could make and I’m happy
with it. I’m not gonna sit here and say, “It’s the new sound and it’s the, whatever, whatever you
wanna call it.” You know? It’s just totally me and it’s fun. I can make that promise,
it’s a fun record to listen to, so.
You know, I think the most important thing for me was to just throw everything that had been
what I was leaning on out the window and just start from scratch, and create something that
was just completely me. And I feel like I succeeded, you know?
I knew when I - I knew when the album was done. I remember getting
the last song done and I was like, “This is it, you know, it’s done”. And I felt like I really portrayed
who I was and I think that was my only mission.
“Like I Love You” was the first song that we recorded for this record.
And I did it with Eclipse. And it was - there was never a question in my mind that this
should not be the first single. It was always, you know, this should be the first single.
It sounded so original to me. It sounded like something that nobody has on the radio,
or nobody has on MTV.
Who I started off as, as somebody who felt angst in a form of heartbreak and it was kind of
eating me alive and, so, the therapy came in throughout. It was like a whole big spa
treatment. They just got better and better, and then at the end of the record, it was like this
person who had let it all go and was like, “I’m over it. I’m passed it and I’m in a good place.”
The public eye is the public eye, and everybody’s kind of got an opinion, as far as the
critics go and the media goes, I don’t really worry too much about it. I don’t let it change me.
The things that are important to me are simple things. My family and my friends, and golf.
That’s about it, you know, and I love what I do. I think that’s the most inspiring thing is no matter
what people are saying about you that is not true, you know, maybe that’s the sacrifice you
make for doing what you love to do, as far as this goes for me.
I think after playing so many shows in a row, so many people every night, I think I just needed
something creative that felt more intimate and more stripped down. I'd wanted to do a film for
a while, and these offers started to manifest themselves. And they were
movies that I really enjoyed reading and thought that they had something to say.
Interestly enough for me and films, I mean, it really is a hobby. I mean, I kinda feel like I have
my day job, so, you know. To do films, I mean, I really feel like I have the opportunity now
to pick and choose ones that inspire me.
-You kind of wanted to take some time?
-You know, I mean if, if I thought that I could’ve put something together that lived up to the first
record, I would have but I just, in trying to be sort of humble to the situation, I just, I was like,
I was just burnt, just burnt out. Really the break for me came out of a conversation with my Dad.
I don’t get back to Memphis a lot. When I do, I’m constantly with family, cause they all still live
there next to each other. We’re like a cookie cutter family. But I was having a conversation
with him and he said, he goes, you know, he’s like, “You’re good”. You know, cause he knows
me so well he pointed out, he’s like, “You’re a workaholic”. He goes, “And take it from me,"
he's like, "I'm almost 50.” He’s like, “Do the things that you can do while you’re in your 20s.
Like, enjoy your life. Enjoy what you've worked so hard for."
-Is it exciting for you to be back with music again after that break?
-Yeah, yeah. It’s - yeah, it’s been a minute. It's been a minute, so yeah. It is exciting. I mean,
with the exception of the song I did with Snoop [Dogg], I really haven’t done much.
So, yeah. But I think I kind of needed it.
I remember the feeling I had putting ‘Justified’ out. And I said to myself, “Yeah! I sing R&B.”
You know, I was so excited to be considered an R&B artist. And the reviews came in and I was
thankful that the reviews were, you know, mediocre to good, and they were all under the
Pop Album category. And that really messed with me. For the first three months that my first
album was out, I couldn’t enjoy it because I was like, “Man, I just want to get away from pop.
I wanna do R&B. It’s what I grew up listening to." You know?
After I got over my own ego, you know, like
I was able to enjoy the success of it. And realizing that that was OK for me,
is what, really, the major thing that influenced the writing of this record.
I said, “OK, well I’m not an R&B artist." It’s important to try something and go for
something, but it’s also important to be humble to what everybody perceives you as.
-Apparently you’re throwing a little show here tonight. What is this, a little party?
-It’s a little something, something.
-Yeah, just a little world tour. This is all for you. You’re the boss here. You realize that?
All these people here work for you.
-I know. It’s a daunting responsibility.
My goal, I mean, you see the stage and how big it is.
My goal is to turn an arena into a club. I mean, I prefer to play clubs just because of the
ambiance and the intimacy. And so, that was the mission, was to try to make something this big
feel that small.
-Is that even possible?
-Well, it remains to be seen. We’re putting a pretty good effort into it, so.
You saw it, when we performed “SexyBack” on stage, I don’t even have to sing. I mean, and
that’s how you know you’re onto something, is when it gets under people’s skins so much it’s
like they, that’s what I made it for. When the song first came out everybody was like,
"Oh, that’s a cocky statement," but you see it now. You know, you see it now where
everybody in that audience really feels what they’re singing.
You know, they’re performing it. It turns in - I don’t even have to be there really. I could leave
the stage at that point. It really turns into a club.
I just believe the process is what it’s really all about. And if you make the process what I was
able to have the luck of tapping into with the first two, I think the end comes out the way it
comes out. But for me it is about the process. The discovery of whatever it’s gonna be is,
that’s the most fun part.
I feel like everybody has a journey in life and this is mine. I don’t think that I would’ve been
happier doing something else, going to regular high school, going to college.
I can tell you right now, I’m not made for college, you know?
I don’t think I could last in a dorm with a whole bunch of other people.
But I think everybody has a journey in life and even with that, everyday.
Everybody has a journey everyday and so, and this is mine.