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foxmonkeyAnd now Newsweek. Newsweek!!! Yay! Good comments about the album. As someone else noted (charlidos? fuskeez???), this is the first time that an Al Green comparison has popped up. Not too shabby. :-)
It's on MSNBC.
Sexy, Solo And Out Of Sync
Boy-band singer J. C. Chasez goes it alone
Bad Boy: J.C. Chasez's new album and image are anything but boy-band cute
By Lorraine Ali
NewsweekMarch 8 issue -
He is not cute. In fact, 'n Sync heartthrob J. C. Chasez is looking more Benicio Del Toro haggard than Justin Timberlake fresh these days. He's extremely thin, with bad posture and frizzy hair that resists any definable style. If you didn't know better, you'd swear an impostor had snuck onto the set of Sharon Osbourne's talk show for a dress rehearsal of the singer's single "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" off his solo debut, "Schizophrenic." But judging by the screaming girls lined up outside the Hollywood studio in the rain, and the presence of beefy bodyguards, he is the dark, brooding member of the world's premier boy band.
The new J.C. doesn't care that he looks like crap. The 27-year-old is busy forging a career outside 'N Sync (no, they haven't broken up... yet), and being disheveled is part of the required look for his journey from boy to artist. On "Schizophrenic," for which he wrote all the songs, he trades the syncopated dance anthems of 'N Sync for funky freewheeling tunes a la Prince and Al Green. His voice is loose, even raw, in spots, and his songs are anything but boy-band cute, with titles like "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" and "One Night Stand."
"This is clearly not an 'N Sync record," Chasez says, backstage in his dressing room. His voice is raspy from a cold, and he's worn down from a nonstop promotional campaign that included signing 700 autographs at Tower Records in L.A. last night. "I wanted to do something totally different. I think my fans will take the jump with me. The only thing that may scare them off is some of the subject matter."
It certainly spooked the NFL, which canceled Chasez's halftime show at the Pro Bowl last month in the wake of Justin and Janet's boob-tube incident. Even on Osbourne's talk show, Chasez and his dancers were subjected to what can only be described as a decency check before hitting the soundstage, with staffers eying their wardrobe and dance moves for anything that might be considered offensive (somehow the dancers' fuchsia miniskirts with leg warmers passed muster). All this is part of a new daytime standard that network television is enforcing post-Super Bowl. "I think it's hilarious that things are the way they are," says Chasez. "We're about to elect the leader of our country. We don't have enough money for schools, we're at war and we're worried about this? We all think about sex and love, and I've got songs about both on my record. People gravitate to the sex songs more. Surprise, surprise."
What's truly unexpected is that Chasez's solo debut is so good. Even critics who've made a living off bashing boy bands are feeling the love for "Schizophrenic." "Let's be honest: everybody loves to hate a boy band," says Chasez, rubbing some of the powder off his face after the show. "Nobody wants to see a handsome guy dancing in front of his girlfriend. Especially critics." Chasez built up cred as a solo artist when'N Sync took a break last year and he contributed the hit single "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" to the "Drumline" soundtrack. He then upped the artistic ante by teaming with electronica producers Basement Jaxx for their eccentric club single "Plug It In." Now Chasez's new single is one of the top 10 radio adds in the country.
Chasez is loving the solo life: " 'N Sync is a machine. There's a meeting about everything. It's fine, but it's an organization and there's five members of the board. Being on your own, creatively, you're wide open." Except that now he's competing, whether he admits it or not, with Timberlake's solo career. "J's a superstar," says Chasez. "The way his image is, his show, it's exactly what he had mapped out in his mind. Me, I'm on a whole different kick. I don't want to be overly structured. I want this whole experience to be freeing. I just want to breathe." Chasez is waiting to see if his CD succeeds. He's waiting to exhale.
It's on MSNBC.
Sexy, Solo And Out Of Sync
Boy-band singer J. C. Chasez goes it alone
Bad Boy: J.C. Chasez's new album and image are anything but boy-band cute
By Lorraine Ali
NewsweekMarch 8 issue -
He is not cute. In fact, 'n Sync heartthrob J. C. Chasez is looking more Benicio Del Toro haggard than Justin Timberlake fresh these days. He's extremely thin, with bad posture and frizzy hair that resists any definable style. If you didn't know better, you'd swear an impostor had snuck onto the set of Sharon Osbourne's talk show for a dress rehearsal of the singer's single "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" off his solo debut, "Schizophrenic." But judging by the screaming girls lined up outside the Hollywood studio in the rain, and the presence of beefy bodyguards, he is the dark, brooding member of the world's premier boy band.
The new J.C. doesn't care that he looks like crap. The 27-year-old is busy forging a career outside 'N Sync (no, they haven't broken up... yet), and being disheveled is part of the required look for his journey from boy to artist. On "Schizophrenic," for which he wrote all the songs, he trades the syncopated dance anthems of 'N Sync for funky freewheeling tunes a la Prince and Al Green. His voice is loose, even raw, in spots, and his songs are anything but boy-band cute, with titles like "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" and "One Night Stand."
"This is clearly not an 'N Sync record," Chasez says, backstage in his dressing room. His voice is raspy from a cold, and he's worn down from a nonstop promotional campaign that included signing 700 autographs at Tower Records in L.A. last night. "I wanted to do something totally different. I think my fans will take the jump with me. The only thing that may scare them off is some of the subject matter."
It certainly spooked the NFL, which canceled Chasez's halftime show at the Pro Bowl last month in the wake of Justin and Janet's boob-tube incident. Even on Osbourne's talk show, Chasez and his dancers were subjected to what can only be described as a decency check before hitting the soundstage, with staffers eying their wardrobe and dance moves for anything that might be considered offensive (somehow the dancers' fuchsia miniskirts with leg warmers passed muster). All this is part of a new daytime standard that network television is enforcing post-Super Bowl. "I think it's hilarious that things are the way they are," says Chasez. "We're about to elect the leader of our country. We don't have enough money for schools, we're at war and we're worried about this? We all think about sex and love, and I've got songs about both on my record. People gravitate to the sex songs more. Surprise, surprise."
What's truly unexpected is that Chasez's solo debut is so good. Even critics who've made a living off bashing boy bands are feeling the love for "Schizophrenic." "Let's be honest: everybody loves to hate a boy band," says Chasez, rubbing some of the powder off his face after the show. "Nobody wants to see a handsome guy dancing in front of his girlfriend. Especially critics." Chasez built up cred as a solo artist when'N Sync took a break last year and he contributed the hit single "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" to the "Drumline" soundtrack. He then upped the artistic ante by teaming with electronica producers Basement Jaxx for their eccentric club single "Plug It In." Now Chasez's new single is one of the top 10 radio adds in the country.
Chasez is loving the solo life: " 'N Sync is a machine. There's a meeting about everything. It's fine, but it's an organization and there's five members of the board. Being on your own, creatively, you're wide open." Except that now he's competing, whether he admits it or not, with Timberlake's solo career. "J's a superstar," says Chasez. "The way his image is, his show, it's exactly what he had mapped out in his mind. Me, I'm on a whole different kick. I don't want to be overly structured. I want this whole experience to be freeing. I just want to breathe." Chasez is waiting to see if his CD succeeds. He's waiting to exhale.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 07:41 am (UTC)Yeah, I keep saying that, too. He keeps proving me wrong. :-)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 07:34 am (UTC)The new J.C. doesn't care that he looks like crap.
My favorite line.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 07:40 am (UTC)I hadn't planned to go out today, but with two mags to buy (Rolling Stone! Interview! Pics!), I think I might hustle my buns and nab them both.
I'm really pleased for him.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 09:16 am (UTC)And the fact that this reviewer is possibly the only woman on the planet who doesn't think dishelved is sexy as fuck.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 02:35 pm (UTC)lovely interview. thanks for posting!