Today's song comes from the "boy-band" vocal group 98 Degrees, who came a notch away from the top of the American pop charts with their song "Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)" in the autumn of 2000. The second single from their third album Revelation was the love ballad "My Everything". Written by bandmates Nick Lachey and Justin Jeffre along with producers Anders Bagge and Arnthor Birgisson, the track honestly seems like it was really written by an artificial intelligence greeting card simulator, with every overused romantic line in the book with seemingly none to spare. It was clearly meant for wedding receptions, and they try their best to sell it. With a production that gives 1992 Boyz II Men vibes, it's definitely inoffensive, but it's really generic. At least it's a switch-up to have Drew Lachey take a verse after brother Nick, though Justin (the co-writer) gets relegated to a cemetary and funeral home in the video while Jeff Timmons doesn't even get to sing lead and is tacked on to the clip at the end it seems. I mean Nick's fiance Jessica Simpson got more screen time. Nevertheless, they still had their fanbase, and radio was favorable, though the decision of Universal to hold back a commercial single release in America (probably to goose up the album) hindered its prospects, with scores of young girls unable to buy it again...
"My Everything" became 98 Degrees' seventh and so far last top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in February of 2001. On the radio, the song climbed to #12 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, #13 on the older-skewing Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") list, and #21 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic airplay roundup.
At this point, after putting out the usual career-ending greatest hits collection, 98 Degrees took a "break". Drew Lachey went on to appear on Dancing With The Stars winning the second season of the b-list competition, while Justin Jeffre attempted to get into politics. Nick Lachey and Jeff Timmons pursued solo careers, and Nick will appear on his own in this series in time. Timmons' album Whisper That Way was released in the summer of 2004, with the title track making it to #23 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart. Nick had a popular reality show with Simpson on MTV for years before their marriage imploded in 2006. In 2009, after his own solo excursion had run dry, Lachey hosted the best singing competition show on TV, The Sing-Off.
The group reunited in 2012, and a year later released a new album, 2.0, on the eOne label. While the record came in at #65 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, radio pretty much stayed clear. Even so, they made bank touring with Boyz II Men and New Kids On The Block.
Returning to Universal, 98 Degrees released a second seasonal album, Let It Snow, in 2017. From the set the new song "Season Of Love" (not the Broadway classic from Rent) made it to #18 on the Adult Contemporary radio chart in the Christmas music boom on that format each year. Most recently, the group put out a collection of remixes of their hits called Summer of 98 Degrees in 2021, along with a new single, "Where Do You Wanna Go", which spent three weeks on the Adult Top-40 chart with a high of #39.
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98 Degrees performed "My Everything" on the Tonight Show...
Here they are on the World AIDS Day concert in 2000...
And lastly, at the Radio Music Awards...
Up tomorrow: Reggae hitmaker looks up to the heavens for his second #1 hit.
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