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| 2/29/04 |
CD Briefs: JC Chasez Justin Timberlake wasn't the only guy in 'N Sync, and here's a debut by JC Chasez, the hunky member with the dark eyes, to prove it. As with much of the boy band oeuvre, the main reference point here is Michael Jackson, with songs such as "She Got Me" and "100 Ways" desperately wishing they were on Thriller, though Mr. Chasez throws in a pinch of George Michael and a dash of Stevie Wonder. He has co-writing credit on nearly all of this 17-track disc (hellooo, someone needs an editor), partnered with one Robb Boldt, an R&B singer-songwriter who fills the Linda Perry role. Schizophrenic has shortcomings, including lack of originality. But stacked against peers such as Mr. Timberlake and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, Mr. Chasez's performance is surprisingly able, especially on ballads such as "Build My World." He comes across as down-to-earth. He doesn't try to be something he's not.
March 8 issue - He is not cute. In fact, 'n Sync heartthrob J.
C. Chasez is looking more Benicio Del Toro haggard than Justin Timberlake
fresh these days. He's extremely thin, with bad posture and frizzy
hair that resists any definable style. If you didn't know better,
you'd swear an impostor had snuck onto the set of Sharon Osbourne's
talk show for a dress rehearsal of the singer's single "Some
Girls (Dance With Women)" off his solo debut, "Schizophrenic."
But judging by the screaming girls lined up outside the Hollywood
studio in the rain, and the presence of beefy bodyguards, he is
the dark, brooding member of the world's premier boy band. "This is clearly not an 'N Sync record," Chasez says, backstage in his dressing room. His voice is raspy from a cold, and he's worn down from a nonstop promotional campaign that included signing 700 autographs at Tower Records in L.A. last night. "I wanted to do something totally different. I think my fans will take the jump with me. The only thing that may scare them off is some of the subject matter." It certainly spooked the NFL, which canceled Chasez's halftime show at the Pro Bowl last month in the wake of Justin and Janet's boob-tube incident. Even on Osbourne's talk show, Chasez and his dancers were subjected to what can only be described as a decency check before hitting the soundstage, with staffers eying their wardrobe and dance moves for anything that might be considered offensive (somehow the dancers' fuchsia miniskirts with leg warmers passed muster). All this is part of a new daytime standard that network television is enforcing post-Super Bowl. "I think it's hilarious that things are the way they are," says Chasez. "We're about to elect the leader of our country. We don't have enough money for schools, we're at war and we're worried about this? We all think about sex and love, and I've got songs about both on my record. People gravitate to the sex songs more. Surprise, surprise." What's truly unexpected is that Chasez's solo debut is so good. Even critics who've made a living off bashing boy bands are feeling the love for "Schizophrenic." "Let's be honest: everybody loves to hate a boy band," says Chasez, rubbing some of the powder off his face after the show. "Nobody wants to see a handsome guy dancing in front of his girlfriend. Especially critics." Chasez built up cred as a solo artist when'N Sync took a break last year and he contributed the hit single "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" to the "Drumline" soundtrack. He then upped the artistic ante by teaming with electronica producers Basement Jaxx for their eccentric club single "Plug It In." Now Chasez's new single is one of the top 10 radio adds in the country. Chasez is loving the solo life: " 'N Sync is a machine. There's a meeting about everything. It's fine, but it's an organization and there's five members of the board. Being on your own, creatively, you're wide open." Except that now he's competing, whether he admits it or not, with Timberlake's solo career. "J's a superstar," says Chasez. "The way his image is, his show, it's exactly what he had mapped out in his mind. Me, I'm on a whole different kick. I don't want to be overly structured. I want this whole experience to be freeing. I just want to breathe." Chasez is waiting to see if his CD succeeds. He's waiting to exhale.
No Strings Attached His fellow boy band buddy Justin Timberlake has moved on to greener pastures with his Grammy-winning solo debut, Justified. Now 'N Sync's equally soulful second banana, J. C. Chasez, steps into the spotlight with the surprisingly eclectic and freaky Schizophrenic, which boasts production by Dallas Austin, Rockwilder, and the Basement Jaxx. Prior to disc's release, the 27-year-old pop star discussed the album, his take on the Janet-Justin controversy, the future of 'N Sync, and more during a round-table discussion with journalists. Question: What's the significance of the album's title? JC Chasez: I didn't have a title for the record before I'd finished it. After I put this collection of material together, I had to sit back and figure out how all of it fit together. When I was thinking about it, it was like every song has its own life, its own personality, and they're really different from each other. And whenever you hear about people with schizophrenia, that's just what it is. They have two totally different personalities. So that's how the title came about. Q: How is Schizophrenic different from 'N Sync's albums, and when will the group reunite? JC: This record is just a whole different animal. When you're dealing with 'N Sync, you're dealing with a group vision, a collaboration. So there's always compromise involved in that, and this is just an uncompromising effort on my part on making a record. It sounds totally different than what an 'N Sync record would sound like. The other part is, the guys and I are always talking, and we talked about a timeline and when we're going to start being creative. Some time in the late spring we'll start passing ideas back and forth. Q: In your bio, you said making this album was an organic process, and I wonder if you could walk us through that process, from when you first hooked up with Dallas Austin and how that evolved into this record. JC: I took some time off because I wanted to spend some time with my family and my friends. I had to hit the reset button for little while. I've been on the road for like seven years, and the guys in the band are my best friends, but there are other people that are important to me as well. Then when [Dallas] was finishing the Drumline [soundtrack], he had one more slot to fill. I really had nothing to do at the time, and he asked me to collaborate with him and write a song for the movie. I wasn't thinking it was going to be a single or anything like that, [but] next thing you know we get a call back from Fox, saying, "We think ["Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)"] should be the song for the movie." After that, Dallas and the guys that I worked with on the [single] asked me when I was going to do a [solo] record. I hadn't planned on it. I was just going to wait it out and do the next 'N Sync record. But I approached my label and said, "I'm interested in doing a record," and they were really excited. They were really cool about letting me follow my own path, and I'm thankful for that. So basically I just locked myself in the studio for like three months, came up with the bulk of the record, and showed up at the label. In the end, I [made] the record that I like and that I was proud of. Q: Listening to the album, there are hints of many musical styles, including reggae and rock. Which one do you find best describes your character? JC: I think the variety is actually what best describes my character. I don't like things to get stale. I think variety is the spice of life. That's why I love my job. That's why I like going to different places, eating different foods, meeting different people, and listening to different kinds of records. One day, I'll listen to the Chili Peppers, the next day I'll listen to ELO, the next day I'll be listen to the Basement Jaxx, and the next day I'll listen to Anita Baker. And I'm fine with that. Some people are afraid of change, but I love it. Q: In the past year, a lot of performers have resorted to publicity stunts that get more attention than their actual music. What do you think of these stunts? JC: Some of it's okay and some of it's not. Obviously naked flesh during a halftime show on network television when you've got families watching isn't the right time and place. But then again, the Britney and Madonna kiss...I was like, why not? It was on a cable television show in front of an industry crowd, a rock-'n'-roll crowd. If somebody's open-minded enough to kiss another girl, then so be it. It gets people talking. It's racy. It's sexy and there's no real harm in that. But you definitely have to know the difference between right and wrong. Q: This is a really horny album. There is a lot of sex in there. Since Justin and Janet's controversial Super Bowl performance, the pop music landscape has changed. Do you anticipate any problems with the acceptance of your music because the tide has turned? JC: Some people say it's a really horny album. I don't see it that way. There are a million records that have a million songs about sex on them, but not every song on a record is about sex. The funny part is that's just what people have gravitated to. I think it's an election year and everybody is overreacting a little bit. But that's just my opinion. You've got to trust people to make their own decisions about what they want to listen to. It would be a shame to start censoring artists. Some of the greatest songs of all time have sexual innuendos in them, like as far back as Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." And it's not going to go away, so I'm not really shaking in my boots. My whole focus was on making a great record. Q: Are you hoping that people will find the humor in the record? JC: When people hear all these [song] titles, it's not like I'm taking myself seriously when I'm singing "All Day Long I Dream About Sex." I mean, give me a break, you know? So yes, I definitely have fun with it. Some of the songs were a goof, but that's what's great about them and some of the songs are serious. Q: Did you feel any pressure to do a solo record in light Justin's solo success? JC: Justin's a Grammy Award-winning [artist] now. He's a superstar. There's no question about it. My goal is just to have a successful record, and at the end of the day I can only do what I do. I'm proud of what I've done. Right now, the pressure is more on the record company to create the awareness at this point. Q: Can you tell the story of the lyrics behind two of your favorite songs on the album? JC: "Lose Myself" is about ideal love. "Dear Goodbye" is about loss. You know, it's about how people mutually fall out of love, and it's a shame, but it happens. "All Day Long I Dream about Sex" is just a silly anthem -- nothing but good fun. I even wrote a song that was inspired by the movie The Ladies Man because it made me laugh so hard. The song is "One Night Stand." I had a lot of fun making each one of these songs. Q: You've been involved in so many different aspects of the music industry. Years down the road, do you hope to be remembered as a solo artist, songwriter, producer, or group member? JC: I guess all of the above. I feel like I'm a great contributor when it comes to being in the group and I feel like I've done something great on my own. And down the road I want to be looked [upon] as somebody who's hard working and talented and has made his own space in the world.
Philadelphia Enquirer Review JC Chasez In readying his solo debut, JC Chasez - the second 'N Syncer to go it alone - had some choices to make. Should he bank on the formulaic, instant-fireworks hooks the boy bands made famous? The pleading vocals of his old group, or a more individual and assertive persona? Chasez, 27, didn't take the easy route, and the dizzyingly diverse Schizophrenic is the better for it. Working with producers such as Rockwilder and Basement Jaxx, Chasez deployed 'N Sync's cuddle-toy harmonies sparingly. He avoided the just-add- water hooks of teen pop in favor of more elaborate chord sequences and compositional schemes. Perhaps most shrewdly, he minimized the anguished R&B lover-man pleas that mark his colleague Justin Timberlake's backbeat-heavy solo, Justified. Mostly, Chasez, who gets cowriting credit on all but one of the disc's 15 songs, worked overtime to show serious musical range. The set begins with the Neptunes-influenced club scenario "Some Girls (Dance With Women)," which benefits from a funny Dirt McGirt (Ol' Dirty Bastard) rap. There are tracks built entirely on early-'80s synth-pop ("Come to Me," "All Day Long I Dream About Sex"), one that hints at cumbia, and a stone-cold Police cop (the reggae "Everything You Want") that shows Chasez to be a powerful belter. There are also a few credible detours into funk. The surefire hit "She Got Me" finds Chasez channeling Off the Wall-vintage Michael Jackson one minute and "Superstition"-era Stevie Wonder the next, while the guitar-driven "100 Ways" is all post-Purple Rain Prince. Not everything clicks. Chasez jabbers on endlessly about his sexual requirements, confusing the expression of pure need with compelling subject matter. And on other selections, the thumping grooves beg for an edit. But give the accomplished student of pop this much: He uses his scholarship constructively, to create moments of surprising bliss that are a shade more sophisticated than the drivel coming off the assembly line.
Chicago Sun-Times Review * * JC CHASEZ, "SCHIZOPHRENIC" (JIVE) Two years ago, Justin Timberlake escaped the exhausted clutches of 'N Sync and -- against many, many odds -- achieved critical acceptance with a pretty credible stab at dance-floor pop, or at least a passable "Off the Wall" impersonation. No such fate awaits JC Chasez, who aspires to same ("She Got Me" sports a stream of vocal effects that may make Michael Jackson consider exploring an entirely grunting-based copyright-infringement suit), but whose solo debut, as its title suggests, is way too scattershot to be received as anything other than Chasez covering his bases. Why just bite "Thriller" when you can bite "Dirty Mind" ("Speak Your Mind") "Faith" ("Something Special") and ... eh, whatever Al. B Sure!'s last record was ("If You Were My Girl")? Chasez is too dry to be sexy -- his spoken-word intro to "One Night Stand" may be the gut-bustin'est come-on in the history of pop -- and though he finds some decent grooves in spots, he's too derivative to escape sounding like the guy who came to the party about two hours late. One exception: "All Day Long I Dream About Sex," a pulsating Kajagoogoo throwback in which Chasez ably turns up the heat. Note: "Schizophrenic" is 76 minutes long. No dimension amenable to human life needs 76 minutes of a solo JC Chasez record, but such egregious overstuffing is the pop/hip-hop standard these days. This album is too long by half. |
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Sexy, Solo
And Out Of Sync
