Music News

98 Degrees knows what you want. The long-running boy band has made heart-melting ballads its calling card since signing to Motown Records in the late 1990s.

Now, the quartet featuring brothers Nick and Drew Lachey and bandmates Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre are preparing to release their first non-Christmas album in more than a decade, Full Circle (May 9) — and to hear Nick tell it, Taylor Swift kind of had something to do with it.

“She [Swift] was definitely an inspiration to us, and probably to a lot of musicians out there who felt like they just didn’t have ownership of their own creativity, of their own career to an extent,” says Nick, 51, in a recent group Zoom call with his bandmates about their decision to include six “98°’s Version” updates of their biggest hits on the album. The move follows Swift’s decision in 2021 to begin issuing “Taylor’s Version” remakes of (to date) four of her most iconic albums following the sale of the masters of her first six albums to former Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun.

“We were certainly inspired by her to do it, to great success and acclaim [and] we felt it was the right time in our career to make that move and take some ownership back over the songs that have paved the way for our success over the years,” says Lachey of the band, which had a hand in writing a number of the songs on their initial four-album run from 1997-2000. Admittedly, like Swift’s re-records, the fresh 98 takes don’t sound radically different, and Timmons, also 51, says that was the point.

“We decided we wanted to keep them true to their original form that people fell in love with,” he says of the spruced-up recordings of their Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hits “I Do (Cherish You)” (No. 13), “Invisible Man” (No. 12), “Because of You” (No. 3), “The Hardest Thing” (No. 5) and “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)” (No. 2).

“Over the past 20-plus years we’ve developed vocally in different ways, but we wanted to keep the songs with the integrity of the originals, because that’s what people fell in love with,” says Timmons, admitting that sometimes fans will give them feedback if the group messes around with the arrangements or melodies of its top hits. “We wanted them to sound almost exactly like the originals.” He also stresses that there was “no dispute” with former label group Universal Records that led to the decision, but rather a desire to have more control over how and where their most cherished songs appear.

“Some of the things that started irritating me was if I wanted to use my own music, our own music on a video post, Universal striking my own post for copyright infringement… it’s our own songs!” Timmons says. Like with the Swift remakes, Nick Lachey says he thinks it would be “great” if these new takes become the standard versions for their fans.

In addition to the revamps, the album features the first new non-holiday songs from the guys since their 2013 2.0 album. Again knowing their lovestruck lane and happy to hang out in it, they say the five ballads are 100% fan service. The album kicks off with the mid-tempo bubbler, and recently released single, “Stranger Things (Have Happened).” The bouncy pop tune was inspired by Netflix blockbuster Stranger Things and, like that show, it employs vintage synths alongside the quartet’s signature interwoven vocal melodies.

The classically keening 98 ballad, “Got U,” was co-written by Nick along with Soulshock & Karlin (Usher, Whitney Houston) with Alex Cantrall (JoJo) and produced By Anders Bagge (Madonna, Jennifer Lopez), while “Same Mistake” and “Tremble” are heartbreaking tales of regret over the one(s) that got away.

One of the most intriguing fresh cuts is “Mona Lisa,” which plumbs the mysteries of Leonardo da Vinci’s smiling painting in a super 98 Degrees way. “A portrait of a fairytale/ So we cover canvas like/ The colors mask the pain/ We only ever let them see/ The picture that we paint,” they sing before the uplifting chorus, “Is Mona Lisa smiling, or is there pain in her eyes/ Is it just an illusion?/ What is she hiding behind?/ Was she trying to put on a show?/ Not let Leonardo know/ That in between the cracks of the brush strokes/ Lies the truth only Mona Lisa knows.”

That song also features additional vocals from Filipino vocalist Janine Teñoso in what Timmons says is a nod the one of two territories where the band first broke nearly 30 years ago; the other one is Canada. “We didn’t break in the U.S. right away… and we wanted to get back into the Philippines because we knew we were going to tour there,” he says of the band’s upcoming first shows in the country that has been a stalwart supporter for decades.

The album also spotlights another team-up with a Filipina singer, Katrina Velarde, on a Taglish version of “I Do (Cherish You),” which should get the crowds on their feet when the guys perform in Manila on May 30 and 31. “They love love songs there [in the Philippines], it’s a very passionate, romantic culture and when we’ve been there we also noticed everyone can sing, really well! Like even the valet at the hotel!” Timmons says.

Listen to some of the new mixes and a preview of “Stranger Things (Have Happened) ” below.