Justin Timberlake’s *NSYNC bandmate Chris Kirkpatrick hints at a reunion and says it feels right for the five to be together

CHRIS Kirkpatrick feels it every time *NSYNC are in the same room together – he is instantly transported back to the ’90s, the wildest time when Justin, JC, Lance and Joey took the pop world by storm.

And in an exclusive interview with The US Sun, founding member Chris said there was “definite interest” in staging a nostalgic comeback.

The band, which sold over 70 million records during its success story between 1995 and 2002, has not performed together since 2013.

They took the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards as Cry Me a River star JT received an award.

*NSYNC joined Ariana Grande at Coachella in 2019 before reforming for one night only as part of Justin’s tour last March.

GO FORWARD

Chris admits that he partied for a few years after the band split 22 years ago, but then really blossomed in the second half of his music career.

He is the star of his podcast “Name Drop” with MTV’s Bryan McFayden and is excited to be back on stage as part of the Pop 2000 tour.

But the lure of hits like “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” will never leave us.

“Nothing is set in stone yet. But after everything that’s happened, there’s definitely interest,” Chris told The US Sun.

He says it just feels right to have the boys back in town.

The old jokes fly. The togetherness and camaraderie return.

“We just fall back to where we were 20 years ago,” Chris continues. “Everyone can’t stop smiling. It’s such a good feeling.”

Currently, everyone is busy with their own lives – Justin is currently on a world tour, Joey is an actor, Lance is a father to twin girls born in 2021, and JC enjoys traveling and working as a voice actor.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” warned Chris, who takes a trip back in time to the happier days of dealing with music icons like Michael Jackson in his podcast.

“But I can tell you that the resurgence of those feelings in all five of us was enough to say, ‘Let’s look at the possibilities of doing something in the future.'”

Chris speaks with affection as he recalls the band’s final days, which saw a talented young boy forced to support his own family while moving “from trailer to trailer” go on a meteoric rise to life as a global superstar.

The 52-year-old lived his dream.

But when the inevitable burnout occurred, fate was clear.

He said he could “feel everything falling apart” but was still powerless to stop the downfall.

“*NSYNC just wasn’t a priority anymore,” he said. “It just got out of control.”

“There were so many people around us. It wasn’t just five of us singing a cappella in a stairwell.”

Just two years after moving to Orlando and meeting controversial former manager Lou Pearlman, the band was on tour, performing their songs and moves to thousands of fans.

Chris remembers a time that was “too crazy to comprehend.”

“Every time we took another small step, it just got bigger and bigger until we were playing in front of 80,000 people in Rio or meeting Paul McCartney, Billy Joel or Paul Simon,” he said.

He loved every moment.

Nevertheless, the psychological and physical stress was difficult to bear.

He remembers a radio appearance in Germany earlier in the season where the band was exhausted.

They just went through the routine and performed “the song we’ve sung five billion times to the dance we’ve danced five billion times.”

However, the fans liked the guys so much that regardless of the quality of their performance, they just had to go on stage and soak up the admiration.

But that wasn’t good enough for Chris. He wanted every show to be the best.

“I can speak for Justin and some of the other guys,” he admitted.

“We felt sick because we realized what we had just done. We wanted to treat every audience as if we had to win them over.”

“You’d think this was the best band I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not saying it was, but we had to go into it with that attitude.”

They have survived these difficult times.

However, according to Chris, the band’s balance was perfect and helped keep their dynamics under control.

“Being the oldest was good because I was the most immature and Justin was the most mature,” he said with a smile.

Although he has had admiration and success galore, Chris is keen to stress that none of it came to him easily.

They rode the wave of boy bands and their rivalry with the Backstreet Boys became increasingly fierce.

But the hard work never stopped.

“If we had a minute free, it was to sleep,” he said.

As Chris speaks to The US Sun in a long, wide-ranging interview, it becomes clear that he is more than happy with his more unusual life.

He’s traveled the world with his friends, gained worldwide recognition, recorded music with some of the biggest names in the industry, and has now begun a second phase of a career that seemed miles away when he was still collecting welfare checks for his mother and four sisters.

But the appeal of bringing *NSYNC back together will never fade.

His journey from lost child to boy band legend is a source of pride.

No wonder, then, that he wants to try his luck again.

“I came from the middle of nowhere and had only been on a plane a few times at that point,” Chris concluded.

“We all kind of met in the middle and it just worked. Let’s try this thing out and see what happens.”