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Justin Timberlake · S3 E3
The Name
The last letters of their first names — and a mother's brainwave
Lynn Harless, Justin's mother, stares at the five first names written on a napkin. She circles the last letter of each one, and the acronym spells NSYNC.
*NSYNC, I Drive Myself Crazy. One of the group's early singles, polished and radio-ready. By the time this existed, the name, the logo, and the demo package had already crossed the Atlantic.
The Name
The name comes from the last letters of the five first names: JustIN, ChriS, JoeY, LansteN, JC. Lynn Harless spots it. The group finally has an identity. Now they need a logo that record executives will remember.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why does *NSYNC have an asterisk in the name?
What does the asterisk in *NSYNC represent?
For the Girl Who Has Everything
A deep cut from the demo era, smooth and polished beyond what you'd expect from five guys still rehearsing in a warehouse. The vocal blend is already locked in. This is the kind of track that filled those demo packages headed for European labels.
The Demo Package
With the name, the logo, and a stack of demo recordings assembled, the package goes out to labels across the world. Most of them pass.
The demo tapes land in Germany, and a label called BMG Ariola Munich picks up the phone. Everything changes.
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