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Chasez, JC
Published: May 2004
Story: Jeff Royer
Photo: Press Photo |
"Some days you have to be obnoxious," laughs *NSYNC's JC Chasez.
We're talking about his new solo single, "All Day Long I Dream About
Sex," a Gary Numan-sounding venture into '80s electronic pop with
about as much substance as a Whoopie Pie.
"When you listen to some of my songs, they're just obnoxious. But
that's part of having fun and doing records," he says. It's also the
thread that holds together his solo debut album, Schizophrenic, which
is neither about substance, style, nor savoir faire. It's about one
thing, and one thing only: fun.
"I just feel like people are too busy being over-stylized, and I just
wanted to be me," Chasez explains during a recent Fly interview.
"There's other cats that are very competitive and go out of their way
to be innovative, and that's cool. I respect that. But me, I'm more a
laid back guy and I like to have fun. And I wasn't afraid to make
jokes on my record and stuff like that."
The real surprise here isn't the fact that Chasez made a fun-sounding
record; the surprise is that it's actually kind of cool. I'd
previously been under the assumption that Justin Timberlake's
newfound coolness was a fluke. Could it be that *NSYNC was actually
cool the whole time, and we just didn't realize it? A real mindblower.
Schizophrenic lives up to its name. The album is a largely upbeat
romp through everything from dance hall, pop reggae, '80s new wave,
funked-up rock, and beat-centric hip-hop (ie., the album's hit
single, "Some Girls [Dance With Women]").
Whereas Justin channeled the spirit of Off the Wall-era Michael
Jackson, Chasez prefers the weirded-out sexuality of Prince with just
a sprinkling of Stevie Wonder for good measure. But the abrupt shift
in styles from track to track can be dizzying, and it's debatable
whether or not Chasez is forgiven for his lack of focus just because
he gave the chaos a name. To which he responds, "Eh ..."
"It just happened. Whatever mood I was in that day, I ended up making
that song," he shrugs. "Again, it wasn't really an on-purpose thing.
It was just supposed to be for fun, and that was it.
"It was a bit therapeutic. It was just something that I needed to do
for myself. I just wanted to see what my potential was," he adds. "I
told everybody, 'Leave me alone. Let me just do my thing. It's my
record.' And I was willing to be responsible for whatever
consequences."
The key to enjoying this album (this comes in handy for *NSYNC albums
as well) is to recognize that Chasez isn't taking himself too
seriously. Many times, while you're snickering at a line like, "When
I'm alone/I lie awake and masturbate," Chasez is laughing along with
you, only harder. Not that the entire album is a joke. Musically
speaking, it's a slick, well-produced party album that even critics
who have spent the last several years calling *NSYNC mean names (like
*N-STINK, for example) are praising as a must-have for dance-floor
junkies. Even Rolling Stone gave the disc an unlikely 3.5 stars.
"I think they can appreciate the fact that I didn't just do what
everybody else did," Chasez figures. "I think everybody's getting
tired of the radio. It's the same 15 songs by the same four
producers. People are burning out a little bit. But they hear the
fact that I wasn't trying to be Mr. Cool. I think that's what maybe
turns people off sometimes. It's like, 'Oh, this kid's trying to be
slick.'"
For as much acclaim as the album's getting, Chasez would be
hard-pressed to match Justin's triple-platinum success. When asked if
he felt any need to compete, Chasez was surprisingly candid about his
station in the pop world. For a guy who's sold over 50 million albums
as the co-frontman of *NSYNC, he seemed to have no problem letting
Timberlake be the group's alpha dog.
"Justin's a superstar. We all know that," he chimes. "At the end of
the day, I just want to keep making records. I don't have to be the
biggest star in the world as long as I got a job. Don't get me wrong,
I'd love to be successful, because along with success comes the power
and the freedom to really do what you want. But at the end of the
day, I can't really spend too much time worrying about that."
Regardless of how successful Chasez and Timberlake have been as solo
artists, and despite plenty of rumors that say otherwise, Chasez
confirms that *NSYNC will begin work on its next record in the fall.
What appears to some (me) to be a potentially huge step backwards,
especially for JC and Justin, doesn't really concern Chasez in the
least. You can call him a boy-band member until you're blue in the
face; that won't make him enjoy performing to arenas full of fans and
selling millions of albums any less than he does now.
"I'm not really worried about all that stuff. Other people
concentrate on that more than I do, believe me. Me, I just want to
make records and stuff like that and let everybody else worry about
the names and the stereotypes," Chasez utters triumphantly. "People
just gotta come in understanding, no matter how you look at it, I'm
almost 30 years old, dude. Gimme a break!"
Maybe it is time to give JC Chasez a break. As he says, "a good
record is a good record," whether it comes from a boy band or not.
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