'N Sync Releases 'Celebrity'

July 24 -- If the hottest boy band says pop is getting stale, maybe it is.

Members of 'N Sync say it's time to change or die — or become self-parody, tomorrow's Monkeys crooning "Daydream Believer" at carnivals.

With the much anticipated follow-up to No Strings Attached hitting record stores today, 'N Sync is promising that Celebrity will surprise folks expecting to hear reworked renditions of their smash hit "Bye Bye Bye."

"The bubblegum pop that everybody's listening to is dying out and people are gettin' tired of it, because there's only so much of it they can take," says member Chris Kirkpatrick. "But the rock 'n' roll's coming back and y'know, it's important for us to learn about music and not just say, 'well, we're just a pop singing group.'"

The quintet hunkered down for their new recording, writing 10 of the 13 tracks with a greater emphasis on R&B and other music styles.

"Y'know, we're rockers, too," says Kirkpatrick. "We're rappers, we're hip-hop artists. We envelop every kind of music that we hear and take out the best of it and I think that's why people catch on to us."

'There's Really a Lot of Pressure'

The release of Celebrity comes just three years since the heartthrobs' self-titled debut album.

They quickly scored four hits — including "Tearing Up My Heart" — but could never have been prepared for the success they would soon enjoy. Their sophomore effort, No Strings Attached, sold a record-setting 2.4 million copies in its first week and ending up as the best-selling record of 2000.

"There's really a lot of pressure that people put on us but I think it's mostly pressure that everybody's gonna keep on us until we finally, y'know, start on that down-plummet or whatever happens," says Kirkpatrick.

"We're concerned with making quality or learning. You know, if this album sells no records at all, we'll learn from that," he says. "We'll say, 'What do we do wrong? What is this?'"

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