Justin Timberlake continues his “please like me again” tour by teasing new *NSYNC music

Justin Timberlake managed to effortlessly avoid getting any blame for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl many years ago, but the tides seemed to turn against him last year when Britney Spears released her memoir, The Woman In Me. The book contained a number of revelations about her time with Timberlake in the early 2000s, including a story about him apparently insisting that she get an abortion (which she called “one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life”), and Britney Spears fans recently decided to take a shot at Timberlake by getting her 2011 song “Selfish” to chat higher than Timberlake’s brand new single of the same name.

Timberlake is preparing to release a new album called Everything I Thought It Was, his first since 2018, and it seems like he’s been attempting something similar to what he pulled off after the Super Bowl by making a big show of reminding everybody of what they used to like about him. He went on Saturday Night Live! He’s hanging out with Jimmy Fallon! He likes to sing and dance and have fun, nothing potentially problematic to see here!

This morning, Timberlake even stopped by The Kelly Clarkson Show and coyly teased that *NSYNC might be getting back together as well, telling Clarkson that they’ve “been in the studio” and that “there maybe be a little something in the future, too.” Reuniting *NSYNC has always been the “break glass in case of emergency” move for Timberlake—always on the table as an option, but not one you can ever do twice—and it seemed like he was very careful not to say that this is a thing that will happen, but rather a thing that might happen. He said it was “fun” and “kind of crazy,” and “there’s so much that just picks up right where it left off as far as the chemistry” with Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and J.C. Chasez.

The group briefly got back together last year for a song in the third Trolls movie, but the “we’re having fun together!” vibe of both that and this make it all seem like he’s repeatedly testing the water to see if a proper *NSYNC reunion will get him the positive attention he needs to reclaim the pop music crown—which he lost long before Britney Spears put her book out and which he will never regain, no matter how many funny bits he does with Jimmy Fallon.

But, at a certain point, Timberlake’s just going to have to do it. If he waits too long, nobody will care at all and it’s just going to be a novelty act like the reunited Backstreet Boys or New Kids On The Block.