(January 21, 2004) — Long ago, when the Spice Girls were cool, I used to like N*sync; they were far superior to the Backstreet Boys. With every flutter of an open shirt, and every gyrating motion of a hypnotic hip, my gaze was fixated upon the curly haired one: Justin Timberlake. But time passed, and my tastes in music were growing in different directions like the circumference of Justin’s ‘fro, and so, N*sync’s star had fallen. But soft! What light doth yonder TV break? ‘Tis TRL, and Justin Timberlake is the sun! One especially mind-boggling moment was when I realized that Justin Timberlake was funny, in addition to his being, like, so totally hot. He recently doubled as both the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and I watched the program thinking that it would be as dull as the time when Britney’s Spheres played double-star to the show. No no, Justin did not give a wooden performance like that of Britney’s; he danced, sang, and acted his way into my heart again. Initially there was considerable reluctance in embracing this fledgling effort spawned from the great boy band phenomenon, but from viewing the many vehicles through which Justin had demonstrated his skills: the soulful singing, the turbofied dancing, the knee-slapping hilarity on his hosting of Saturday Night Live, he is now crowned my pop star du jour. Where most attempted solo careers from former boy banders go limp within a few months, Justin Timberlake had ventured into the realm of R&B, and the grown-up fans of N*sync, enthusiastically embraced his transition while foes attributed his sometimes-soprano voice to a missing testicle. His voice coupled with his dancing has even garnered constant comparisons to the King-of-Pop of the yesteryears: Michael Jackson. Let’s hope that Justin keeps his role as the “dark-skinned Michael Jackson” doesn’t travel down the same strange path.