![]() ![]() I always thought you had one of the more powerful vocals within the pop sphere at the time, and your voice really shines on the title track. Luckily it came out the way I wanted, which was exciting. I wanted it to be entertaining and fun, and also a bit interesting to capture that moment. And this was absolutely one of those songs where I had the opportunity to do so. Some songs you want to be timeless, and others you speak about the time. Look, the song was written for that purpose. Did you guys feel that paranoia during that time? The song really encapsulates that signature Y2K sound. So I was excited just to have the chance to work with her. TLC was the girl group, and they were people that I listened to. So I met that whole team - it wasn’t like a huge entourage. I went down to Atlanta to cut that record at Dallas Austin’s studio and she had people that she liked to work with. I want to get into the songs that you personally worked on, starting with “Space Cowboy.” Were you all in the studio when Left Eye recorded her verse? It was a very easy working relationship and friendship. We became friendly, and before you know it, we were working together. One day, we were working in different rooms in a studio and we started talking and exchanging ideas. Riprock ‘n’ Alex G were producers in their own right who came together as remixers. By the time the second record came around, I felt I had learned a bit and wanted to use that knowledge. I acted like a sponge and learned as much as I could in the process while still being myself and giving my point of view on my vocals. ![]() So the first album was a great learning experience for me, to be around all these writers and producers. When you’re put out into the world, you need to develop those skills and need to be around other high-level musicians. I was recording on kind of an amateur level with my production and writing skills at the time. When we got signed, we moved to Europe to record and it was a bit of a fish-out-of-water. I always wanted to be involved, and even in the beginning I had written some of the demos we shopped our deal with. What was the decision behind getting more involved in writing and producing with Riprock ‘n’ Alex G? There weren’t memes back then, but we knew it needed to be more. Those conscious choices sound funny from the outside, but when it all comes together it sounds amazing. Instead of saying, “It’s gonna be ME” we said “ET’S GONNA BAY MAY!” for it to hit harder. We were hitting the L’s hard on “lose.” Instead of saying, “You don’t wanna lose” - which would be kind of boring - we’d be like “You don’t wanna NLUUSE.” But when you’re listening to someone in the studio singing it that way, at first you’re like, “What is wrong with you?” But you have to dig and hit these different shapes of consonants and vowels to give them energy. It was actually a very conscious choice to say it that way, because we wanted it to really punch.įor certain words, we bent the pronunciation. But because “It’s Gonna Be Me” has become a meme for the month of May, it was interesting when we cut that record. But then people look back at you and say, “Y’all were nuts!” I didn’t even think of it that way. When you’re in it, you don’t think it’s crazy at the time. So as we were recording songs, we’d think “It would be cool if we did this and the crowd reacted this way” or “Everyone can sing this part.” We were conscious of our audience.Ĭan you recall any particular fun stories while you all were recording? And we were very passionate about our shows. We knew that it had to be theatrical in a way, because that’s the most fun to see. I think the main thing when we were working on songs was we wanted it to translate live - we always saw the song live in our mind. It happens naturally.ĭid you guys draw from any specific inspirations? We were just in the environment to allow those things to flourish. For the No Strings Attached record, we came back home and essentially called upon those influences inside of ourselves that were always there. We were in the middle of it, so we took on those influences. You get excited about things that people around you are excited about, so we were actually opening our minds up to something new at that point. And you’re a product of your environment. I think what happened - and this could be just me taking a shot in the dark - we moved to Europe to record our first album. ![]() We were raised in the States, and at the time, music had more urban influences - even before our first record came out. No Strings Attached is a lot more R&B-inspired compared to *NSYNC. The 100 Greatest Songs of 2000: Staff Picks ![]()
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