JC Chasez: I feel like my singing days are behind me

J.C. Chasez has worn a lot of hats throughout his 15 year career -- pop superstar, actor, reality show judge, producer ... and that doesn't even begin to cover the terrible toppers J.C. literally donned during his N'Sync days. Now he's slipping the songwriter hat back on to help out with Matthew Morrison's debut CD.

Turns out the gig wasn't that hard to come by since J.C. and Matthew are good friends -- but what started out as casually advice evolved into J.C. taking on a much more official role as he co-wrote two of the disc's ten tracks.

In addition to that, J.C. also has the season finale of "America's Best Dance Crew" approaching -- an episode that promises to be the most competitive yet. Or at least that's the impression I got while chatting with the multi-hyphenate ... who plans to remove one of those professional hats from his career closet for good.


PopWrap: I know you and Matthew are good friends -- was that how you ended up collaborating on his debut CD?

JC Chasez: Yea, it was very nonchalant. The easy part is we were friends first, so every now and then he’d ask a few questions about entering music and starting up songwriting. Because essentially, when you first start writing you find out that everyone’s method is different. That just developed into the studio to see what came of it.

PW: How do you describe the song you wrote for his album, “Hey?”

JC: For me it’s fun and quirky. We were looking to do a song about the obvious but in a playful and kind of clever way. In the end, it came to us pretty easily.

PW: You're in very good company on this album -- Sting, Elton John, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kris Allen are all involved -- it seems like Matt spared no expense, huh?

JC: It wasn’t really about cost – it was about getting to work with the people Matt wanted to work with. He reached out to the people he found interesting or fun, he made the record he wanted to make, which is a very fortunate place for an artist to be in. He didn’t have to play ball – he could essentially make the kind of record he wanted to make.

PW: Same could be said for you -- reaching a place professionally where people come to you about collaborating.

JC: Look, I’m flattered by the fact he wanted to work with me – I think a lot of it has to do with the fact we get along so well and respect one another as people. Intellectually we’re on the same page as well, so I think that played a part and made the studio experience enjoyable.

PW: As is always the case, a bunch of tracks didn't make the cut -- can you recall any of your other songs that were left out?

JC: There was a song called “Just As Long As I’m Not Without You,” or something like that – it’s hard to remember exactly, it was so long ago. We recorded it with Kristian [Lundin] who did “Hey” and another song with Lindy [Robbins, who co-wrote JC's other song, "Don't Stop Dancing"], so I fiddled around with the same group of writers, and did two more in total. But we took the best ones for sure.

PW: Did working on this album reignite any desire in you to be back in the studio working on your music?

JC: Not really. I think it’s reaffirmed that I prefer collaborating with other artists and making their visions come true. That’s where my head’s at right now. It’s definitely a different hat to wear, but I enjoy it – it’s fun to see the people you work with get so excited about something. I obviously live in my own head every day, so it’s good to get a different perspective.

PW: So what you're saying is “Until Yesterday” might be the last original song we ever get from "JC Chasez: The Singer?"

JC: [laughs] I mean look, I did that song for fun – it wasn’t a planned thing. You never know when something like that could pop out, I still record songs for fun all the time. And if I have an idea, maybe – but those ideas usually go to other people now. I’m not looking to push anything. It’s not where my interest lies. I like creating but the other part of that is if you want to step into a public arena again, it becomes about way more than just making songs. You have to take on a whole other set of responsibilities.

PW: Well it's definitely in line with the mentoring you've been doing on "America's Best Dance Crew." What are your thoughts on this season as we approach the finale?

JC: This season has been really, really great. I’ve enjoyed the dancers' talent and enthusiasm as well as the skillsets they brought to the table. This season everyone is really trying. They’re not putting routines together with pieces of routines they’ve already done. I feel like they are absolutely trying to get more and more creative as the show goes on.

PW: And I know you hate picking favorites, so all I will ask is for you to weigh in on the final four -- are they the best this season offered up?

JC: I thought that this season was so equally stacked that some of the other crews who’ve gone home are interchangeable with the finalists. I love our four, I think it’ll be an entertaining final because stylistically they’re so broad – that makes me curious to see which one America is excited about at the moment. It was a tight race this season, which I think proves what a good season it was.

PW: Tonight's episode tackles Nicki Minaj -- a lot of your fans were wondering why there wasn't an N'Sync episode this season.

JC: Well … it’s about who’s current [laughs]. It’s as simple as that. N’Sync was roughly 10 years ago now, so it’s not really applicable. We want people to be excited about what’s going on now. If we did a throwback episode, that’d be fine to include N’Sync in, but this year was about the Superstars of today. Which I think has been great inspiration for the crews as well.

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