In other words, it’s official: That *NSYNC reunion that was hyped up for months seems to have been nothing more than a marketing gimmick for the animated film Trollz Band Together.
There are so many reasons why this Timberlake comeback is confusing, the first of which is that nobody seems to want it. Timberlake’s reputation has taken a bit of a beating in recent years thanks to controversies both new and old, from jaw-dropping details of his relationship with Britney Spears revealed in her memoir, to rumors of infidelity in his marriage to Jessica Biel to renewed debate over who actually should’ve taken the heat during the XXXVIII Super Bowl “Nipple Gate” debacle. (The new consensus is “not Janet Jackson.”)
Moral and ethical dilemmas aside, Timberlake has kind of fallen off in recent years. This tour is in support of his upcoming album Everything I Thought I Was, his first in six years. In that time, most of his musical output has been in the form of soundtracks for Trollz, which he also stars in.
Normally, a gap that long could be an asset, a tool to help build anticipation. When your last release was 2018’s Man of the Woods, however, absence isn’t guaranteed to make the heart grow fonder. The album received poor reviews, underperformed commercially and compelled him to degrade himself by wearing a camo suit (which is not less embarrassing than a nip slip, by the way) at the LII Super Bowl in 2018.
In short, the music-listening public isn’t exactly clamoring for Timberlake to come out of the woods and back into the pop-stardom spotlight.
That’s where the rest of *NSYNC could’ve come in. When the full lineup reunited at the 2023 Video Music Awards, millennials (the ones who weren’t Team Backstreet Boys in the ’90s, that is) rejoiced at the possibility of a reunion. The rumor mill was further fueled by the full band’s Trollz soundtrack contribution, “Better Place,” their first song in 20 years.
Even other members of the band seemed hopeful. In an interview with E! News, Lance Bass claimed that “the door is always open” and that he had his “fingers crossed” for a full-blown reunion.
Bass and the fans’ hopes were deflated when Timberlake began teasing new music and a surprise show in his hometown of Memphis last week. With a new album and music on the way, it seems like Timberlake will be too busy for a proper *NSYNC comeback.
However, if last year’s joint tour between Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service (both fronted by Ben Gibbard) taught us anything, it’s that it is not impossible to co-headline with yourself. If ticket sales aren’t what Timberlake and his team are hoping for, there seems to be a ready and willing opening act that will do the trick.
Tickets for Justin Timberlake’s Forget Tomorrow World Tour at Dickie’s Arena will be available to the general public on Friday, Feb. 2. More information about tickets and presale opportunities can be found on Ticketmaster.
Carly May Gravley
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