‘NSync Fall Back Into a Familiar Rhythm on ‘Better Place,’ First Single in Over 20 Years
Sometimes, good things come with a sacrifice. For pop fans, in the case of ‘NSync reuniting in the studio for the first time in more than two decades, it means that the song they made, “Better Place,” was created for the forthcoming animated sequel Trolls Band Together. But at this point, we’ll take what we can get.
The bright bop sees the group come back together and includes the upbeat chorus: “Just let me take you to a better place/I’m gonna make you kiss the sky tonight//Yeah, if you let me show the way/I’m so excited to see you excited.”
Over the past month, the reunited five-piece — Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Justin Timberlake, and J.C. Chasez — have been making up for lost time. A few weeks ago, they presented an award to Taylor Swift at the 2023 MTV VMAs, appearing together for the first time since earning their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018 and hitting the stage during Timberlake’s VMAs Video Vanguard Award performance in 2013. Their last musical release, the “Girlfriend” remix featuring Nelly, dropped in 2002, a year after they released their last album, Celebrity.
Timberlake, who voices a troll named Branch in the DreamWorks franchise, geared up for “Better Place” in the hours before its release with a compilation video reflecting on the height of their career. The video featured grainy footage of the bright-eyed boy band making the most out of their stardom, not knowing if or when the rollercoaster would drop. “It’s hard to put in words how much the four of you mean to me,” he says in the clip from one of those early days. “Through hard times, through unbelievable times, through the times when we were going, ‘What the fuck?’ I just love all of you so much.”
Trolls Band Together arrives in theaters Nov. 17. The movie will follow Branch as he reunites with his brothers — voiced by Troye Sivan, Eric André, Daveed Diggs, and Kid Cudi — to get their childhood boy band, BroZone, back together.