N’Sync debuted in the US at #1 with No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached N’Sync

Released: March 21, 2000 Charted: April 1, 2000 Peak: 18 US, 14 UK, 15 CN, 3 AU Sales (in millions): 11.11 US, 0.1 UK, 17.4 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Bye Bye Bye (1/11/00, 1 US, 1 RR, 25 AC, 19 A40, 3 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU) It’s Gonna Be Me (4/28/00, 1 US, 1 RR, 28 A40, 9 UK, 1 CN, 11 AU) Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay) Just Got Paid It Makes Me Ill This I Promise You (9/8/00, 5 US, 4 RR, 1 AC, 27 A40, 21 UK) No Strings Attached Digital Get Down I’ll Never Stop * (6/13/00, 13 UK) Bringin’ da Noise That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You I’ll Be Good for You I’m Not the One * I Thought She Knew * UK edition Total Running Time: 47:15 The Players: Lance Bass JC Chasez Joey Fatone Chris Kirkpatrick Justin Timberlake

Rating: 3.756 out of 5.00 (average of 28 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: After their self-titled 1997 debut, *NSYC split with their management, citing that financier Louis J. Pearlman defrauded them. WK They moved to Jive Records, a company considered the kings of teen-pop because of artists such as the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. To dinstinguish themselves from their peers, *NSYNC incorporated pop and R&B elements. WK The New York Times’ Jon Pareles described it as “1980s rhythm-and-blues that sought to balance pretty melody atop hip-hop’s street-level beat.” WK The music didn’t have quite the “charismatic punch ala Britney or Christina” WK but *NSYNC still “deserve credit for shaking things up a little bit, since it’s resulted in an effervescent, ingratiatingly cheerful album that’s a vast improvement on the debut.” AMG “The storming lead single Bye Bye Bye [is] a pile-driving dance number with the catchiest chorus they’ve ever sang.” AMG It created “hype for the album’s eventual landmark success.” WK No Strings Attached debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart in the United Sates with 2.4 million copies, setting a record for one-week sales. The record held until Adele’s 25 in 2015. The “futuristic synth-driven” WK Digital Get Down “is about video cybersex, which is a clear indicator of post-pubescent consciousness of the group.” WK Billboard’s Al Shipley said Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay) and It Makes Me Ill were the kinds of songs which attracted “the young fans who made teen pop into a cottage industry.” WK *NSYNC incorporated “beat-box type vocals in It’s Gonna Be Me, Just Got Paid, and percussion in Bringin’ Da Noise.” WK The album is “considered to be the peak of the teen pop genre.” WK It also marked the transition from massive CD sales for blockbuster albums to people downloading music via peer file sharing sites. “The album isn’t really just singles-n-filler, it actually is well sequenced and fairly balanced, much like the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium or Christina Aguilera’s [debut] album. Like those records, No Strings Attached pulls away from the standard dance-pop formula, strengthening it with harder street beats, electronica flourishes, ballads with some grit, and well-crafted pop tunes. Nobody is going to mistake this for Fatboy Slim, Beck, or TLC – it’s still lightweight teen-pop. Yet, it’s very good teen-pop, managing to not only work well within its limitations, but to push it slightly while retaining its breezy, hooky identity.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for N ‘Sync AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 3/25/2008; last updated 4/30/2022.