No Strings Attached
Encyclopedia
No Strings Attached is the second studio album by American boy band 'N Sync
, released by Jive Records
on March 21, 2000. The album title is a play on the idea of independence from corporate control, with reference to the band's new-found freedom from their former management, Trans Continental. Before the release of No Strings Attached, the band split from their management and signed to Jive Records. Since its release, the album has been considered the group's landmark achievement.
With Jive, the band was introduced to a few producers who would contribute tracks for the album; but despite the split, they still collaborated with those present during their time with Trans Continental. For the album, 'N Sync wanted to distinguish their music from their label mates', with whom they shared essentially the same team of producers from Sweden
. The ensuing album explores the dimensions of contemporary R&B
within the pop music
.
The legal battle caused the release of No Strings Attached to be delayed several times. The hype that the album's lead single, "Bye Bye Bye
", created and the shifting dates served in increasing the anticipation for the album to landmark commercial success. No Strings Attached is the fastest to sell in the United States in a week: By selling more than two million copies in its debut week, the album set a one-week sales record in the United States that is still held by the band today.
The title of the album alludes to puppet
s and the idea of independence 'N Sync earned following a legal battle between its then management. 'N Sync was signed by Trans Continental Management to Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) in Germany, due to a pre-existing deal, and its distribution rights in the United States were automatically bought by RCA
. In 1999, 'N Sync sued Trans Continental and financier, Louis J. Pearlman
, due to illicit corporate practices. They cited Pearlman's defrauding
the group, which, according to MTV
, was more than fifty percent of their earnings, rather than his promise of only receiving one-sixth of the profits. The band, whose self-titled debut album
and its quick follow up had commercial success, insisted "they have not seen enough of the profits" that they had generated by selling eight million albums in the United States alone. On October 12, 1999, Trans Continental, along with RCA's parent, BMG Entertainment, filed a $150 million suit in a federal court
to bar 'N Sync's transference to Jive and from performing or recording under their current name. The suit also forced 'N Sync to return masters
recorded in 1999 in preparation of their second album. With an undisclosed settlement in 2001, 'N Sync finally severed its contract
with Trans Continental and switched labels from RCA Records
to Jive Records
, which releases its contemporaries such as the Backstreet Boys
and pop sensation Britney Spears
.
The titling of the album is similar to the Backstreet Boys
' who also had legal wrangling with Pearlman which concluded to a settlement in October 1998 that was not disclosed. The Backstreet Boys "took a shot" at Pearlman by titling their 2000 album Black & Blue
. Meanwhile, the title No Strings Attached was announced in September 1999, during when the legal battle was still ongoing. 'N Sync's member, Chris Kirkpatrick
, revealed that the title and the album's cover art have a personal meaning to them. According to him, the album was designed to show that they felt they were puppets stranded in strings, which alludes to their destiny being controlled. In an interview, he further explained the relationship of the strings to the album:
While the legal suit was underway, 'N Sync kept on recording songs for the album. Despite the band switching label, it still retained its manager and mentor from Trans Continental, Johnny Wright. With Jive, the band was introduced American record producer Teddy Riley, who would remake Johnny Kemp
's 1988 "Just Got Paid
" with them, and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, who produced "It Makes Me Ill" for the album. One of the recording sessions for the album took place in a tiny studio in Burbank
. The ballad "That's When I'll Stop Loving You" written by Dianne Warren
was recorded there under the production of French
-born producer Guy Roche.
Accordingly, 'N Sync insisted that they chose producers and songwriters for the album. On No Strings Attached, the band commissioned Swedish and German
songwriters and producers, who had produced songs for the Backstreet Boys. Aside from getting the album number one on the chart, they wanted to distinguish their music that had been attuned to the styles of the Backstreet Boys, having shared the same producers. For that direction, they told the Swedish team of Cheiron Studios
to change the band's tune. Wright recalls, "We basically told them, 'We like your concepts for songs and we love the way you produce. But you're gonna have to do it in a different way so that it conforms to how we want our sound to be." This direction resulted to harder-edge songs such as "Bye Bye Bye", which production was handled by the Swedish team. Max Martin
, who also came from Cheiron and known for producing songs for 'N Sync's label mates, also contributed to the album by co-writing and producing the single "It's Gonna Be Me
".
Despite the new direction the band had wanted to take, early recording process found some of the producers and writers submitting tracks which were "in the vein of 'N Sync's earlier, softer sound". The band thought that if the collaborators could not produce what they were looking for, they would find it themselves. This resulted to some of the band's members contributing to a number of tracks which made it to the album. On specific songs, songwriter and producer Veit Renn
collaborated with band's member JC Chasez, who co-authored the album's title track and three other songs. Meanwhile, lead singer Justin Timberlake
helped pen and produce a song called "I'll Be Good for You", which also made it to the album's track listing.
, said that the album is a diverse body of work that explores dimensions of R&B
within the pop. He added that the album "goes totally mainstream and it goes into some dance
- and club
-style songs". Although there are few mid-tempo and ballads in the album, songs on No Strings Attached are mostly up tempos, a direction which was a result of the band's wanting to have a fun album. Despite of it, the album retained the pop style of its predecessor. According to Entertainment Weekly
, the album's musical style is that of Top 40, with a funk
y beat.
On its article for The New York Times
, Jon Pareles wrote in 2000:
On the album, critics noted the song about video cybersex
, "Digital Get Down". Accordingly, it is a clear indicator of post-pubescent
consciousness of the group. In the article "Parents' Guide" published in Entertainment Weekly, Lois Alter Mark analyzes the contents of new albums at the time, including No Strings Attached. Accordingly, the album's recurring theme is about puppy love
, and has sexual content that is categorized as mildly suggestive and a language that is preteen friendly.
Originally, No Strings Attached was due for release in the fall
1999. But due to the ongoing legal battle between the band and its management, it was delayed several times. Towards the end of 1999, it was reported that a settlement had been reached, putting aside the lawsuit that their management had filed. The settlement allowed the band to freely release the album under its current band name, with a March 7 initial schedule. "Bye Bye Bye
" was solicited to radio stations on January 17, the same night the group would debut the song at the American Music Awards
.
, Good Morning America
, Saturday Night Live
, and the Oscars.
The music video to "Bye Bye Bye" was heavily rotated, which the Rolling Stone magazine called a "seemingly every other half hour" on MTV
. MTV Networks then Chairman and CEO Tom Freston said, "'N Sync's clear accessibility means that they've been featured not just in heavy video rotation and mini-biographies but backstage, at the Super Bowl
, and in looser studio settings like Total Request Live
. Anything we can do to allow them to connect with their fans in a non-video environment."
Leading to the release, tracks from the album were illegally leaked
onto the internet. Despite the leaking, it was seen by Johnny Wright as an aid in helping the band reached the sales record that the album held. Wright thought the early and unofficial release was the opportunity for the listeners to hear more than what the radio was playing. He surmised that the Internet "helped a lot" for the album.
, which grossed over US$76.4 million. The national tour, sponsored by MCY.com and Nabisco and produced by SFX Touring, began on May 9, 2000, at Mississippi Coast Coliseum
in Biloxi.
During the first day the tickets went on sale, the tour, according to Billboard, was believed to have set a single-day record . More than one million tickets were sold, and 51 of the 52 shows slated for the tour sold out during the day. In gross, the tour racked up US$40 million.
David Browne who gave the album a C- rating, "No Strings Attached is overstuffed with tracks clearly concocted with the concert stage in mind." He further criticized the songs as "synthetic-funk spectacles". He, however, added that the group's best performances on No Strings Attached "arrive only when they drop the pretenses". Browne's rating the album C- received a reaction from 'N Sync fans. One fan, in its mail to Entertainment Weekly, felt that Browne's review of the album was "totally uncool". Stephen Thomas Erlewine
, senior editor of Allmusic, wrote, "To cynical critics, they very well might sound the same as ever, yet this really blows away their previous record." He, who gave a rating of four stars, said that the album "pulls away from the standard dance-pop formula".
Leading up to the 43rd annual Grammy Awards, the album earned the band a nomination in the Best Pop Vocal Album category. At the 2000 Billboard Music Awards, the album earned the band four awards including in the categories such as Album of the Year and Top 40 Artist of the Year.
Many retailers around the United States had predicted that, "with an impressive show of sales strength", No Strings Attached could "culminate into the biggest first week ever in the SoundScan era". Jive Records had already shipped 4.2 units of the album, and reorders were already made shortly after the album's release in record stores. At online retailer Amazon.com
, advance sales for the album were the biggest at the time. Meanwhile in the West Coast
, orders for the album were aggressive. Some stores stayed opened until midnight specifically for the album.
According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times
, "The sales statistics are a tribute to Jive Records' skill at building anticipation for No Strings Attached." The strength of the album's lead single, "Bye Bye Bye", its music video, along with Internet song previews for the album, provided for that build up. Both Jive Records and the band's management credited the album's early success to the anticipation amassed over the two years since they released their self-titled debut album, the highly publicized legal battle and the media blitz leading up to the release. Despite the mania that No Strings Attached stirred in the wake of its debut, MTV
reported the "record week may not have been simply the result of a wide fan base and effective marketing". Accordingly, many of 'N Sync's fans were spotted buying numerous copies of the album. That trend of buying was, for some, "simply to have more than one, and others to specifically help the group break the Backstreet Boys
' sales record". In 1999, Backstreet Boy's second studio album, Millenium
, sold more than 1.13 million copies in its first week.
In total, No Strings Attached sold in the United States over 2.4 million units in its first week. It set the record for the first album to have sold more than two million copies in a single week, since the chart adopted Nielsen SoundScan
data in May 1991. This record, which was later recognized at the 2000 Billboard Music Awards, is still held by 'N Sync. The figures surpassed the album's successor Celebrity
s debut sales of over 1.88 million units, retaining the recognition as the band's highest-debut in their career. Chartwise, the album debuted on the Billboard 200
at number one. It topped the chart for eight consecutive weeks, becoming one of the longest-running number-one albums of 2000.
The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) certified No Strings Attached seven-times platinum on April 19, 2000, becoming the highest-certified single disc album in the initial RIAA audit in that year. It broke the record previously set in 1993 by Whitney Houston
's The Bodyguard soundtrack, which was certified six-times platinum in the RIAA's first audit. The album shipped 10 million copies domestically in 2000 alone, of which 9,936,104 were sold, according to Nielsen Soundscan
. This made No Strings Attached the bestseller album in 2000 in the United States. At the end of the decade, No Strings Attached led as the second top-selling album with 11,112,000 units sold, according to the list released by Nielsen SoundScan
on December 8, 2009.
, their third studio album in the United States. It sold 1.6 million in its debut week, beating Millenium by best sales in a week. Despite such figures, it was still outnumbered by No Strings Attached, a fact that "should have been a triumph [for the band but] was hardly seen that way by the industry". In retrospect, the success of 'N Sync with the release of No Strings Attached was paralleled to the eventual disappearance of the Backstreet Boys, whose Black & Blue album "signaled the end of its glory days".
According to Richard Skanse of Rolling Stone, the album gave the group its landmark achievement. For Janet Kleinbaum, Jive's then-Vice President of Artist Marketing, the "yardstick is definitely extended", referring to the record by which future releases of Jive would have to be compared with. After No Strings Attached, Jive's other popular artists at the time such as Britney Spears
and the Backstreet Boys
were each releasing an album. Kleinbaum thought, "We know now what the possibilities are. We're not going to compare a Britney Spears record to 'N Sync, or Backstreet Boys. However, 'N Sync has shown us what can be done."
Referring to the first day sale of the album with 1.1 million units, Josh Wolk of Entertainment Weekly said that it was "perhaps the greatest mass spending of allowances in history". Craig Seymour of the same publication said, "What has the industry buzzing is not only that 2.4 million fans rushed to the stores, but that teen-pop behemoth Jive Records was in a unique and almost unprecedented position to meet the stores' demand." This demand on physical copies of the album was met by Jive by shelving up millions of units leading to the album's release date. The label was able to ship 4.2 million copies for the album's March 21 official release date, then couriered another 2.3 million in reorders on March 22. Retailer Grandoni said, "If they hadn't been ready for it, stores would have sold out after a couple days which would have limited their first-week sales."
Decade End Charts
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
, released by Jive Records
Jive Records
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
on March 21, 2000. The album title is a play on the idea of independence from corporate control, with reference to the band's new-found freedom from their former management, Trans Continental. Before the release of No Strings Attached, the band split from their management and signed to Jive Records. Since its release, the album has been considered the group's landmark achievement.
With Jive, the band was introduced to a few producers who would contribute tracks for the album; but despite the split, they still collaborated with those present during their time with Trans Continental. For the album, 'N Sync wanted to distinguish their music from their label mates', with whom they shared essentially the same team of producers from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The ensuing album explores the dimensions of contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
within the pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
.
The legal battle caused the release of No Strings Attached to be delayed several times. The hype that the album's lead single, "Bye Bye Bye
Bye Bye Bye
"Bye Bye Bye" is the first single released from American boyband 'N Sync's second album, No Strings Attached. Released in early 2000, it is a reference to the group's break from their manager Lou Pearlman and their record label, RCA...
", created and the shifting dates served in increasing the anticipation for the album to landmark commercial success. No Strings Attached is the fastest to sell in the United States in a week: By selling more than two million copies in its debut week, the album set a one-week sales record in the United States that is still held by the band today.
Context and background
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
s and the idea of independence 'N Sync earned following a legal battle between its then management. 'N Sync was signed by Trans Continental Management to Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) in Germany, due to a pre-existing deal, and its distribution rights in the United States were automatically bought by RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
. In 1999, 'N Sync sued Trans Continental and financier, Louis J. Pearlman
Lou Pearlman
Louis Jay "Lou" Pearlman is a former impresario of the successful 1990s boy bands such as The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Take 5, O-Town and US5. In 2006, it was discovered that Pearlman had perpetrated one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history, leaving more than $300...
, due to illicit corporate practices. They cited Pearlman's defrauding
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
the group, which, according to MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, was more than fifty percent of their earnings, rather than his promise of only receiving one-sixth of the profits. The band, whose self-titled debut album
*NSYNC (album)
-Background: 1995-1997:In 1995, Chris Kirkpatrick met with Lou Pearlman to talk about forming a pop group. Pearlman said that he would finance the group if Kirkpatrick would find other young male singers to be with him in the band. This prompted Kirkpatrick to call Joey Fatone, a friend he had met...
and its quick follow up had commercial success, insisted "they have not seen enough of the profits" that they had generated by selling eight million albums in the United States alone. On October 12, 1999, Trans Continental, along with RCA's parent, BMG Entertainment, filed a $150 million suit in a federal court
Federal court
Federal court may refer to a court of the national government in a country that has a federal system of government. Examples include:* United States federal courts** A particular federal court, such as the United States district courts....
to bar 'N Sync's transference to Jive and from performing or recording under their current name. The suit also forced 'N Sync to return masters
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
recorded in 1999 in preparation of their second album. With an undisclosed settlement in 2001, 'N Sync finally severed its contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Trans Continental and switched labels from RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
to Jive Records
Jive Records
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
, which releases its contemporaries such as the Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...
and pop sensation Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
.
The titling of the album is similar to the Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...
' who also had legal wrangling with Pearlman which concluded to a settlement in October 1998 that was not disclosed. The Backstreet Boys "took a shot" at Pearlman by titling their 2000 album Black & Blue
Black & Blue
Black & Blue is the follow-up album to the Backstreet Boys' 1999 studio release Millennium. It is their fourth album and their third American release. In the United States, Black & Blue sold 1.6 million discs in its first week of release, making them the first group in Soundscan history to have...
. Meanwhile, the title No Strings Attached was announced in September 1999, during when the legal battle was still ongoing. 'N Sync's member, Chris Kirkpatrick
Chris Kirkpatrick
Christopher Alan "Chris" Kirkpatrick is an American singer, dancer, entertainer, and voice actor who is best known as a founding member of the pop group 'N Sync in which he sang counter tenor. He has provided the voice for many kids shows, including the voice of Chip Skylark on The Fairly Odd...
, revealed that the title and the album's cover art have a personal meaning to them. According to him, the album was designed to show that they felt they were puppets stranded in strings, which alludes to their destiny being controlled. In an interview, he further explained the relationship of the strings to the album:
We enjoyed working on this album with the producers, and the only reasons that the strings are still attached on the album is so people can get the whole feel of the vibe of, you know, No Strings Attached. That's what we mean by the strings, so they'll understand that we're not puppets.
Recording and production
Johnny Kemp
Johnny Kemp is a Bahamian R&B singer and dancer. He began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band "Kinky Fox." His self-titled debut album came out in 1986 and he scored a minor hit with "Just Another Lover." True success came the following year,...
's 1988 "Just Got Paid
Just Got Paid
"Just Got Paid" is a 1988 crossover single by singer/songwriter Johnny Kemp. The song made it to number one on the U.S. R&B singles and dance charts and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100...
" with them, and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, who produced "It Makes Me Ill" for the album. One of the recording sessions for the album took place in a tiny studio in Burbank
Burbank
Burbank is both a common placename in English-speaking countries and a common surname . The name Burbank is of English origin and means "lives on the castle's hill".- United States :* Burbank, California...
. The ballad "That's When I'll Stop Loving You" written by Dianne Warren
Dianne Warren
Dianne Warren is a Canadian novelist, dramatist and short story writer, who lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.-Background:...
was recorded there under the production of French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
-born producer Guy Roche.
Accordingly, 'N Sync insisted that they chose producers and songwriters for the album. On No Strings Attached, the band commissioned Swedish and German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
songwriters and producers, who had produced songs for the Backstreet Boys. Aside from getting the album number one on the chart, they wanted to distinguish their music that had been attuned to the styles of the Backstreet Boys, having shared the same producers. For that direction, they told the Swedish team of Cheiron Studios
Cheiron Studios
Cheiron Studios was a recording studio located at Kungsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden founded in 1992 by Denniz PoP and Tom Talomaa. Cheiron Studios was apart from being a recording studio, also a label Cheiron Records in affiliation with BMG for a while, and the music publishing service Cheiron Songs...
to change the band's tune. Wright recalls, "We basically told them, 'We like your concepts for songs and we love the way you produce. But you're gonna have to do it in a different way so that it conforms to how we want our sound to be." This direction resulted to harder-edge songs such as "Bye Bye Bye", which production was handled by the Swedish team. Max Martin
Max Martin
Martin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
, who also came from Cheiron and known for producing songs for 'N Sync's label mates, also contributed to the album by co-writing and producing the single "It's Gonna Be Me
It's Gonna Be Me ('N Sync song)
"It's Gonna Be Me" is a song by 'N Sync, released as the second single in the US and third in Europe from their 2000 album No Strings Attached. The lyrics are addressed to a woman with apparent attachment issues, connected with bad experiences from previous relationships. The singer assures her...
".
Despite the new direction the band had wanted to take, early recording process found some of the producers and writers submitting tracks which were "in the vein of 'N Sync's earlier, softer sound". The band thought that if the collaborators could not produce what they were looking for, they would find it themselves. This resulted to some of the band's members contributing to a number of tracks which made it to the album. On specific songs, songwriter and producer Veit Renn
Veit Renn
Veit Renn is a producer and songwriter born in Augsburg, Germany, and currently living in Orlando, Florida, USA. Renn has written and produced for artists such as *NSync, Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Hudson and Aaron Carter.-Background:...
collaborated with band's member JC Chasez, who co-authored the album's title track and three other songs. Meanwhile, lead singer Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
helped pen and produce a song called "I'll Be Good for You", which also made it to the album's track listing.
Musical style and contents
'N Sync's frontman, Justin TimberlakeJustin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
, said that the album is a diverse body of work that explores dimensions of R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
within the pop. He added that the album "goes totally mainstream and it goes into some dance
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
- and club
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
-style songs". Although there are few mid-tempo and ballads in the album, songs on No Strings Attached are mostly up tempos, a direction which was a result of the band's wanting to have a fun album. Despite of it, the album retained the pop style of its predecessor. According to Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, the album's musical style is that of Top 40, with a funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
y beat.
On its article for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Jon Pareles wrote in 2000:
Flush with artistic freedom, 'N Sync heads straight for the past: specifically the 1980's rhythm-and-bluesRhythm and bluesRhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
that sought to balance pretty melody atop hip-hopHip hop musicHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
's street-level beat. Like the Rolling Stones discovering 1950's Chicago bluesChicago bluesThe Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
, 'N Sync has latched onto the highly synthesized, jigsaw rhythms of 1980's phenomena from Michael JacksonMichael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
to New EditionNew EditionNew Edition is an R&B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached its height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync...
to ZappZappZapp may refer to:*Zapp , a 1980s funk band based in Ohio, USA*Zapp , the debut album by the funk band*Zapp Brannigan, a fictional character from the television series Futurama...
. In a direct tribute to the new jack swingNew jack swingNew jack swing or swingbeat is a fusion genre spearheaded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle which became extremely popular from the late-1980s into the mid-1990s. Its influence, along with hip-hop, seeped into pop culture and was the definitive sound of the inventive Black New York club scene...
of the 1980's, 'N Sync remakes Johnny KempJohnny KempJohnny Kemp is a Bahamian R&B singer and dancer. He began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band "Kinky Fox." His self-titled debut album came out in 1986 and he scored a minor hit with "Just Another Lover." True success came the following year,...
's 1988 hit "Just Got PaidJust Got Paid"Just Got Paid" is a 1988 crossover single by singer/songwriter Johnny Kemp. The song made it to number one on the U.S. R&B singles and dance charts and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100...
" with its original producer, Teddy RileyTeddy RileyTeddy Riley is the name of:* Teddy Riley , jazz trumpeter* Teddy Riley , singer-songwriter, musician, record producer...
.
On the album, critics noted the song about video cybersex
Cybersex
Cybersex, also called computer sex, Internet sex, netsex, mudsex, TinySex and, colloquially, cybering, is a virtual sex encounter in which two or more persons connected remotely via computer network send each other sexually explicit messages describing a sexual experience...
, "Digital Get Down". Accordingly, it is a clear indicator of post-pubescent
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
consciousness of the group. In the article "Parents' Guide" published in Entertainment Weekly, Lois Alter Mark analyzes the contents of new albums at the time, including No Strings Attached. Accordingly, the album's recurring theme is about puppy love
Puppy love
Puppy love is an informal term for feelings of love or infatuation felt by young people during childhood and adolescence, so-called for its resemblance to the adoring, worshipful affection that may be felt by a puppy. 'Simple infatuation is often called a "crush" or "puppy love"...
, and has sexual content that is categorized as mildly suggestive and a language that is preteen friendly.
Release and promotion
| Country | Release Date |
|---|---|
| United States | March 21, 2000 |
| Europe | March 20, 2000 |
| Germany | March 26, 2000 |
| Australia | April 10, 2000 |
| United Kingdom Japan Asia |
May 9, 2000 |
| United Kingdom (Special UK Edition) |
October 9, 2000 |
| Asia (reissue) | February 13, 2001 |
Originally, No Strings Attached was due for release in the fall
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
1999. But due to the ongoing legal battle between the band and its management, it was delayed several times. Towards the end of 1999, it was reported that a settlement had been reached, putting aside the lawsuit that their management had filed. The settlement allowed the band to freely release the album under its current band name, with a March 7 initial schedule. "Bye Bye Bye
Bye Bye Bye
"Bye Bye Bye" is the first single released from American boyband 'N Sync's second album, No Strings Attached. Released in early 2000, it is a reference to the group's break from their manager Lou Pearlman and their record label, RCA...
" was solicited to radio stations on January 17, the same night the group would debut the song at the American Music Awards
American Music Awards
-Conception:The AMAs were created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC...
.
Marketing
Jive went on to various means in building the anticipation for No Strings Attached. To promote the album, the group appeared on numerous national television shows. Three weeks before the album's release in March 21, 2000, 'N Sync did more media, including appearances in MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, and the Oscars.
The music video to "Bye Bye Bye" was heavily rotated, which the Rolling Stone magazine called a "seemingly every other half hour" on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. MTV Networks then Chairman and CEO Tom Freston said, "'N Sync's clear accessibility means that they've been featured not just in heavy video rotation and mini-biographies but backstage, at the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, and in looser studio settings like Total Request Live
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...
. Anything we can do to allow them to connect with their fans in a non-video environment."
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
onto the internet. Despite the leaking, it was seen by Johnny Wright as an aid in helping the band reached the sales record that the album held. Wright thought the early and unofficial release was the opportunity for the listeners to hear more than what the radio was playing. He surmised that the Internet "helped a lot" for the album.
Tour
In support of No Strings Attached, the band embarked on their second tour, No Strings Attached TourNo Strings Attached Tour
The No Strings Attached Tour is the third concert tour by American boy band, 'N Sync. Primarily visiting North America, the tour supported the band's second studio album, No Strings Attached. Beginning in May 2000, the trek became an instant success, selling out all dates within the first day of...
, which grossed over US$76.4 million. The national tour, sponsored by MCY.com and Nabisco and produced by SFX Touring, began on May 9, 2000, at Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
The Mississippi Coast Coliseum is a 11,500 reserved seating, 15,000 festival seating, multi-purpose arena in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was built in 1977. It hosted WCW Beach Blast 1993 and the Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball tournament in 1992 and 1993...
in Biloxi.
During the first day the tickets went on sale, the tour, according to Billboard, was believed to have set a single-day record . More than one million tickets were sold, and 51 of the 52 shows slated for the tour sold out during the day. In gross, the tour racked up US$40 million.
Criticisms and recognitions
On mainstream reception, No Strings Attached received positive to mixed reviews. According to Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
David Browne who gave the album a C- rating, "No Strings Attached is overstuffed with tracks clearly concocted with the concert stage in mind." He further criticized the songs as "synthetic-funk spectacles". He, however, added that the group's best performances on No Strings Attached "arrive only when they drop the pretenses". Browne's rating the album C- received a reaction from 'N Sync fans. One fan, in its mail to Entertainment Weekly, felt that Browne's review of the album was "totally uncool". Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
, senior editor of Allmusic, wrote, "To cynical critics, they very well might sound the same as ever, yet this really blows away their previous record." He, who gave a rating of four stars, said that the album "pulls away from the standard dance-pop formula".
Leading up to the 43rd annual Grammy Awards, the album earned the band a nomination in the Best Pop Vocal Album category. At the 2000 Billboard Music Awards, the album earned the band four awards including in the categories such as Album of the Year and Top 40 Artist of the Year.
Domestic
| Country | Certification | Sales or Shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Platinum | 70,000+ |
| Portugal | Silver | 10,000+ |
| Canada | 7x Platinum | 700,000+ |
| Germany | Gold | 150,000+ |
| United Kingdom | Gold | 100,000+ |
| United States | Diamond | 11,000,000+ |
Many retailers around the United States had predicted that, "with an impressive show of sales strength", No Strings Attached could "culminate into the biggest first week ever in the SoundScan era". Jive Records had already shipped 4.2 units of the album, and reorders were already made shortly after the album's release in record stores. At online retailer Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, advance sales for the album were the biggest at the time. Meanwhile in the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
, orders for the album were aggressive. Some stores stayed opened until midnight specifically for the album.
According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "The sales statistics are a tribute to Jive Records' skill at building anticipation for No Strings Attached." The strength of the album's lead single, "Bye Bye Bye", its music video, along with Internet song previews for the album, provided for that build up. Both Jive Records and the band's management credited the album's early success to the anticipation amassed over the two years since they released their self-titled debut album, the highly publicized legal battle and the media blitz leading up to the release. Despite the mania that No Strings Attached stirred in the wake of its debut, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
reported the "record week may not have been simply the result of a wide fan base and effective marketing". Accordingly, many of 'N Sync's fans were spotted buying numerous copies of the album. That trend of buying was, for some, "simply to have more than one, and others to specifically help the group break the Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...
' sales record". In 1999, Backstreet Boy's second studio album, Millenium
Millennium (Backstreet Boys album)
Millennium is the third album by American boyband Backstreet Boys. It was a highly anticipated follow-up to both their United States debut album, and their second internationally released album. It was their first album to be released in both the U.S...
, sold more than 1.13 million copies in its first week.
In total, No Strings Attached sold in the United States over 2.4 million units in its first week. It set the record for the first album to have sold more than two million copies in a single week, since the chart adopted Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
data in May 1991. This record, which was later recognized at the 2000 Billboard Music Awards, is still held by 'N Sync. The figures surpassed the album's successor Celebrity
Celebrity (album)
Celebrity is the third and final studio album by the pop boy band 'N Sync. It was released on July 24, 2001, by Jive Records. The label was heavily criticized for releasing singles that involved Justin Timberlake on lead vocals, and none which involved JC Chasez performing or co-writing...
s debut sales of over 1.88 million units, retaining the recognition as the band's highest-debut in their career. Chartwise, the album debuted on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
at number one. It topped the chart for eight consecutive weeks, becoming one of the longest-running number-one albums of 2000.
The Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) certified No Strings Attached seven-times platinum on April 19, 2000, becoming the highest-certified single disc album in the initial RIAA audit in that year. It broke the record previously set in 1993 by Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
's The Bodyguard soundtrack, which was certified six-times platinum in the RIAA's first audit. The album shipped 10 million copies domestically in 2000 alone, of which 9,936,104 were sold, according to Nielsen Soundscan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
. This made No Strings Attached the bestseller album in 2000 in the United States. At the end of the decade, No Strings Attached led as the second top-selling album with 11,112,000 units sold, according to the list released by Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
on December 8, 2009.
Impact
By status, 'N Sync was considered as a Backstreet Boys wannabe. With the success that the band attained with No Strings Attached, that notion was obliterated, even calling them as serious rival with their label mate. Late into the year No Strings Attached was released, the Backstreet Boys issued its follow-up to Millenium, Black & BlueBlack & Blue
Black & Blue is the follow-up album to the Backstreet Boys' 1999 studio release Millennium. It is their fourth album and their third American release. In the United States, Black & Blue sold 1.6 million discs in its first week of release, making them the first group in Soundscan history to have...
, their third studio album in the United States. It sold 1.6 million in its debut week, beating Millenium by best sales in a week. Despite such figures, it was still outnumbered by No Strings Attached, a fact that "should have been a triumph [for the band but] was hardly seen that way by the industry". In retrospect, the success of 'N Sync with the release of No Strings Attached was paralleled to the eventual disappearance of the Backstreet Boys, whose Black & Blue album "signaled the end of its glory days".
According to Richard Skanse of Rolling Stone, the album gave the group its landmark achievement. For Janet Kleinbaum, Jive's then-Vice President of Artist Marketing, the "yardstick is definitely extended", referring to the record by which future releases of Jive would have to be compared with. After No Strings Attached, Jive's other popular artists at the time such as Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
and the Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...
were each releasing an album. Kleinbaum thought, "We know now what the possibilities are. We're not going to compare a Britney Spears record to 'N Sync, or Backstreet Boys. However, 'N Sync has shown us what can be done."
Referring to the first day sale of the album with 1.1 million units, Josh Wolk of Entertainment Weekly said that it was "perhaps the greatest mass spending of allowances in history". Craig Seymour of the same publication said, "What has the industry buzzing is not only that 2.4 million fans rushed to the stores, but that teen-pop behemoth Jive Records was in a unique and almost unprecedented position to meet the stores' demand." This demand on physical copies of the album was met by Jive by shelving up millions of units leading to the album's release date. The label was able to ship 4.2 million copies for the album's March 21 official release date, then couriered another 2.3 million in reorders on March 22. Retailer Grandoni said, "If they hadn't been ready for it, stores would have sold out after a couple days which would have limited their first-week sales."
Track listing
Chart positions
| Chart (2000) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
3 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 16 |
| Belgian Flemish Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
8 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
1 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
6 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 14 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
7 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
12 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
12 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
22 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 7 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
14 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
Decade End Charts
| (2000-2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 1 |
Personnel
- Lance BassLance BassJames Lance Bass , best known as Lance Bass, is an American pop singer, dancer, actor, film and television producer, and author. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy band 'N Sync. 'N Sync's success led Bass to work in film and television...
- Vocals - JC Chasez - Vocals
- Joey FatoneJoey FatoneJoseph Anthony "Joey" Fatone, Jr. is an American singer, dancer, actor and television personality. He is best known as a member of the boyband, 'N Sync, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars...
- Vocals - Chris KirkpatrickChris KirkpatrickChristopher Alan "Chris" Kirkpatrick is an American singer, dancer, entertainer, and voice actor who is best known as a founding member of the pop group 'N Sync in which he sang counter tenor. He has provided the voice for many kids shows, including the voice of Chip Skylark on The Fairly Odd...
- Vocals - Justin TimberlakeJustin TimberlakeJustin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
- Vocals - Michael Thompson — Guitar
- David Cole — Engineer, Mixing
- Jez Colin — Drum Programming
- Mick GuzauskiMick GuzauskiMick Guzauski is a multi-platinum Mixing Engineer and sound engineer.Guzauski's work spans a wide range of styles, including jazz, R&B, Latin, rock, pop, and easy listening...
- Mixing - Scott HumphreyScott HumphreyScott Humphrey is a Canadian record producer and mix engineer. He began his music career as a keyboard player and programmer. He is best known for his work with multiplatinum recording artist Rob Zombie and has co-written, co-produced and mixed all of his records up until 2007's Zombie Live...
— Engineer - Mario Lucy — Engineer
- Richard MarxRichard MarxRichard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
- Arranger, Producer, Vocal Arrangement - George Mayers — Engineer
- Pat McMakin — Mixing
- Carl Nappa — Engineer, Mixing
- Teddy RileyTeddy Riley (new jack swing)Edward Theodore Riley , professionally known as Teddy Riley, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, keyboardist, and record producer credited with the creation of New Jack Swing. Through his production work with Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Doug E. Fresh, Today, Keith Sweat, Heavy D., Jane...
- Producer - Guy Roche — Arranger, Keyboards, Producer, Drum Programming
- Dushyant Bhakta — Engineer, Mixing
- Chris Trevett — Engineer
- Michael Tucker — Engineer, Mixing
- Franz Verna — Engineer
- Diane WarrenDiane WarrenDiane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...
- Executive Producer - Robin Wiley — Arranger, Producer
- Tom Bender — Mixing Assistant
- Michael Railton — Keyboards
- Charles McCrorey — Assistant Engineer
- Cesar Ramirez — Assistant Engineer
- Esbjörn Öhrwall — Guitar
- Jason Piske — Mixing Assistant
- Veit Renn — Producer
- Chaz Harper — Mastering
- *NSYNC — Vocals (background), Vocal Arrangement
- Adam Barber — Engineer, Vocal Engineer
- Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Rap, Performer
- John Amatiello — Pro-Tools
- Joe Smith — Engineer, Mixing
- Chris KirkpatrickChris KirkpatrickChristopher Alan "Chris" Kirkpatrick is an American singer, dancer, entertainer, and voice actor who is best known as a founding member of the pop group 'N Sync in which he sang counter tenor. He has provided the voice for many kids shows, including the voice of Chip Skylark on The Fairly Odd...
and Justin TimberlakeJustin TimberlakeJustin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
- Rap - Brady Barnett — Digital Editing
- Jake — Producer
- Riprock — Producer, Mixing
- Kristian LundinKristian LundinKristian Carl Marcus Lundin is a Swedish composer, music producer and songwriter.-Biography:Beginning his career as a member of the Swedish duo Amadin , Kristian's writing and production talents were quickly recognized by music industry icon Denniz PoP, who invited him to join the Cheiron Studios...
- Producer - Ok Hee Kim — Assistant Engineer
- JC Chasez - Producer, Mixing
- Rami — Producer
- Joe Woods — Assistant Engineer
- Kandi — Vocal Arrangement, Vocal Producer
- Shane Stoneback - Mixing Assistant
- Jake Lundin — Producer
- Alex G. - Producer, Mixing
- Bray Merritt — Assistant Engineer
- Toby Dearborn — Assistant Engineer
See also
- List of best-selling albums in the United States
- Number-one albums of 2000 (U.S.)