I was taking a trip down nostalgia lane by way of NSYNC (yeah yeah, but we all have a soft spot for our teenage years!) and accidentally stumbled on across what appears to be an unreleased JC Chasez solo track. Something about the driving beat, the tempo and the vocal style just clicked for me and I immediately became obsessed. I listened to it on loop all the way home, which I never do, and now I want to find more in this vein, but I have no idea what to even start searching for. I know this forum to be full of very knowledgable folks, though, so I was hoping some of you might be able to point me in the right direction?

(I had the file as MP3 but couldn't figure out how to share that so have stuck it on YT instead, I hope that's okay.)

Edit: Argh why does the YouTube thing never work for me? Here's the direct link: https://youtu.be/Ab030u21Kco

[Edited 4/22/21 11:07am]

Sometimes, JC's songwriting isn't that great, honestly. He has a very distinct sound. It's often heavy, clunky, overly syncopated, and sometimes overproduced. "Blowin' Me Up" is a good example of that. Moderately catchy, but no one's humming that today. However, that song was from Drumline so the heavy percussive nature of it makes sense, but only for that reason.

"Some Girls Dance With Woman" - next.

"All Day Long I Dream About Sex" - next.

The thing is, he's had a lot of work as songwriter, even writing for AJ McLean from Backstreet Boys - but who even know AJ had a solo record? I suppose that pays the bills, but if these folk's records ain't sellin', I would think the influx of money is short and limited.

He has a definite style when he writes music. And I also believe he's not a hitmaker. "What's Going On" is a prime example of that. That's a terrible song. Lethargic, uninspired. I don't know how old it is, but it smells of something from about twenty years ago.

The title of his solo record perfectly describes his writing style.

TrivialPursuit said:

Annika said:

I appreciate your thoughts, but as I said I really like it. I am quite happy to accept I have terrible taste if you'll kindly point me in the direction of more? I don't know anything about JC's writing style (or music in general), I figured it wasn't that relevant here, since he's not making more and this track in any case is old. I was more looking for work by other artists with a similar tempo and vocal style. Edit: Also just to add, I think it actually is from 20 years ago. The file it was in is labelled 2001 and has a bunch of stuff which seem to be outtakes from NSYNC's Celebrity album which I think came out about then.

It does sound older, just in the production aspects.

And if you like it, no one is here to tell you otherwise. We all like our own things, and it's all good.

Taste is relative. I like "The Arms of Orion" and "I Love U In Me" but most people here hate those songs. It's whatever. Love what you love without apology.

Yeah, that's pretty much my approach. With music especially I know enough to know that I know nothing at all, only that some stuff grabs me and some stuff doesn't. This song isn't my usual thing at all, but somehow the way the whole thing is put together just gets me. I don't know why, but then I'm the person who grew up adoring MJ but with Blood On The Dancefloor as my favourite album, so maybe my musical sense is just oddly wired.

FWIW I've managed to find out a bit more about the track (hooray for Tumblr). It seems it was part of a pack of Celebrity demos leaked by Alex G. a few years back, and this one was apparently labelled as written for MJ, which I guess explains the Invincible era-ish yelps. Maybe I'll revisit what the other Invincible producers were working on around that time and see if I can find something I like as much as this random track.

Edit: I swear to God I know how to spell Invincible.

[Edited 4/25/21 12:17pm]

thekidsgirl said:

Did you know JC did a whole solo album? I think 6 people bought it, but maybe there is more like this song on it

JC and Geri Halliwell both used the same title for their solo records. I think Geri's came first, though.

thekidsgirl said:

Did you know JC did a whole solo album? I think 6 people bought it, but maybe there is more like this song on it

I am one of the six! Or at least, I ended up with one of the six copies which were bought, I can't remember how anymore.

I actually enjoy his album, it's eclectic and doesn't take itself too seriously, plus he has a remarkable voice. I still listen to it sometimes. As someone who knows nothing about music I like a lot of his tunes and his way of singing them. His lyrics seem to me his greatest weakness, they're heartfelt but always so literal, like he's trying to get in a complete and grammatically correct sentence instead of focussing on conveying the feeling. It feels clumsy sometimes. I get the troubadour/storyteller approach, but if you want to take the Springsteen route I feel like you probably need bigger stories than 'let's have sex'. I don't expect perfection in artists, though, and I still enjoy that album enough that I would absolutely buy anything new he put out.

Having said that, nothing on Schizophrenic really reminds me of this song. I will check out your other suggestions, thank you!

[Edited 4/25/21 7:11am]

I should add that despite my indictment of JC's songwriting, etc., I've always been team Nsync. This is a pic of the bobbleheads I bought at Best Buy in 2000/1 and still have in the hutch over the TV.




Lance later noted on Ellen that he's never had a soul patch in his life.

After this pic, I rearranged them in order of the Celebrity cover.

I admit my fan knowledge is rather lacking, but why is JC dressed like a waiter? Everybody else kind of makes sense, but that one is very much a 'one of these things is not like the others' type of situation.

Annika said:

I admit my fan knowledge is rather lacking, but why is JC dressed like a waiter? Everybody else kind of makes sense, but that one is very much a 'one of these things is not like the others' type of situation.

The same reason Lance is dressed like the "mostly hands-off manager, Gerald. Goes by Jerry w/ his friends. Worked here for 24 years, from dishwasher to manager."

TrivialPursuit said:

It does sound older, just in the production aspects.

Older than 2001? Not really. It actually sounds very much like a Darkchild production from 2001/2002 (see Brandy's "What About Us" which thekidsgirl already mentioned).

TrivialPursuit said:

And if you like it, no one is here to tell you otherwise.

Again...not really, unfortunately. See above.

[Edited 4/28/21 6:58am]

McGee said:

TrivialPursuit said:

It does sound older, just in the production aspects.

Older than 2001? Not really. It actually sounds very much like a Darkchild production from 2001/2002 (see Brandy's "What About Us" which thekidsgirl already mentioned).

I never said older than 2001. I said older, as in 20 years ago.

TrivialPursuit said:

I bought at Best Buy in 2000/1 and still have in the hutch over the TV.

Annika said:

thekidsgirl said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I bought at Best Buy in 2000/1 and still have in the hutch over the TV.

Well this is surprising, considering your initial comment

Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I can't see the good and bad (like some Prince fans). A real fan can critique as much as praise.

thekidsgirl said:

Annika said:

thekidsgirl said:

Respect. I never analyze my guilty pleasure music choices this well!
I'm more, "this is trash and I LOVE it, now give me more"

Not sure if that's a good thing or not but admittedly I enjoy analysing stuff I like. How else can I figure out why I like it and get more? I've never really subscribed to the notion of guilty pleasure, though, or good and bad in terms of art, let alone 'trash'. There's a lot of inherent morality in those terms, and art is so subjective anyway. Of course I can see when something is more or less well crafted, or more or less original, but that doesn't mean it will click for me. One of the great regrets of my musical life is that I just don't 'get' Bowie's music. I love everything else about his artistry, I can see how objectively the songs are interesting and well made, but when I listen to them I feel nothing and find myself getting bored and just waiting for the song to end. It's incredibly annoying when I desperately want to love them!

Since we've been talking about JC's album I went and had a look at the reviews (or, okay, the Critical Reception section of the Wiki page) and some of them are actually quite complimentary, which surprised me given the general reception. My favourite quote of the day is now "in Chasez’s house, all the various genres can play nice together", which for me conjures up the image of JC as a kindergarten teacher gently shepherding little Muppet baby versions of the genres around the recording studio. Not saying that those comments make those particular critics right and people who don't like his work wrong or vice versa of course, it's just interesting to see how different people react differently to the same sound.