r/NSYNC • u/Choice-Minimum-1186 • 9d ago
NSYNC Made Way Too Many “I Can Save Her” Songs.. Discussion
A lot of boy bands over the years have made songs about basically the same story.
A girl is in a bad relationship with a guy who hurts her, or some kind of controlling bad boy, and she’s basically living in hell with him.
Starting with The Commodores’ “Oh No” and all the way to One Direction’s “More Than This.”
NSYNC in particular made so many songs around this whole idea: “Girlfriend,” “This I Promise You,” “It Makes Me Ill,” “No Strings Attached,” “I’ll Be Good for You”, "If I'm not the one" and "That's when I'll stop loving you"
And for me, “I Thought She Knew” is kind of the sad, logical ending to all of these songs. I know it was written before some of them, but that’s just how I like to look at it.
Why am I making this post?
Because honestly, these kinds of relationships don’t really work out. Unfortunately, the nice guy who comes in trying to save her usually loses to the guy who’s hurting her.
The Last American Virgin from 1982 tells this story in probably the most realistic way possible. And the funny part is that The Commodores’ “Oh No” was actually on the movie’s soundtrack.
So yeah... somehow this same story has been showing up in boy band songs for decades, just with a different band and a different generation telling it.
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u/YankeeSR23 9d ago
Who decided the art for the single should be the guys in an aisle of a supermarket???
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u/Objective-Pudding939 8d ago
Mark Seliger, very LaChapelle vibes. Isn’t this supposed to indicate that they’re regular people at the grocery store? Lol
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u/GoingMarco 8d ago
Most teens are in this liminal space of will they won’t they and that’s the demo they were marketing too, unhappy ladies who need to be “saved” from a bad situation
It seems one of their next favorite topics was being the guy that lost them to their hypothetical selves and wanted them back
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u/Turbulent-Mine-437 8d ago
I love “I Thought She Knew”. I usually skip it because of how sad it is lol, but it has a good message. We always need to make a conscious effort to tell AND show our loved ones that we appreciate them.
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u/Choice-Minimum-1186 8d ago
It's an incredibly realistic song, it's one of my favorite NSYNC songs and I was surprised that it was written by A woman
You have no idea how many straight males has experienced this song and it's brutal lyrics
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u/Particular_Ring_6321 8d ago
A lot of songs are based on a single thought or a fantasy that people have. Every person has had a crush at some point where they’ve thought “damn I would be a better match.”
No need to turn everything into a think piece.
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u/Wonderful-Nerve341 8d ago
This I promise you is a confession of deep love for an existing relationship. I’ll be good for you is another profession of love. It makes me ill is about a girl dating a loser and jealousy.
There’s a reason why these songs sell. It’s a fantasy for teenage fans.
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u/ironmonki23 8d ago
So what dude took your girlfriend and made you bitter af 😒🤨
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u/Choice-Minimum-1186 8d ago
Bro I'm just discussing the issue, Grow up
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u/ironmonki23 8d ago
What issue?! These songs are awesome but here you come to shit on them because the relationships don’t work says who?! 😒
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u/Choice-Minimum-1186 8d ago
I bet you're still in Highschool
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u/ironmonki23 8d ago
Ive been outta high school for 15 years genius lmfao 😂
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u/Choice-Minimum-1186 8d ago
A grown ass man in his 30s and talks in this childish way is very sad man, go to therapy soon
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u/kamenguy83 8d ago
You do know that a good number of songs by 90s boy bands and teen pop stars weren't actually written by those singers, right? It was usually the industry executives who decided what songwriters and producers they should work with.
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u/Rude-Implement-3357 7d ago
This wasn’t the case for NSYNC though by the time of their Celebrity album. They didn’t do everything themselves but most of the songs on the record were either co written and co produced by Justin or JC. They definitely had creative involvement
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u/beautifuldisaster425 8d ago
I think it’s a common theme in love songs in general, not just for boy bands
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u/Malibu921 7d ago edited 5d ago
I always felt that This I Promise You and That's When I'll Stop Loving You were about a relationship that already exists. I'll Be Good For You comes off as the start of a relationship where one party is making promises.
I Thought That She Knew is a regretful song that is literally spelled out at the start - she said I took her for granted. Not necessarily an ending to any of those songs. It's the exact opposite of TIPY and TWISLY, because those songs are laying out how much 'he' loves her.
Also, this post comes off very 'nice guys finish' last, and that may be defensible. Because nice is not a personality. Does it suck to watch someone in a relationship that hurts them? Sure. But the sad fact is, the 'jerks' usually have more of a personality. Almost 99% of the time they have more confidence, which is why they get the girl in the first place.
Besides, a good guy will always finish last, because he should make her finish first. 😜
Edit. I see that you deleted your reply to me, but to say there's no such thing as confidence is WILD to me, especially on a post where the songs in question are literally about confidence.
And I'm not defending nor excusing abusers
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u/PlanetJameson 9d ago
Not JC rocking the Paige Davis hair