After decades of fans hoping for an *NSYNC musical reunion, the day has finally come: The five-member boy band’s Trolls Band Together soundtrack contribution “Better Place” was announced first thing Thursday (Sept. 14) along with a new trailer for the animated threequel.
The song — which appears to follow in the upbeat footsteps of Trolls lead single “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” and Trolls World Tour opener “The Other Side” — is available to pre-save now but won’t be released until Sept. 29.
The song marks *NSYNC’s first musical release since 2002 (when the Neptunes remix of “Girlfriend,” featuring Nelly, arrived) and it comes just days after the group — Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone and Lance Bass — stepped onstage together at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards to present the award for best pop to Taylor Swift for “Anti-Hero.” The group last took the VMAs stage in 2013, for Timberlake’s Video Vanguard Award medley performance.
Rumors of *NSYNC’s reunion began swirling after a number of Trolls Band Together posters popped up in New York, featuring the first letter of the *NSYNC logo and a QR code. The code takes you to this site — TakeYouToABetterPlace.com — which teases the whistling pop tune. Timberlake stars in the upcoming film, returning as the troll Branch alongside Anna Kendrick’s Poppy, but the new movie’s plot follows as Branch reunites with his brothers to get their childhood boy band, BroZone, back together. While *NSYNC comes back together for the soundtrack, in the film, Timberlake’s bandmate brothers are voiced by Troye Sivan, Eric André, Daveed Diggs and Kid Cudi.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, *NSYNC released four studio albums: 1997’s ‘N Sync, 1998’s Home for Christmas, 2000’s No Strings Attached and 2001’s Celebrity.
Trolls Band Together hits theaters on Nov. 17. Watch the new trailer below.
