NSYNC Reunites at Free Justin Timberlake Gig in Los Angeles

On March 13, a full-blown NSYNC reunion broke out at the latest warm-up gig for Justin Timberlake's forthcoming tour, with the star's four former bandmates joining him in advance of the March 15 release of his sixth solo album Everything I Thought It Was. See the video snippet below from the Wiltern in Los Angeles.

Introduced via a curtain rise with Timberlake out front (who was already 15 songs in), the four NSYNC-ers – JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick – strode forward already singing to the DJ-supplied version of their 2001 song "Gone." Amidst the rounds of Beatlemania-esque screaming, the five gave a mini-performance (minus the dance moves) of "Girlfriend," "Bye Bye Bye" and "It's Gonna Be Me."

The guys then gathered themselves on stools to sing "Paradise," a ballad that will be released on Timberlake's upcoming sixth solo album. And then, it was over. As Timberlake exchanged hugs with his bandmates, the four walked offstage to cheers and hundreds of waving smartphones.

While most would not call this a surprise, per se, it's been a slow burn of appearances and publicity since late 2023. September saw them present Taylor Swift with the Best Pop Award at the MTV Video Music Awards. Taylor, possibly feigning surprise but not shock, addressed the ever-ubiquitous statement upon receiving her moon man, "They're doing something and I need to know what it is!"

"What it is" was the song "Better Place," recorded for the 2023 animated film Trolls: Band Together, which saw Timberlake (as his onscreen doppelganger Branch) and his bandmates in Troll band Kismet (Boom, Hype, Ablaze and Trickee, aka NSYNC) roll out the end credits with the appropriate hair, clothes and adoring fandom at their side.

While going on a promotional and publicity tear across the U.S. playing one-off gigs in Memphis and New York City, Timberlake had to cancel a gig at the Camden in London on February 23 due to the flu. The forthcoming Forget Tomorrow World tour in support of the album will kick off in April in North America and, as Timberlake noted in a social media post, "When I said WORLD tour, I meant it," his team subsequently announced a 13-date pan-European run of shows in July, August and September.

Everything I Thought I Was is Timberlake’s sixth studio album, and the follow-up to Man of the Woods, which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 following its release in February 2018.