Not in sync any more?

Not in sync any more?

UNITED STATES - It didn't matter which boy band camp you belonged to at the end of the 90s.

Team Backstreet Boys or Team 'N Sync, we pretty much felt - and acted - like we were 15 again when 'N Sync made their highly anticipated appearance together in more than a decade at the recent MTV Music Video Awards (VMAs).

Rumours about the US quintet's reunion were floating around in the days leading up to the annual awards show.

The deal was pretty much sealed when they hinted at a rehearsal on their official Twitter page - set up solely for this purpose.

A cryptic "Mic check, mic check one.. two... is this thing on?!" tweet earned nearly 46,000 retweets and over 23,000 favourites.

On Aug 25, 10.1 million viewers saw Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick for all of two short minutes when they took to the stage in the middle of Timberlake's solo medley to sing and dance just like the old times.

Except it wasn't exactly like the old times.

Age had clearly caught up with the four less active members, now between 34 and 41 years old.

WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN?

During their medley of Gone, Girlfriend and Bye Bye Bye, it was obvious that agility was not their strong point any more. (We didn't miss your inability to stay in formation, Bass.)

To say they are still - ahem - in sync would be a lie, but we had missed them too much to care.

Aside from former lead vocalist Timberlake, 32, it's hard to point out one thing the others have achieved in recent years that was of some consequence.

Chasez, 37, the soulful singer and second-in-command, released his first solo single Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love) shortly after the band's hiatus and then a solo album, Schizophrenic, in 2004.

More recently, he's taken on a new role as "father" to a new 11-member US group, Girl Radical.

Bass, 34, recently had a Twitter run-in with troubled former child star Amanda Bynes, who called him "ugly" with "no talent".

As for Fatone, 36, and Kirkpatrick, 41, there really isn't much to say except that they've piled on more than a few kilos.

Timberlake is the only success story from this oncemassive pop group, enjoying an explosive solo career.

His latest album, The 20/20 Experience, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The second part of the album will be out in the US on Sept 30.

His success is a glimpse of how popular 'N Sync used to be in their glory days.


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