Do you want to feel old? (No. I never do. When anyone begins a statement with that, I want to yell “Absolutely not” while buying yet another choker from Claire’s, just to show everybody how old I am not.) Well, too bad: JC Chasez just turned 40 years old. He is a grown up. We are all grown ups. I am personally 84 years old.
I know this because Justin Timberlake posted an *NSYNC reunion photo in celebration of the singer’s birthday, alongside the following caption:
“JC’s 40th… And if you don’t know, now you know…”
Which brings me to my next statement: know what? Know that, after nearly 20 years of *NSYNC glory, JC was the best singer of the group who deserved a successful solo career more than anybody? That he had the best hair? That he was also the handsomest? Is that what we’re supposed to know? Because damn Justin, we know.
We all know, right? Now, two decades (ish) after *NSYNC chased the dreams laid out by BSB, I think we’re all ready to admit that JC’s high notes and . . . well, his high notes (and okay fine also his hair) cemented him as the superior member. And then, because the world is cruel, he was ousted by Justin Timberlake and his noodle locks who left the boys and became an entity unto himself, changing musical history as we now know it.
But today I say: look. It’s JC’s 40th, and even Justin Timberlake is edging towards the truth: Chasez was the best *NSYNC-er of the bunch. He had a Broadway calibre voice, threw down his dance moves without a hint of irony, and did not have weird gelled curls atop his beautiful head. He sang like an angel. He acted most maturely. He did not have dreadlocks. He did not have noodle hair. He was not 44 like Joey. Lance was fine (I mean, Lance was and continues to be a babe, so I think we can all appreciate that), but JC trumped all. And even now, in the aforementioned reunion photo, he looks most like a gentleman caller I would welcome into my open arms. (See: Justin’s hat. Also: why/WTF.) JC should’ve won the *NSYNC Olympics. But instead we have the only reality we know: Timberlake in his many chapeaus, singing songs about Troll movies, and Lance Bass hosting a show on Sirius XM (which he is good at).
The rest, however, remain cloaked in mystery. The result of the biggest mystery of all: why did it play out this way.
Louder does not equal better. I got a used copy of JC’s debut solo CD: thumbs down. Learn the history of the band instead of imagining what you want: the only reason JC had made it to *NSYNC was because of the gracious recommendation of pre-Dr JT (); not the other way around.