Popstar Magazine
(8/15/03)

On the brink of releasing his first-ever solo CD, JC Chasez called in to Popstar to chat about the project and what it's like to hit the studio sans his fellow N Syncers.

Sounding laid back and stress-free, the 27 year old music maker filled us in on everything from his tour plans to who he's thinking about when he's writing his music.

Popstar!: Was it weird working on a solo project?

JC: It's not that bad. The thing is... basically, what's going to happen is everyone's going to get to hear my demos. except they're going to be polished demos (laughs). Whenever I write for the guys, I end up cutting the song anyway and then after I cut the song the way I think is cool, then they go in and make changes. So your just hearing the songs before the other guys make all their changes. - JC demos.

Is your solo CD full of songs you's written earlier or songs you wrote specifically for this album?

JC: No, they (Jive) kinda told me, they were like "We want you to do an album." I said, "Okay, well then you guys have to leave me alone for say a month and a half to two months." Thats kinda what they did. After the New Year and everything like that, I did some running around in January. But basically halfway through January and the beginning of February is when I started buckling down and doing this stuff.

Did you feel a lot of pressure to get it done?

JC: No, I did the song BMU for fun and it was a no pressure situation, and I told them that's how I wanted the album to be. I didn't write it for radio, I wrote it to have fun, you know what I mean? I guess people just kind of grew to it. So I told the record company, "Don't bother me. If you bother me, I'm not doing a record." They were like "hey, man its that what it takes, you do your thing." They just said, "Call us when you're done." They said they kind of had a timeline as far as the amount of time I could record. I was like, "It depends - if there's any priorities you have to let me know." They were like, "Well we really want you to write with Dallas [Austin] again," so basically Dallas was my last writing session because the schedule was about coinciding with everything."

Whose musical opinion is the most important to you?

JC: The fans - its a strange thing, though. I take what the record company will say into consideration but at the end of the day, the only thing I can do is what I do. I don't really custom make songs according to peoples opinions, I write what I feel. And then if people like it, they like it--- if the don't, they don't. But at the end of the day, all I can do is write what I feel.

Which artists are really influencing you now?

JC: Oh, my goodness-- thats a good question. I don't know. I haven't really listened to the radio in a while because I didn't wanna be too overly influenced by anything in particular. I don't really play a whole lot of music around me right now because I want to kind of be creative and do my own thing.

Where do you draw the most of your inspiration from when you write?

JC: I mean, thats kind of a tough question. Everything that you see or hear every day affects what your going to write. Anything can inspire something. Some days, nothing comes and then some days you cant stop it. Everything that you see or hear triggers something. Some days you can't write tiddly winks [laughs]

As an artist, how much do you really reveal about yourself through music?

JC: I don't know, man, its weird. Its not really a conscious decision when I write about something or anything. I just tend to live in the moment when I'm writing and go with that feeling and go with the flow. And whether it had to do with me or whether its something that I've observed and relate to the way it feels-- its a strange thing. Sometimes you just imagine what it would be like to be in that situation and sometimes you draw on past experiences. No song is one particular experience. Its more like experiences that tap into one emotion.

Would you like to tour in support of the album?

JC: I don't know yet. If I have to, I will, it just depends. I guess it really just depends if people like it or not. If they like it, I'll go put it on the road. If nobody likes it, then I'll go back in the studio and start over.

Who would you want to go on the road with?

JC: Whenever I do a show, I want what's best for the show, not what's best for my personal musical opinion. Whatever crowd tends to gravitate towarest for my personal musical opinion. Whatever crowd tends to gravitate toward the record, I'll make the correct decision at that point of who I need to tour with. Just because I want the overall show to be the best it can be.

If someone close to you were to hear a specific song, would they know it was about them?

JC: No, I'm sure that ...no, not really. They might say, when you dated this person or something and maybe just like one line or something but not in the whole song.

Has anyone asked you if a song was about them?

JC: No, but everyone in the world goes "Write a song about me!" [laughs]. "Put my name in a song!" That's everyones favorite thing to say. "When are your going to write a song about me? When are you going to put my name in a song?" [laughs]