First off, this song being the first single off No Strings Attached, I have a certain fondness for it, with it being one of the songs that will always be linked to 'N Sync. Everyone is going to remember how NSA tore up the Billboard 200, and this is the song that everyone will remember as being part of spring 2000!

The song is definitely about getting hurt - that is, there is no way (unless they are good at acting...well, I guess all of them have some acting experience, some more than others :-) that they can sing this song with such conviction if they hadn't been hurt in a relationship and could draw their own experience into the feeling of the song. J.C. takes lead vocal duties in verse 1, followed by Justin who sings verse 2. The chorus is communal. Just a great toe-tapping, "jump-out-on-the-dance-floor-peeps!" kind of song.

After reading the lyrics a couple times, and hearing it a multitude of times, I can sort of understand why 'N Sync pulls this song off with such conviction. With their fame and little time for personal relationships, I can imagine their relationships are on and off all the time because they just don't have the time that "normal people" have to stay and make things work. But, I understand frustration - on both sides - and that's probably what's leading to this break-up. Probably the average teenybopper believes this song is about a sadistic, unfeeling girlfriend soon to be ex-girlfriend. That could be the case, but I doubt it's that simple.

J.C. starts the song commandingly, and if you've ever seen them perform this on a TV appearance, oh my gosh...he really gets into the song. That's why I think he must have had experience with this sort of thing before. (Poor baby.) He throws himself into making the song emotional and evocative. Justin does a pretty good job with verse 2 but I have to admit that I like the first verse better, because IMO it just sounds rough, blunt, and to the point.

My favorite part of the song has to be when J.C. sings that really long "BAY-BEEEEEEEE" at the end of the bridge. He holds that out for a couple beats, and that has to be one of the sexiest uses of the word "baby" in any song in history IMO.

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Posted 04/20/00