Pen's Nest

starturtle0977 asked for my favourite boyband songs.

Nsync is the easiest: I Thought She Knew. I adore this. It's a very well-constructed song, it tells the whole story of a relationship so elegantly. And of course, it is a beautiful thing as sung by these young men. Really gorgeous.

I have variable fondnesses for the rest of Nsync's oeuvre, but that one is consistently at the top.

As for the solo efforts, I think my favourite JC song has to be Build My World. I cannot help but sing along, and I love the chorus. I have a lot of affection for most of his songs (wish he hadn't made Some Girls a single, though), but that one's probably my favourite.

I can't say the same about Justin's solo efforts, as most of them I just don't like at all. I do enjoy all but the end of LoveStoned/I Think She Knows, which makes my shoulders want to groove along, and I like the harmonies on the chorus of Losing My Way (even as the lyrics make me want to smack him with a fish). But I do have a favourite Timberlake song now: Wings. The (curse it) hidden song on the latest album. It's so pretty, and simple, and lovely. The fact that he seems to have been channelling my dragon story as he wrote it is also a bonus.

Of Chris's handful, my favourite is the one about vomiting. (Get Out)


It's a lot more difficult to pick a favourite Backstreet song, because I have a surprising amount of affection for many of them. But, hmm. Undone, from This Is Us might well be the winner. I also really like Bye Bye Love from the same album. 10,000 Promises is another favourite, not least because it inspired a story out of me. Just Want You To Know is an ordinary song but I have unending love for the video.

I've not listened to either of Nick's solo efforts, or Howie's, often enough to have decided what I like there, and I haven't listened to Brian's at all. But AJ's solo album is a precious and wonderful thing. I… think I'll have to go for I Hate It When You're Gone, as a very particular love song (for a relationship idiot, probably). I like lyrics that tell me a bigger story than they're saying.


I didn't actually notice other boybands in any particular way, so no offerings from New Kids, or Take That, etc. Except that I must mention that I absolutely adore Dujour's masterpiece, Backdoor Lover. As, surely, do you all.


Seven days unclaimed, here.