No Strings Attached (NSYNC album)

No Strings Attached
The band members are attached to rope strings posing like puppets, on top of an orange theatrical stage. The album's title is placed on the bottom-right corner.
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 21, 2000
RecordedFebruary 1999 – January 28, 2000
Studio
  • Battery (New York, New York)
  • Cheiron (Stockholm, Sweden)
  • Cove City (Orlando, Florida)
  • The Treehouse (North Hollywood, California)
  • Westlake (Los Angeles, California)
Genre
Length47:10
LabelJive
Producer
NSYNC chronology
The Winter Album
(1998)
No Strings Attached
(2000)
Celebrity
(2001)
Singles from No Strings Attached
  1. "Bye Bye Bye"
    Released: January 11, 2000
  2. "It's Gonna Be Me"
    Released: June 13, 2000
  3. "I'll Never Stop"
    Released: June 26, 2000
  4. "This I Promise You"
    Released: September 25, 2000

No Strings Attached is the third studio album by American boy band NSYNC. It was released by Jive Records on March 21, 2000. Looking to distinguish their music from that of their labelmates, NSYNC chose to incorporate pop and R&B styles. Prior to the release of the album, the band separated from their management Trans Continental and their label RCA Records; its title is a play on the idea of independence from corporate control. Contributions to the album's production came from a wide range of producers, including NSYNC members Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, and collaborators including Kristian Lundin, Jake Schulze, Rami, Teddy Riley, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Richard Marx, Veit Renn, Babyface, and Guy Roche.

After several delays due to legal battles, No Strings Attached was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics, many of whom praised the production. The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 2.4 million copies, setting the record for one-week sales in the country; a record that remained for 15 years until Adele surpassed the first-week sales record with her third studio album 25 (2015). Four singles were released from the album. Its lead single "Bye Bye Bye" is credited with creating the hype for the album's eventual landmark success. No Strings Attached was the best selling album of 2000. NSYNC promoted the album through the No Strings Attached Tour in 2000, which was the second highest-grossing tour in North America of that year.

It was considered to be the peak of the teen pop genre, as CDs were beginning to be phased out in favor of peer-to-peer file sharing sites such as Napster and LimeWire, as well as trends shifting away from the genre, beginning with the Backstreet Boys' album Black & Blue (2000). NSYNC were considered to be influential in crossing over music genres, which helped distinguish themselves from the Backstreet Boys, and inspire other boy bands to experiment with different genres of music while expressing their originality.