JC Chasez, a member of the beloved band NSYNC, is out with his first major music project in 20 years. His new album is called “Play with Fire.”
“I want to make a musical and look everybody knows me from making music so the idea is to release the music first to get people interested in the project,” Chasez said on “CBS Mornings Plus.”
He co-produced the album with Golden Globe-winning songwriter and composer Jimmy Harry. The music was inspired by Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, “Frankenstein.”
“We’re living in a day and age where technology and humanity are interfacing like never before and Mary Shelley wrote this piece in 1818 and we’re talking about these themes today.”
It’s a subject Chasez said he’s passionate about, adding he appreciated the themes in “Frankenstein” later in life.
“We’re talking about AI. We’re talking about how we’re going to navigate a world like this and so to stumble across that, you know when you’re young you read it almost as a school project but when I read it later in life I just couldn’t believe how much it affected me,” he said.
Chasez was involved in writing the script for the musical and said they’re currently talking to directors and producers about the project.
He credits his writing partner, Harry, with helping the project come to fruition, explaining Harry’s mother was a playwright, and wrote a play called “Playing with Fire,” which Harry presented to Chasez.
“After reading it, what I loved about her story was the way she framed it in terms of making the emotional connections with the creature and the creator, you know, Frankenstein, and so we focused on the conversation that the two of them had and expanded from there and kind of came up with our own things.”
Although it’s a departure from his pop music background, Chasez said it still has elements of his past.
“There’s other songs that have that tempo, and have that pop flair and things like that, because I want people to still move and have fun,” he said. “The goal is to just really be engaging, and give people something to talk about when they’re listening to it or when they’re seeing it hopefully in the future.”
When asked if we’ll also see an NSYNC reunion in the future, Chasez said the former bandmates have talked about the possibility more than they have previously.
“Right now, Justin’s got a tour to do, and I’m releasing this record, “Playing with Fire,” so our focus is on our current projects, but there is always a conversation being had behind the scenes about the potential of something.”
