I was gleefully excited to see *NSYNC reunite at Coachella and perform with Ariana Grande. My delight quickly went downhill after quickly realizing there was one vital member of the legendary boy band missing: Justin Timberlake.
TMZ reported the day after their performance on Monday, April 15, that the “Mirrors” singer had to miss out due to scheduling conflicts with his world tour. The article also mentions that this isn’t a bad blood kind of situation between Justin, 38, and his band mates.
I have a hard time believing this. There are so many diehard *NSYNC fans that keep waiting for something to happen between them outside of a mini-reunion at the VMA’s (which was really just for Justin’s benefit) and to get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Justin was clearly the star of the group from the get-go. We all knew this. He was to *NSYNC what Beyonce was to Destiny’s Child and countless other singers who found solo success after starting out in a group.
The issue I have is that he seems to be the reason as to why *NSYNC never did a reunion tour or any sort of tour over the past 15 years. None of the guys were invited to Justin’s wedding to Jessica Biel in 2012, even though Lance Bass tried his best to minimize the situation during an interview with Khloe Kardashian four years later.
“That, everyone always asks that,” Bass said. “And here’s the real answer—is no. We were not. And a lot of people are like, ‘That is so rude,’ but I, I, if you think of it this way, you’ll understand why we didn’t go.”
Bass continued, “When we get together, the five of us, it is, it’s a spectacle. I mean, we rarely are all five together. You know, four of us will be together, three of us, but all five, people go nuts and it’s all about *NSYNC and it’s just taking picture after picture and, you know, he wanted that wedding to be about Jessica, you know, and he didn’t want it to be an *NSYNC reunion.”
Yet all the guys had no problem showing up for your Video Music Awards tribute in 2013 where they were given 30 seconds on stage before they disappeared back into obscurity. Lance, along with JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Joey Fatone, have found varying levels of success after *NSYNC disbanded, but nothing close to what Justin has been able to achieve.
Maybe I’m one of those fans that’s holding onto a delusional dream, but you not showing up for such an iconic night and giving your legions of fans something that they’ve been missing for such a long time just makes you look bad.
Also, and this is going to sound shady, but it’s not like your star is that brightly lit like it used to be. Man of the Woods was a commercial flop, your Super Bowl performance last year was universally panned and you haven’t had a major hit song in a couple of years. An opportunity to reunite with your band mates for one night could’ve been that extra bolt of electricity needed in order to keep your career thriving and going well.
But sure, enjoy your world tour. Just don’t forget who helped get you there in the first place.
This is the opinion of one contributing writer and may not be that of Instinct Magazine or other contributing writers.