Justin and his mates spent what seemed forever in Germany and created a buzz their in 1998, yet upon their return to the states, were still relatively unknown. But a Disney Channel Special played over and over created a US interest for the group that has mushroomed to its current level. Though Justin has a love for making music, he has said he hates the business side of music, saying "It's a screwball business and there are a lot of players who will straight-up lie to you." Perhaps part of that music 'business' are the comparisons with the Backstreet Boys, which he says "We don't look at anyone as rivals. I don't know if anyone looks at us as rivals. They're not really part of my world." Though it is believed most of their troubles were with the former label BMG, which the band just resolved a length legal battle with. One good thing Justin's been able to do on the business side is launch a charitable foundation to raise money for music and arts in public schools.

Justin has several nicknames, the latest he showcased on The Tonight Show as 'Butter'. Others include 'Curly' (he is said to hate his curly hair, and until recently always had it dyed blond, though he told a Yahoo chat audience he once died it blue!), 'Bounce', and 'The Baby'. Despite what he thinks of his hair, Justin was chosen in 1999 as Teen People Magazine's "21 Hottest Stars Under 21". One quality that probably didn't help his inclusion on that list was his bad habit of belching. A problem also may be occurring with other jealous members of the band, in fact, Joey joked on MTV before they launched their new album that they sing Don't Speak when Justin does the majority of the photo shoots, a reference to troubles that No Doubt have with Gwen Stafani. A quick statistics search of all the band members nude or shirtless points to the fact that most of the girls want to see Justin on the web as well.

What most girls seem interested in with Justin is his love life. He has said repeatedly that he and Britney are just friends, but several reports say otherwise. He did tell Teen mag during a psychic reading that he just got out of a 'major' relationship in '99 saying "It was ugly. She cheated on me and everything but it's all good." Many have speculated that this person he's referring to is Britney. Earlier this year, the National Enquirer obtained video footage of the two kissing and driving in a car at night. The tabloid also published photos of Justin driving Britney's new Jaguar and shopping with her, saying the two were living in a rented house much to the surprise of her mother. And many remember Britney last year missing an autograph session while rumored to be spending time in a hotel with Justin. Justin's also been linked with Daniele Fishel, who had broken off a relationship with fellow *NSYNC bandmate Lance Bass. He told a Yahoo! chat audience "It's so funny b/c we get rumors that I'm dating Daniele Fishel or Britney Spears.. or Tatiana Ali... but once we got this one that I was dating Lance! That was pretty funny!" During a recent trip to London, British tabloids had reports that Justin spent a weekend with All Saint Nicole Appleton in his swanky St. Martin's Lane hotel. There also are rumors that on Justin's appearance on Rosie, he said during a commercial break he had a girlfriend named 'Kelly', that same month a Boston radio show said he'd bought a huge tennis bracelet for "his supermodel girlfriend". Whatever the case, most *NSYNC 'groupies' will say that Justin prefers to date showbiz type only. Though lately he has said he no longer wants to comment on any dating rumors.