*NSync are back: Their first song in more than 20 years is out now. Listen to “Better Place,” co-produced by Justin Timberlake and Shellback, below. It appears in the animated movie Trolls Band Together, out November 17, starring Timberlake as a character called Branch.
“Better Place” follows *NSync’s reunion at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Before that, they had lain low since 2001, when they released the the fourth album of their original run, Celebrity. In 2013, *NSync regrouped at the VMAs in honor of Timberlake’s Video Vanguard Award, but did not release any music.
“It was pretty emotional, the first time we all got in the studio together,” *NSync’s Lance Bass recently told Entertainment Tonight of the “Better Place” recording session. “Back in March, we decided to, you know, get back together and have some fun and it was like no [time] had passed.”
Bass continued, “But there was there was a lot of tears. It was just tears of joy. And it was just a beautiful moment. Like, time does so much and for us to finally be together, it just feels right.”
Trolls Band Together is the third Trolls film. The first one spawned “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Justin Timberlake’s No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single and eventual Grammy winner. The Trolls sequel, Trolls World Tour, featured more Timberlake originals, including collaborations with Anderson .Paak (“Don’t Slack”) and SZA (“The Other Side”).
Trolls Band Together (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is out October 20 via RCA. Along with “Better Place,” the soundtrack features Justin Timberlake, Eric André, Kid Cudi, Troye Sivan, Camila Cabello, Zosia Mamet, Anderson. Paak, Kenan Thompson, Icona Pop, Clipping.’s Daveed Diggs, and more. There’s also a second *NSync song, “Better Place (Reunion),” featuring André, Diggs, Sivan, and Kid Cudi.
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