This one’s for the millennials.
I was 9 when my aunt herded me and my cousins up the New York State Thruway to the then-Pepsi Arena to see NSYNC perform on their No Strings Attached tour in the summer of 2000. Half my face was a red, itchy map of poison ivy: a souvenir from days spent as an unsupervised wood nymph wandering the creek that wove through my neighborhood. I wore a gray Walmart shirt with blue stars and platform sneakers and feared our seats in the “nosebleed” section would result in a literal nosebleed. And yet, from my perch in the upper bowl, none of that mattered. The concert was so magical that for a few hours, my blistering skin might as well not have existed. I could practically reach out and touch Justin Timberlake’s ramen-noodle hair.
I was so entranced that my parents splurged on a one-month HBO subscription — a big deal for our frugal family — just so I could record NSYNC’s Madison Square Garden performance. I covered the VHS in glittery stickers and labeled it “MEGA NSYNC 2000.” I watched it until the tape went limp.
NSYNC’s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” was more hymn than carol for me during those teenybopper years. “Feel the love in the room from the floor to the ceiling,” they sang. My family’s Christmas mornings were more Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby than sparkle and pop. My devotion to this tune was secretive, reserved for solo listening sessions, lest I offend the adults with my juvenile exuberance.
Now, as a millennial parent, all I want for Christmas is that juvenile exuberant magic: playful, free joy. I want love felt from the floor to the ceiling. What better source of childlike wonder than early-2000s boy band tunes? I want the magic of my first live concert, with its twinkling lights and camaraderie and innocence, reflected in my own family Christmas celebrations. Christmas should feel like pop music: buoyant, mischievous, effervescent, enduring. Feel the love in the room from the floor to the ceiling, indeed.
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