Hold onto those Tiger Beats, because suddenly it’s 1998 again and Joey Fatone is solving a major *NSYNC mystery that has plagued the minds of fangirls for decades.

Watch *NSYNC's Reunion Performance of "Bye Bye Bye"

In case you’ve ever wondered where the star in the boy band’s name comes from, Joey Fatone is here to explain: The little extra flourish that appears on the group’s debut album (and in their band name depending on how you stylize the moniker) is all thanks to an illusionist who once convinced the guys that if they added it in there, they’d have great success as a band.

“The funny thing is, Uri Geller, who bends spoons … We saw him in the U.K., and this is when we were obviously establishing *NSYNC, and he goes, 'I see something. It has to do with suns or stars or something with astronomy in your career,’” Fatone told the Huffington Post, remembering when the guys were trying to make it big in Europe in order to dominate the U.S. market. “And it's funny, a year later when we did the first album, for America, they had a star in it."

Lance Bass on How Justin Timberlake Has Changed Since Becoming a Father

Geller, who apparently quite literally bent silverware for the group, echoes this story.

“Of course I bent spoons for them and they were very impressed," Geller told the Huffington Post. "We sat down and I wrote, on a napkin, NSYNC, and I drew a star in the cafe [in Covent Garden]. And I told them, if they place that star on their first CD, they're going to shoot up to No. 1.”

Whether it was fate or a legit psychic vision a la Daphne Moon in Frasier, *NSYNC’s debut album made it to the No. 2 spot in the U.S.—and the group went on to become one of the most successful and iconic boy bands in history.

Geller adds that his premonition wasn’t so much a hypothesis as it was a little vote of confidence for the group.”

“[I] thought that a star would bring them that connection to see the synchronicities of the universe of success," he said. ”I think drawing and writing down their name and creating that star gave them that subliminal push to go for it.” Smart move.

As for the actual letters in their band name, my knowledge of everything ‘90s boy bands is here to remind everyone that *NSYNC stands for the last letter in each of the guys’ first names (JustiN, ChriS, JoeY, LancetoN and J.C.) Of course, Lance Bass’ name isn’t really Lanceton, but hey, they had to make it work somehow. The more you know!

Tags
Nsync