Episode 00 - The Introduction

00:00 (Drum 'n Bass beatboxing noises)
00:20 Hey, welcome to Unsynchronized.
00:25 I'm your host Nicole Raposo.
00:28 This show is a deep dive into how *NSYNC broke up, and I want to say upfront that this is not a show for people who act like they never really broke up.
00:41 We're going to bypass the BS and take a closer look at how *NSYNC got out of sync.
00:48 Let's rewind a bit.
00:49 For those of you who grew up with *NSYNC, you already know the major details.
00:54 For anyone who didn't, well, one, it sucks to be you, but two, it's all good because I'm going to give you a quick rundown.
01:04 So here's the deal.
01:06 *NSYNC was one of the most iconic American pop boy bands ever.
01:11 There are five members, Lance, Joey, JC, Justin and Chris, and the group was assembled in 1995 in Orlando, FL by none other than Louis Perlman, better known as Lou Pearlman. (Layered booing noises) Yeah, that name gets booed around here.
01:27 You'll get used to it.
01:29 *NSYNC first gained traction overseas, especially in Germany, before breaking into the US mainstream, and their breakthrough moment came with the Disney Channel Concert Special in 1999.
01:40 That performance didn't just put them on the map, it lit the whole map on fire.
01:47 And from there it's basically pure pop dominance.
01:50 They gave us three regular studio albums, one Christmas album, and dance routines that are basically burned into our retinas and our brains in the best way possible.
02:03 But it wasn't just about the music.
02:06 *NSYNC was everywhere.
02:08 Radio, TV, magazine, rags, billboards, dolls, lip balm, board games, computer games, cereal boxes, you name it, they were on it.
02:19 Like, let's be real, *NSYNC went viral before being viral on the Internet was really even a thing.
02:26 So, the group was together consistently until 2002, which is when they took a break that, in reality, was the beginning of their breakup.
02:36 They rarely made public appearances together after that, and even though there were some whispers of new music in 2004 - more on that later, like last season later - the only time they've officially recorded anything since then was for the Trolls sequel and for Justin Timberlake's most recent album.
02:56 So yeah, 2002 marked the end of *NSYNC as a regularly functioning group.
03:02 And if you weren't there when it happened, don't worry, this podcast is going to catch you all the way up.
03:10 Fast forward to 2020, just days after the 20th anniversary of No Strings Attached, ET Canada published an article that, if I'm being honest, felt like a hit piece.
03:24 It talked about how Lance Bass, specifically his interest in getting into films and also his dreams of space tourism were the catalyst for *NSYNC's breakup, and even though it included some comments from him that kind of pushed back, it seemed to me like the overall framing.
03:44 Of the piece was pretty 1 sided.
03:47 What really struck me the most was the timing.
03:51 Lance had just hosted a series of reunion episodes on his podcast to celebrate *NSYNC's biggest career milestone.
03:59 There was a serious sense of joy and nostalgia and connection.
04:04 And then, almost immediately, this article lands.
04:07 And it's suggesting that he was the one who led to the group breaking apart.
04:13 The emotional whiplash was real.
04:17 Maybe not for everyone, but for me.
04:20 And it felt pretty strange.
04:22 Like, why kick dirt on a major celebration?
04:26 And more importantly, who benefits from that narrative?
04:32 Because when I looked closer at some of the sources that were quoted, let's just say I wasn't exactly convinced that we were hearing from neutral parties.
04:44 One of the people interviewed in the article is currently employed by RCA, and in the article they said that he still worked with Justin.
04:52 Now, that's not an accusation, but let's call it what it is.
04:56 It's a possible conflict of interest.
04:58 If someone benefits from keeping the story clean and familiar, then it's fair to ask whether they're going to really challenge.
05:05 Narrative, or if they're going to uphold it.
05:08 And then there are Lance's comments.
05:10 The way he pushed back in the article didn't really seem like it was just off the cuff.
05:16 Actually, what he said was pretty consistent with some of the things that he shared in his 2007 memoir, Called Out of Sync.
05:24 And just so you know, I will be referencing Lance's book throughout this podcast.
05:29 Not because I take every word as gospel, but because it's one of the few pieces of first hand information that we have from someone inside of the group.
05:39 It's a puzzle piece, and I'm going to be holding it up against other puzzle pieces along the way.
05:45 So yeah, the article made me very curious.
05:50 I wouldn't say that it went viral, but it was positioned in a way that it could have gained a lot of traction, especially if people weren't paying attention to the sources or questioning what had been said.
06:05 And just that moment, that kind of disconnect between celebration and speculation.
06:10 That's really what pushed me to start asking deeper questions.
06:14 Not just why did *NSYNC break up, but why haven't we been given a straight answer?
06:20 And what happens when people fill in the silence with their own assumptions?
06:25 So, that's really how this journey began.
06:28 Around late March, I had started combing through archived articles, old interviews, forgotten fan sites, basically anything I could get my hands and eyes on.
06:38 By the end of May, I gathered a ton of info and I'd had some pretty interesting.
06:46 And also pretty spicy conversations with some fellow fans online.
06:49 And it was at that point that I had an epiphany.
06:53 Why not share what I've found with even more people, but do it in a way that's engaging and also in a way that's enduring.
07:03 So that's how Riddle On Her Mind.
07:06 Came to be and Riddle On Her Mind is my visual archive.
07:10 I launched ROHM in July of 2020. (Record scratch noise)
07:16 Hey, this is future Nicole jumping in.
07:22 When I recorded and edited this episode, my primary visual archive was still active.
07:34 But as of October 1st, 2025, there won't be any new updates to the 2001 through 2004 timeline on Instagram or the backup timeline on WordPress.
07:40 Any new updates will be hosted at riddleonhermind.neocities.org after I announce them.
07:43 OK, back to the episode.
07:48 So you might be asking, why turn your research into a podcast?
07:57 Well, even if you're not asking, I'm still going to tell you. One big reason is because podcasts are fun.
08:04 But also, I wanted a platform that was less ephemeral than social media.
08:08 Contrary to what a lot of people think, the Internet is not forever.
08:14 Things get moved or deleted without being archived, and they end up getting lost to time.
08:26 I feel like a podcast is an archival medium that holds up overtime, just like the information I'm trying to preserve. (Record scratching noise)
08:33 Hey, it's future Nicole again.
08:36 When I said I shifted from a visual archive to a podcast because it's an archival medium.
08:40 That's true, but that's not the whole story.
08:43 I also chose this format because it lets me expand my focus.
08:52 Riddle On Her Mind was hyper-focused.
08:54 On finding and preserving documentation on the timeline of *NSYNC's so-called hiatus and the promises of a reunion that never came.
09:01 But Unsynchronized widens the lens and gives me more space to explore what was happening with each member of the group year by year.
09:04 The podcast allows me to flesh out.
09:06 And establish more context by including sources that don't answer the laser-focused questions about *NSYNC reuniting, but do answer questions about each member's social and professional trajectories at that time.
09:18 OK, back to the original recording.
09:20 So how is this podcast thing going to work?
09:24 Well, each season of Unsynchronized will focus on one specific year in the timeline of *NSYNC's breakup.
09:34 And it's going to unroll that way with the hope that each year will bring us closer to understanding what really happened behind the scenes.
09:46 The structure is going to be pretty consistent across the seasons.
09:52 There's going to be 1 preface episode that's going to set the stage and provide context for that season.
09:59 There will be 5 biographical episodes, each one will be spotlighting a different member of the group and what they were doing that year.
10:03 And then at the end there's going to be 1 recap.
10:10 Episode to connect the dots and see what we've learned over the course of that season.
10:16 There'll be bonus episodes, too, fan submissions, Q&A breakdowns, maybe even some interviews.
10:24 But at its core, Unsynchronized is a slow, deliberate, orderly investigation of a long goodbye.
10:31 The theme for Season 1 is Bringin' Da Noise, and it's going to focus on the year 2001.
10:42 But before we get into that, we'll be setting up some context and setting the tone with the preface episode, which will be a recap of the year 2000.
10:47 Now, why do I want to recap the year 2000? In a nutshell, it's because 2000 was *NSYNC's peak commercial success, massive media visibility, and the release of their record shattering album No Strings Attached.
10:58 Then we'll move through 2001 member by member.
11:02 So with Joey's episode, we'll look at his work schedule, things like auditions and filming, and how he managed to balance fame with family.
11:14 For Chris's episode, we'll talk about brand building for his fashion line, creative leadership, and basically the undercurrent of his role behind the scenes.
11:24 For JC's episode, we'll talk about songwriting, production work, and the brief moments of creative independence.
11:32 With Lance's episode, we'll talk about his business ambitions like freelance entertainment, and we'll talk about his widening career focus, especially when it comes to movies.
11:42 Then when we get to Justin's episode, we'll talk about his individual projects and also the acceleration of the media spotlight and some of the questions that quietly.
11:53 Started to swirl around him at that time.
11:56 Finally, in the season recap, we'll circle back to the article that sparked this entire podcast, the ET Canada piece pointing to Lance's ambitions as the start of the breakup.
12:07 And we'll start examining quotes, comparing sources, and then we can start to lay the groundwork for figuring out what really happened.
12:15 Before I wrap up this intro episode, I want to take a moment to clarify a few things.
12:20 Because how you enter into Unsynchronized matters, and the best way to do that is by breaking down the show's tagline.
12:28 One band, 5 voices, so many questions.
12:31 So let's start with one band.
12:33 Of course, that one band is *NSYNC.
12:38 But the phrase represents more than just the name.
12:41 It's a gesture towards the unity that was projected to the public, especially during their peak.
12:46 Whether that unity was fully real or selectively curated is part of what we'll examine across the duration of the show.
12:55 The next part is five voices that refers to their literal singing voices, but also the figurative ones.
13:03 So thoughts, perspectives, decisions, and experiences.
13:06 Each member will have a biographical episode across the first Four Seasons, and I chose that structure intentionally because over time.
13:15 It seems like certain narratives have kind of flattened their histories.
13:19 Some voices have been more amplified and others have been kind of sidelined.
13:25 This podcast aims to restore dimension and context, and also to give each member space to exist as a full person, not just a role in a pop culture storyline.
13:37 So the last part was so many questions.
13:42 This show focuses on *NSYNC in the early 2000s.
13:46 Yes, but it's not a nostalgia podcast in the traditional sense.
13:52 We're not here to romanticize the past, We're here to excavate it.
13:57 That means receipts, research, and reflection.
13:59 It means asking difficult questions that might never fully be answered, but still asking them anyway.
14:06 Some of those questions may feel uncomfortable for certain fans, and that's OK.
14:12 Unsynchronized isn't designed to protect a myth, it's designed to challenge it.
14:15 This is a space of exploration and recovery, a way of piercing together the fractured story of how *NSYNC broke up and what that breakup left behind.
14:24 So now that you know what you're getting into, I can go ahead and wrap up this episode and point us towards what's coming next.
14:32 Because Episode 1 kicks things off with a rewind to the year 2000, a look at *NSYNC's biggest commercial highs, and possibly some of the quiet shifts that were already happening beneath the surface.
14:44 It's a setup for everything that follows, and trust me, there's a lot to unpack.
14:51 Thanks so much for joining me here on Unsynchronized.
14:55 I'm really looking forward to having you with me for episode 1 and beyond.
15:00 Because the deeper we go, the clearer the picture gets.
15:03 And as we piece together the truth one episode at a time, remember, you can't spell 'Unsynchronized' without 'NSYNC'.
15:20 (Drum 'n Bass beatboxing noises)