Steffi

NO STRINGS ATTACHED

Approximately 2.24 million people hurriedly snapped up ‘N Sync’s No Strings Attached, almost doubling the 1.13 million who purchased Backstreet Boys’s Millennium in its debut week. Although I realized the possibility of ‘N Sync breaking sales records in early January, long before the album was actually released, it still came as a shock to me.

As their album had such a commanding presence in the first week and the weeks to follow, one would expect it to be ground-breaking, Grammy material. Even as a critic, I naturally expected some mature, worthwhile music. [A/N: using the terms very loosely] And in a sense, this album met my expectations and was extraordinary. Extraordinarily disappointing. If I were an 'N Sync teenybopper [A/N: note the choice of wording-teenybopper] , I would be embarrassed to admit that I actually spent money on that piece of rubbish.

Before March 21, 2000, I had the opportunity to sample the 12 superficially shallow tunes on “that piece of rubbish” at Future Shop. Giving 'N Sync the benefit of the doubt, I actually sat in Future Shop for approximately an hour and listened to every track, so I could give my truthful opinion of the CD on my site. With the exception of a few, notably “Bye Bye Bye” and "It's Gonna Be Me," the tracks are overproduced with urban sounds. 'N Sync attempted to urbanize their sound via upbeat tempos, and in doing so reflected their desperation to change their image and appeal to a wider audience. However, JC had described their revived sound as comparable to the “Chemical Brothers” some time ago and surely enough, the album sported 10 more upbeat tracks and 2 soft ballads. However, note to JC, comparing yourself to the Chemical Brothers does not necessarily make you as good as them.

Even though the lyrics are meaningless words strung together for the purposes of a song, 'N Sync boasted of how personal this CD was for them, because some members had creative input into the songs. However, I cannot help but wonder, do the lyrics in their songs actually reflect their inner person? Do they have aspirations of being a “Space Cowboy”? Are they only happy that they “Just Got Paid?” If this CD was more personal for them, and all they can sing about are these types of topics, their lives seem void of direction. Having creative input by the artist on the album is important, but it must be, to say the least, satisfactory input.

Between their new “Chemical Brothers” sound and written lyrics, 'N Sync has evidently attempted to cut loose from their boyband skin. Undoubtedly, artists must re-invent themselves to keep up with the changing times, however they must beware the improvements do not backfire. And most importantly, the music has to continually show development, growth and progression! 'N Sync was certainly on the right track by reinventing themselves and ambitiously trying to gain a wider audience. However, in my mind, 'N Sync tried too hard and failed.

Breaking the sales record by such a large margin is certainly a commendable act, and I give 'N Sync their due credit. However, breaking the sales record with such an ordinary album is something I have trouble understanding.

REASON'S FOR 'N SYNC'S SALES BREAK

For the past few weeks, I have had some time to digest and dissect the sales record that was broken by the Syncers. As I analyzed the BSB’s record that tumbled, I realized that there may be some legitimate, logical reasons as to how 'N Sync broke the record:

1. Before the BSB broke the first week sales record, the honor was held by Garth Brooks’s Double Live. When the BSB broke the record, it was considered a pleasant surprise, as most BSB fans, including myself, did not know such a record even existed. After the BSB broke the record, it can be assumed that people were consciously aware of such a record. Thus, I believe that ‘N Sync teenyboppers bought their album with the intention to break the sales record. Before the album was released, I had had numerous encounters with ‘N Sync fans who swore they would buy more than one copy of the album just to break the sales record. Therefore, in my mind, the BSB breaking the sales record with Millennium, when breaking a sales record was not the goal of the fans, was a much more commendable feat than ‘N Sync breaking the sales record with No Strings Attached, when many fans had the conscious goal of breaking the record.
2. Like Garth Brooks’s Double Live, ‘N Sync’s No Strings Attached was marketed during a musical season, a time of the year in which higher sales are favored. Garth Brooks released his album during Christmas, when people are often purchasing CD’s as gifts. ‘N Sync released their album during Spring Break, when most children and teenyboppers are on vacation from school and have the time to purchase the CD. The Backstreet Boys released their album in May, in between the musical season of Spring Break and Summer Vacation, which was the least favorable starting position out of these three artists.
3. ‘N Sync had somewhat been in media spotlight and public attention since the beginning of the year. However, this media blitz was not due to their talent as artists; it had to do with their lawsuit with Lou Pearlman and Transcontinental Records. Although I cannot honestly admit to agreeing with Pearlman in all aspects of the case, I do believe that ‘N Sync started the controversy by breaching their contract and joining Jive Records. Nevertheless, the media made the lawsuit into a Beauty and the Beast sort of scenario, with ‘N Sync as Beauty and Pearlman as the Beast. Therefore, people were ecstatic that ‘N Sync was able to continue recording albums, not because they are talented artists, but because beauty triumphed over beast in the lawsuit. And thus, people were eager to purchase their album.
4. On a variety of shows, ‘N Sync made guest appearances to promote their CD. And this promotion was much more extensive than the Backstreet Boys’s Millennium album. ‘N Sync had been spotted on Saturday Night Live, the Today Show, the View… As well, ‘N Sync had performances in almost every awards ceremony, even insignificant ones such as the Blockbuster Awards, the Teen Choice Awards, the WB Radio Music Awards… [A/N: which basically proves that they have no life, making appearances at every single petty awards show] Therefore they had many opportunities to be seen by the American populace.

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Steffi