Songoftheday 1/4/24 - Saw you 'round the other day, shorty she was all the way...

 

 

"Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" - JC Chasez

from the albums Drumline (Original Soundtrack) (2002) and Schizophrenic (2004)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 4

 

Today's song comes from singer JC Chasez, who had dominated the pop landscape in the turn of the century as one-fifth of the boyband titans *NSYNC. But by 2002, after their final top ten in the spring of that year with "Girlfriend", they imploded (well, Justin Timberlake surreptitiously planned a solo career without them). A month after Justin released his first record Justified, Chasez, the other "lead singer" in the group, put out a song from the soundtrack to the Nick Cannon movie (yes, there was a time where he would carry a movie) Drumline. Written by JC with producer Dallas Austin, who infused a pseudo-hip-hop groove to the standard boyband-style lyrics about hyping up a girl that Chasez was used to. It's the same "I'm demanding to be taken as sexy" that Christina Aguilera did with "Dirrty" and Britney Spears did with "I'm A Slave 4 U", with just as disastrous results. The only semi-interesting part of the track is the marching band pastiche breakdown to fit with the movie's theme. But the music video, which has Chasez sporting a mullet and soul patch, macking on a pre-insane Tara Reid amongst a throng of extras that smells of money being thrown at it and is totally cringe...

"Blowin' Me Up" became Chasez's first and only solo top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in March of 2003. On the radio, where a label's push can reap more rewards than a lack of sales interest, the song went to #14 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart. Internationally, the song peaked at #24 on the Canadian sales chart. The Drumline soundtrack, released in December of 2002, went to #133 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #61 on the R&B Albums list.

Later in 2003, Chasez would contribute vocals (but not be credited on the label) for DJ/producer BT's single "Somnambulist", which slipped on to the Hot 100 for a few weeks at #98 while peaking at #5 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart. It would be almost a year before JC would return with his debut full-length album Schizophrenic, which included "Blowin' Me Up" as a bonus track. But an even more ill-conceived choice of a follow-up single, the bi-curious joke "Some Girls (Dance With Women)", fell flat, even with a crazy addition of rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard on the single remix. It managed to be pushed to #30 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 chart, it stopped all the way down at #88 on the Hot 100. Internationally, the single, which was paired on the commercial release with "Blowin' Me Up", made the top-20 on the singles chart in the United Kingdom (#13) and Ireland (#20). A final release from the album, the equally horrid "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" where he tried to go electro-rock, stiffed in the States, though again it was a fluke top-40 hit in Australia (#25) and New Zealand (#32). 

During the rest of 2004, Chasez had more success being featured on other act's records, with an uncredited stint on Basement Jaxx's "Plug It In" becoming a British top-40 hit at #22. He was credited on the charts on BT's other single from his Emotional Technology album, "The Force Of Gravity", which climbed to #6 on Billboards Dance Club Play chart and #9 on the Dance Airplay radio list. But after delays on recording his follow-up solo album, tentatively titled The Story Of Kate, he left the label with the set shelved. 

Since then, JC's faded into the pop music landscape background, with some songwriting and guest spots popping up from time to time. He also found a home on mass-market TV, doing MTV's America's Best Dance Crew as a judge. Most recently, he reunited with his *NSYNC partners for a "reunion" single for the Trolls movie, "Better Place", which brought him back to the Hot 100 top-40 at #25. 

(3/10)

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Here's JC appearing on the music show Top of the Pops to promote the single...

Up tomorrow: This weed-infused rapper is a pretty as a picture.