Girlfriend

NSYNC recorded 'Girlfriend' for their fourth album Celebrity, with The Neptunes producing the track, and the Neptunes remix that became the commercial single featured new rap verses by Nelly, recorded separately ahead of the March 2002 single release. Released on March 12, 2002, on Jive Records, the Neptunes remix reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became NSYNC's last top-ten single, its hip-hop-inflected production signalling a decisive break from the group's earlier teen pop sound and pointing directly toward Justin Timberlake's solo direction. The track is widely identified as NSYNC's final artistic statement and the moment that most clearly foreshadowed Timberlake's solo career, with Billboard later naming it one of the twenty essential boy band songs and critics citing it as the bridge between the Neptunes' hip-hop work and their subsequent dominance of Timberlake's debut album Justified.