State Champ Radio Joey Fatone Says These 3 Songs on *NSYNC’s Debut Album Just Weren’t ‘Our Style’
Written by djfrosty on December 13, 2023
*NSYNC tore up fans’ hearts in 1997 when they released their self-titled debut album. The set spawned several fan-favorite singles, including the group’s breakthrough hit “I Want You Back,” but according to Joey Fatone, there were three tracks on the album that didn’t resonate with the teen heartthrobs.
Speaking with People on Tuesday, Fatone revealed that “Riddle,” “I Need Love” and single “Here We Go” were the group’s least favorite songs on their 1997 debut. “Those ones were a little err…The rest we love. It wasn’t our style,” he explained. “We weren’t a techno group.”
Fatone continued, “It was basically the dance music that was in Europe at the time, and obviously at that time, grunge was in the States. We tried to do our song kind of stuff in our vibe, but they wanted to do a little bit more dance. So they were three songs that we did that were more European.”
Though *NSYNC didn’t love the tracks, the fans did: The boy band’s debut set peaked at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, where it spent a total of 109 weeks. Three albums and 20 years later, the group returned in September with the new track “Better Place” from the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, with fans hoping it means more new music from the group.
Regarding more new material, Lance Bass — who also spoke with People on Tuesday — said, “In a perfect world, that would be great,” but Fatone says it may not be possible due to scheduling conflicts.
“It’s just one of those things,” Fatone explained. “You know, everybody has to get that time to get in there to get into the studio. I mean, it took us a minute to do the Trolls song. Everybody has their own lives now. A lot of people are married, have kids. … We want to do it, but it’s getting it all together.”
