The rivalry was real. Former ‘NSync member Lance Bass opened up to Us Weekly about all things ’90s, including his days as a boy bander, touring with Britney Spears and his one time rivalry with the Backstreet Boys. Watch the video above!
Bass, 38, revealed that while ‘NSync and the Backstreet Boys battled each other to the top of the music charts and the coveted spot of every teenage girl’s heart, he did admit that their competition was “fun,” even if he was “jealous of a lot of their songs.”
“It was an outright competition,” Bass told Us Weekly. “We didn’t really know each other and the record label would like to pit us together like Christina [Aguilera] and Britney [Spears].”
However, Bass had no trouble deciding between Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle” and Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” saying “I gotta have my girl Britney.”
“I remember she gave me the CD single before it was even out and I remember listening to it and I was like wow this is good,” Bass recalled. “I listened to it again and I was like this is really great, by the fourth time I was like this is a hit and it didn’t take off for months.”
Yet, Bass, along with his ‘NSync band mates — Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone — were there as Spears went from a relative unknown to a superstar while she toured with them in 1998.
“I remember the first half of the tour she was getting booed off the stage, the girls didn’t like her,” Bass told Us Weekly. “About halfway through the tour the song started to catch on and by the end of the tour she was a superstar.”
Bass will now be reliving several of his ’90s memories as host of MTV’s 90’s House alongside Christina Milian.
“It’s a game show kind of like Big Brother where these millennials move into a house and they get unplugged from the world,” Bass explained. “No cell phones, they have AOL dialup have a bop-it, wear terrible clothes.”
The winner of the show will win $90K, a Mazda Miata and tickets for two on board the Ship-Hop I Love the 90’s Cruise.
To find out Bass’ most embarrassing ‘NSync music video, watch the video above!
90’s House premieres Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET on MTV.
