What NSYNC's Band Members Are Doing Now

When the teen-pop sensation NSYNC disbanded in 2002, it brought an end to the incredible commercial success for one of the leading boy bands of the era. The group was made up of former "Mickey Mouse Club" stars Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez and fellow Orlando-based singers Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Lance Bass. NSYNC exploded onto the charts in 1998 and continued to dominate pop into the early 21st century, with four big-selling studio albums and enormous concert tours that were among some of the most lucrative of the era.

The real reason for the band's breakup has been a point of contention among the members. It was initially intended to be temporary, with Timberlake keen to take his music in another direction as a solo artist. But bar a couple of reunions in the two decades since, NSYNC remained on the backburner. In 2023, the band began to finally release new music: The single "Better Place," which featured on the soundtrack of the animated film "Trolls Band Together." Some even say that more music and live shows are imminent. Today, the members of NSYNC have branched out into everything from film, podcasting, and new music endeavors.

Justin Timberlake has undoubtedly emerged as the biggest star among NSYNC's members since the band went on indefinite hiatus in 2002. His solo career began with a bang thanks to the smash singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body," which helped propel his Neptunes and Timbaland-produced debut album "Justified" up the charts in 2002. In 2006, Timberlake paired with Timbaland once again to release "FutureSex/LoveSounds," with its enormously popular dancefloor-filling single, "SexyBack." He also embarked on an acting career, which included a critically-acclaimed role in 2010's "The Social Network."

Recent years have been less kind to Timberlake, though, with his popularity diminishing in the 2010s and his musical releases becoming less frequent. In 2024, he released a comeback album, "Everything I Thought It Was," which was met with poor reviews from music critics and weak sales in comparison to the success he enjoyed early in his solo career. Timberlake also undertook a major stadium tour around this time, but he was arrested for drunk driving on June 18. The incident generated a great deal of negative press coverage, compounding issues around the comeback. He was later forced to postpone several live shows due to bronchitis, laryngitis, and an unspecified injury. Reports state that he is also busy with multiple acting projects and raising two children with his wife, Jessica Biel.

JC Chasez is arguably the second most recognizable member of NSYNC, and first brush with celebrity came alongside Justin Timberlake as a cast member on "The New Mickey Mouse Club" in the mid-1990s. Like Timberlake, Chasez looked likely to make the successful leap to a solo career after NSYNC went on hiatus. In 2003, he appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Plug It In" by the British dance group Basement Jaxx, which drew him a great deal of credibility as an on-trend artist.

Chasez's debut album, "Schizophrenic," arrived in 2004, featuring production from Basement Jaxx and a bevy of other top producers. Unfortunately,it was overshadowed by Timberlake's appearance at the Super Bowl that year thanks to a "wardrobe malfunction." The "Cry Me a River" singer infamously exposed the breast of his co-star Janet Jackson onstage, sparking a huge controversy — which proved to be unexpectedly damaging to his bandmate Chasez's budding career. 

Amid the furor, Chasez's scheduled appearance at the Pro Bowl, where he was to perform music from "Schizophrenic," was canceled, and his career stalled. Though he has made appearances here and there down the years, Chasez has moved away from straight pop music and toward musical theater. In 2014, he collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," and he is currently working on his own musical based on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." Chasez announced his relationship with girlfriend Jennifer HuYoung to the world in 2019.

Outside of intermittent reunion appearances with NSYNC, Chris Kirkpatrick has moved away from the music industry and has never released a solo album. He now hosts his own pop culture podcast, "Name Drop," alongside MTV star Brian McFayden. In 2022, Kirkpatrick appeared on the hit singer show "The Masked Singer" as Hummingbird. "It was awesome that they asked me to do it," he told Entertainment Weekly. "I was sitting by the phone waiting for a call. Just let me do it. I love the show." He appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" the same year, which was a busy one. 

"Another fun thing is I've been doing this Pop2000 tour," he told the outlet. "It's like a throwback to the late '90s, early 2000s. And it's bands like O-Town, Sugar Ray, Ryan Cabrera, David Cook, and LFO, and they put together a really neat show ... I'm living the dream." In 2017, he and his wife, Karly Skladany, welcomed their son into the world.

Joey Fatone is another NSYNC member who decided to turn his back on a potential solo career and try other avenues of entertainment in the years since the boy band's disbandment. Drawn to both the stage and screen from an early age — he had a role in "Once Upon a Time in America" as a child actor opposite Robert DeNiro — Fatone has established himself as an actor. He had a recurring role in the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" film franchise and other movies, though he has also carved a niche for himself as a TV presenter. He hosted "The Singing Bee" in 2007, "Celebrity Circus" and "The Singing Office" in 2008, "Impractical Jokers: After Party" in 2017, and was a judge on "Last Singer Standing" in 2021.

In 2005, he featured in the 4th season of "Dancing with the Stars" and has remained a regular star of reality TV since. Notably, he appeared on "The Masked Singer" in 2019 as the Rabbit, laying the groundwork for Chris Kirkpatrick's appearance. He has also had roles in several Broadway shows during his career and is slated to return in 2025 for "& Juliet." Outside of entertainment, he has an NY-inspired food truck, Fat One's, in Orlando.

Lance Bass was the last member the join NSYNC, and the one who made the most decisive left turn from the music industry following the group's disbandment in 2002. He did start a movie career, having starred in the romantic comedy "On the Line" in 2001 and "Lovewrecked" in 2005 before starting his own movie production company in 2008. But Bass' true passion around the time of NSYNC's split was space, and he set about training to become a cosmonaut and join a mission to the International Space Station. He was certified by both the Russian Space Program and NASA, learning fluent Russian along the way, but was forced to rein in his dreams of space travel due to financing issues.

Since then, he published a bestselling memoir, 2007's "Out of Sync," which outlines his experiences growing up in the public eye and dealing with his homosexuality at a time when coming out could have been damaging to his career. He now hosts several podcasts and lives with his husband, the painter and actor Michael Turchin. In 2019, he appeared onstage at Coachella as a guest of Arianna Grande alongside fellow NSYNC members JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, and Chris Kirkpatrick, performing their classic track "It Makes Me Ill."