Remember when you used to secretly or not so secretly swoon over your favorite boy band? Before there was One Direction or even Justin Bieber, you couldn't blink without a dancing, singing and gyrating boy band in your midst.
Full disclosure: one of my first jobs was working with some big boy bands of the late 1990's: NSYNC and Hanson to be specific. At the time, I thought I just saw it as my job (writing email fan newsletters and content on their websites) but I did have a boy band a-ha moment when I attended an NSYNC show at MSG.
Maybe it was the infectious energy of all the screaming tweeners or the sheer power of their teen pop fantasics but I distinctly remember having a moment of screaming just as loudly (if not louder) when I first saw Justin Timberlake beatboxing on stage. Luckily none of my coworkers detected that my enthusiasm was authentic and assumed I was just mocking the whole scene.
I thought to fess up in this post for a couple of reasons.
(1) One Sunday night at Surf Lodge in Montauk, NY I found myself dancing to New Kids on the Block and Hanson and had a flash to my younger more critical self looking on with disdain and horror. It's liberating to realize that as I get a little older I feel less ashamed about busting a move (in public) to "cheesy" music.
(2) Earlier this summer in August, NSYNC had a brief reunion performance on MTV's VMAs. It felt like just yesterday that Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears were THE "it" pop couple showing off their his and hers double denim fashions.
(3) I don't care if you are the biggest music snob in the universe, you know you secretly dance to this song in your bedroom...or even run a little faster when it comes on your running mix:
Speaking of workout mixes, check out my boy band workout mix (at the end of this post)...and don't keep it a secret, blast it on your headphones and sing along to all the words out loud at the gym.
Oh and look at this Boy Bands coloring book I found on Etsy. A fun post workout cooldown activity?
So now is YOUR chance to fess up....
Were you a closeted boy band fanatic? Were you Team NSYNC or Team Backstreet Boys?
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!