Synchronized choreography on strings!
Twenty years after the boy band’s action-packed escapade topped TRL, we look back at its making.
Dressed in an array of early 2000s fashion Leather trench coats!
Steve Grayson/Online USA, Inc.
I Did it Again" video, right?)
and money to spare.
The “Bye Bye Bye” video was no exception.
Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect
“It was a fun time to make music videos,” Bass tells EW.
That was probably stupid."
With the band’s input, Isham used the guys' unique traits to come up with the concept.
Darrin Henson
They all have big personalities and we had to ensure we shined the light on everybody.
It was such a cool fantasy come true."
Oh, I Know That Dance!
*NSYNC/YouTube
Henson told Wright he was pursuing acting and no longer choreographing, but Wright wasn’t having it.
“‘This is going to be the pinnacle.'”
“I was like, ‘Man, this track is slamming!”
*NSYNC/YouTube
“I turned the music up as loud as it could go,” says Henson.
“The guys were always good.
J.C. had a lot of energy and Justin always had this laid back kinda cool attitude.
*NSYNC/YouTube
It was very, very difficult because I incorporated hip-hop, popping and locking, and really putDarrininto it.
I put moves in there that other boy bands wouldn’t be able to mimic.
That’s what was so special about NSYNC.”
*NSYNC/YouTube
“It’s not easy, that’s for sure,” says Chasez.
“The bungee is where it gets a bit challenging.
When you’re doing the choreo on those things, it’s certainly challenging.
*NSYNC/YouTube
But like anything, with a bit of repetition and a bit of practice, you settle in.”
Dancing on the Ceiling
Is anything harder than mastering moves mid-air?
How about doing them in a spinning room?
“As a filmmaker, these are challenges I want to do.
The guys were ready to accept, and Darrin was excited about doing something different.”
But Isham didn’t factor in the group’s excitability until he got on set.
“They started having fun by jumping around from one side to the other,” he recalls.
While fun at the time, a couple of days later, Bass was suffering.
“What was crazy was that it didn’t even set in until about 48 hours later.”
Adds Kirkpatrick, “I was nauseous before I got into it.”
“They never hesitated at all and did all their own stunts,” says Isham.
“Today someone would totally raise a flag about insurance.”
“There was no green screen,” says Kirkpatrick.
“So, if my wire fell off, I would’ve gotten sucked under the train.
That made me a little more nervous.”
Thank goodness, knock on wood nothing bad happened."
I’d be in the car and the guy with the camera would be like, ‘Go faster!’
and I’m like, ‘Okay!'"
Fatone didn’t get off quite so lucky, sustaining an embarrassing injury he remembers to this day.
“I ripped my pants right in the crotch,” he says.
“They had to duct tape them back together.”
As for Timberlake, well, comparatively, running from dogs suddenly didn’t seem so daunting.
Gotta be cool."
“We were working hard to be at a very high level,” says Chasez.
As for what he remembers most?
“Looking back, it’s in the little moments,” he says.
“It was just like kinetic and spiritual and funky and it spoke to the masses around the world.
Winning the MTV Music Award was literally breathtaking.
Still today it reminds me to never, ever give up.”
Still, “Bye Bye Bye” remains one of NSYNC’s biggest hit ever.
So whatisit about this song that keeps its YouTube views escalating even today?
Fatone has a theory: “The song was just visually and melodically complete,” he says.
