Line #3 Music/NoStringsAttached2000


1	[[quoteright:995:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/812hofxlcl_uf10001000_ql80.jpg]]
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3	''No Strings Attached'' is the third studio album[[note]]the third chronologically if we are counting the first self-titled album and the [[ChristmasSongs Christmas album]] ''Home For Christmas''[[/note]] by pop BoyBand Music/{{NSYNC}} released on March 21, 2000.
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5	The album would be released after several delays due to the group's ongoing legal battles with former manager Lou Pearlman. NSYNC accused Pearlman of fraud and swindling them of their earnings, and they would eventually reach a settlement that allowed NSYNC to sever their ties with Pearlman's management company and Creator/RCARecords, and join Creator/JiveRecords. During the legal wrangling, NSYNC would still record songs for ''No Strings Attached''. Music/ChrisKirkpatrick came up with the title of the album, referencing the group finally breaking free from Pearlman's control. The album's visuals would take this further and use a puppetry motif, representing NSYNC achieving independence as well as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the criticism that they were manufactured, corporate-controlled marionettes.
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7	[=*NSYNC=] would then take control of the direction of the album, choosing the producers and songwriters they wanted to work with, as well as writing and producing themselves. When the album was released, it set the first-week sales Billboard sales record of 2.4 million albums sold, a record that went uncontested for 15 years until Music/{{Adele}} surpassed it with her ''25'' album in 2015.
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9	!!Tracklist
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11	# "Bye Bye Bye"
12	# "It's Gonna Be Me"
13	# "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)" (featuring [[Music/{{TLC}} Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes]])
14	# "Just Got Paid"
15	# "It Makes Me Ill"
16	# "This I Promise You"
17	# "No Strings Attached"
18	# "Digital Get Down"
19	# "Bringin' da Noise"
20	# "That's When I'll Stop Loving You"
21	# "I'll Be Good for You"
22	# "I Thought She Knew"
23	----
24	!!Tropes, Tropes, Tropes!
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26	* AWildRapperAppears: Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, the rapper of Music/{{TLC}} makes an appearance on "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)".
27	* ACappella: The track "I Thought She Knew" is entirely in a cappella.
28	* AutoTune: Used to distort the vocals in "Digital Get Down"
29	* BreakupSong: The album has three break-up songs, "Bye Bye Bye", "It Makes Me Ill", and "I Thought She Knew".
30	* BizarroEpisode: The album is full of your usual BoyBand songs, your break-up songs, your love songs, etc. Then there's "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)", a song about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt but still partying and going into space. And it has the only feature on the album, a rap from Left-Eye from TLC. [[invoked]]
31	* ChaseScene: The entire premise of the "Bye Bye Bye" music video. The PsychoExGirlfriend runs after Chris and Joey on a train, sics two Dobermans after Justin, and engages JC and Lance in a high-speed car chase.
32	* CoverVersion: "Just Got Paid", a song originally recorded by Johnny Kemp. Bonus points for [[Music/{{Guy}} Teddy Riley]] producing both versions.
33	* CrazyJealousGuy: "It Makes Me Ill", a song about the subject feeling intense envy about his ex-girlfriend being with another guy.
34	* DarkerAndEdgier: *NSYNC worked with the same producers/songwriters as the Music/BackstreetBoys on ''No Strings Attached'', and they asked for a harder edge to their sound to differentiate themselves from the group. Songs like "Bye Bye Bye", "Space Cowboy", and "Digital Get Down" sounded edgier compared to most of the pop music of that era.
35	* GenreShift: Slight, this album would mark the start of *NSYNC starting to incorporate RAndB into their music, a trend that would continue with their fourth studio album ''Celebrity'', and Music/JustinTimberlake would almost completely shift to ContemporaryRAndB for his solo work.
36	* LivingToys: The "It's Gonna Be Me" music video has the band as toy dolls in a toy store.
37	* PeoplePuppets: ''No Strings Attached'''s visuals used this motif with the album art. The "Bye Bye Bye" music video shows the band members with ropes attached to their limbs while they are manipulated from above like puppets. Basically it symbolizes how manipulative the PsychoExGirlfriend is, who just wants to toy with them.
38	* SignsOfTheEndTimes: "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)" has a couple of references to the End Times and prophecies about the end of the world.
39	* SillyLoveSongs: "That's When I'll Stop Loving You", "I'll Be Good for You", and especially "This I Promise You" complete with the cheesy music video.
40	* IntercourseWithYou: "Digital Get Down", which would mark *NSYNC's first song about doing the deed.
41	* IntimateTelecommunications: "Digital Get Down", a song about cybersex.

Context Music / NoStringsAttached2000