“First and foremost, we want to thank God…without him we are nothing. Then, of course, we’d like to thank our families for supporting us through thick and thin. All of our people at Jive and Wright Entertainment Group, and last but not least, the fans! We love you!”
It was the same old routine lately. Concert tours, promotions, awards shows, a couple of music videos thrown in among various visits to MTV, and, oh yeah…more touring. The endless shrill screams of fans penetrated their ears, minds, and memories. One couldn’t even sleep sometimes because of the almost haunting sound of teenagers’ screams echoing through their minds. Not that they weren’t grateful for everything that had been bestowed upon them, but sometimes it added up to be too much. They were physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. The hardest thing to come by was sleep. Different hotels every night, but so many fans showed up it proved impossible to get any kind of rest. Despite all of the best efforts of hotel security and even their personal security, handfuls of fans managed to find their ways to the guys. Phone calls and miscellaneous knocks on the door at three o’ clock in the morning had pushed them to the point of staying on the bus at night instead. The crew got to safely stay in the hotel without interruption, but the guys themselves had been forced to sleep in their bunks night after night. Autographs while they were eating or trying to catch a movie were getting to be more of a hassle than anything…once they had been asked for autographs while peeing at a rest stop. Hats and sunglasses didn’t quite do the trick as well anymore. It was almost hopeless.
Fame—a blessing to some, a nightmare to others. It could make or break you, and the latter was looming eerily above their heads. They were irritable, jumpy, moody, exhausted…but to the rest of the world, they were THE world. Their smiles, although forced and sometimes completely insincere, were infectious to their fans and gave them a sense of happiness. If they only knew it was the sacrifice of their own sanity. Their voices made tears of joy spring from others eyes and were a source of comfort and strength to legions of listeners. If only the fans knew what they had to do to keep their voices in check. Not talking above a whisper throughout the day, various throat doctors and therapy, special treatments and vocal exercises…the exhaustion had even worn out their vocal chords, something that not only threatened their strength as a group, but their careers as well. On this particular day, they had been to two press conferences, a meet and greet, a press release, the awards show pre-party, the awards show itself, and were now heading to the VIP after party at one of the most prestigious clubs in town. They headed down the red carpet, smiling and waving at the tireless and devoted fans until their hands thought they would break. Arriving at the door, they nodded their heads as security parted and allowed them entrance into the party.
“*NSYNC…nice of you to join us.”
Fame—it could make or break you.