*NSYNC have released ‘Better Place’, their first song in more than 20 years.
The pop band, whose last song was a remix of The Neptunes-produced ‘Girlfriend featuring Nelly in early 2002, have reunited for a funky new single that features on the upcoming Trolls Band Together soundtrack.
‘Better Place’ is produced by Shellback who also collaborated with *NSYNC bandleader and solo artist Justin Timberlake for Trolls, the first of the three film franchise installments, in 2016. The song ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling‘ was a hit.
Despite getting up hopes of a reunion proper, Billboard reports that there are no plans for *NSYNC to return soon for a tour. It’s also unknown if an album is in the works.
In a behind-the-scenes video released on September 15 Timberlake called the song “a love letter to our fans” and shared that he was “honoured” to have the band come together for the recording. “I love you guys…that shit is epic,” he added of the moment.
‘Better Place’ arrives after the band comprising Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass appeared onstage this month at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards to present Taylor Swift with the Best Pop Award. Swift called the group “pop personified” while accepting the gong.
Although it was confirmed in 2007 that the band had split (Timberlake left in 2002), the group have occasionally showed up for special events together.
Timberlake, who reunited with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado earlier this month to release a new single ‘Keep Going Up’, has voiced Branch, the lead character in the Trolls animated film franchise, since 2016. The third film Trolls Band Together is released on October 20 in the UK and November 17 in the US.
Trolls Band Together will see Branch’s brother return to get their childhood boyband back together. At some point in the film’s trailer a character makes puns out of various popular boy bands’ names: “We’re out of sync. We’ve gone from boys to me, and now there’s only one direction for us to go: the backstreets.”
Meanwhile, Timberlake has explained why he sang the chorus of the popular *NSYNC song ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ bizarrely.