The NSYNC member admits he felt the fierce rivalry between his group and other boybands and tells BSB member AJ McLean that there was a time he was 'afraid' of him.
- Jun 10, 2021
AceShowbiz - NSYNC star Chris Kirkpatrick felt a rivalry with other boy bands.
The 49-year-old singer admitted the "Dirty Pop" hitmakers shared "competitiveness" with the likes of 98 Degrees and Backstreet Boys early in their careers.
Chris joined AJ McLean and Jeff Timmons for an interview with Variety, and the latter insisted 98 Degrees didn't feel much competition.
However, the NSYNC star fired back, "That's a lie! Back in the day, there was competitiveness. There were underlying things that we all had. I was afraid of you!"
And Chris admitted there was a period when he couldn't be in the same room as AJ although they have become closer over the years.
"There was a time when I couldn't be in the same room with this guy," he admitted. "But there's always been a mutual respect, and now that we're all parents, we've grown up. Reflecting on things, it's cool to see what each of the bands did and how it all worked together."
Chris noted that there is a camaraderie among boy bands from the early 2000s who all went through a similar journey.
"It really was this symbiotic relationship with Backstreet, 98 Degrees, us and even O-Town and other bands that came in," he explained.
AJ agreed and revealed the close bond he now shares with Chris and Jeff.
"It's pretty much like the Three Stooges," he laughed.
In the same interview, Jeff Timmons has promised 98 Degrees fans that the band are "dead serious" about their highly-anticipated comeback.
The boyband is no stranger to reuniting, having previously released 2.0 - their first studio album in 13 years - in 2013. They've also dabbled with various reunion shows and concerts in the past, but Timmons told Variety that this return to the spotlight will be different than their previous attempts.
"We've messed around with it before, but we're now dead serious about coming out, doing new shows, having a good time," he explained. "(The music's) more energised. When we came back the first time, the business had changed and we'd been gone so long, we thought, 'We should come out with stuff that's fast because people can't put ballads out anymore.' But now things have changed so much. We're being true to ourselves."
And revealing more details - including that the group have teamed up with collaborators including DJ Lux on new songs - Timmons added, "We're remixing old stuff and releasing that to give people a fresh take on it. There are no rules anymore. We don't need to do 98 Degrees, so the point is to have fun and give something to our fans that they can be proud of."
