Why Did NSYNC Break Up? What They've Said About Returning For A Reunion

Though they only put out four studio albums –- with one being a Christmas album –- NSYNC's enduring popularity and influence on the music industry is undoubtable. They've been broken up for over two decades now, but that hasn't stopped speculation they may reunite some day. JC Chasez offered a bit of hope for an NSYNC reunion in October 2024 when he told People, "The door is not closed by any means." However, he also said there were no plans for a reunion as of yet. "That's not to say down the road that it's going to happen or not going to happen. We just don't know yet. But look, the door is open on the discussion." He walked back his comments a bit the next month when speaking with Newsweek, implying the members were too busy at the moment to reunite. "Right now, the focus is on the projects that we're working on — but the mumblings and the rumblings are more than they've been in the past."

Joey Fatone held similar hope for a reunion in September 2024 when he told People, "It's hard to get the five of us together and it's a huge commitment. However I will say the gears are in the right direction as far as the interest from everybody." Interest in what's next for NSYNC has spiked in recent years as the group has gotten together somewhat frequently. They reunited to present Taylor Swift with an award at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, recorded a song together for the "Trolls movie," and performed together in LA in 2024 for the first time in over a decade.

NSYNC was on top of the world in the early 2000s. So, from the outside, it's a bit head-scratching as to why the band would break up after such rapid success. "There's no reason my solo career and NSYNC can't coexist in the same universe. NSYNC is in no danger," Justin Timberlake told New York Post in 2002 while promoting his solo album "Justified." He spoke more candidly on the ending of NSYNC in 2017. "I was growing out of it. I felt like I cared more about the music than some of the other people in the group. And I felt like I had other music I wanted to make and that I needed to follow my heart," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Some of his bandmates didn't appreciate the way the group fizzled out. Joey Fatone would have preferred a more direct approach. "I said, 'Listen, I'm all good with everybody doing their own sh*t... [J]ust let us know next time,'" he said on The Jenny McCarthy Show in 2019 (via Popsugar).

Lance Bass felt something similar as he said on an episode of "Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum" in 2020, "The thing I was most disappointed in was not just Justin leaving the band, it's that our whole team...they all knew it was over for three years before they told me. And so for three years I'm sitting there getting ready for a new album as everyone else knows we're moving on" (via Popsugar).