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The temperature is rising now that 98 Degrees is getting the band back together with new music, new videos and new live performances.
The popular late ‘90s band composed of Jeff Timmons, brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, and Justin Jeffre reunited during the global COVID-19 pandemic to celebrate the band’s past and write the next chapter of 98 Degrees.
“We really realized how much we enjoy performing together and singing together, so we decided we wanted to take the opportunity to make new music since we couldn’t do live shows,” Drew told ET Canada.
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The process began when all four artists and their production team quarantined together in Las Vegas to rework some of their biggest hits.
“We had great producers that worked with us,” Drew said. “The way that they reimagined them, they heard things in the tracks that we didn’t even focus on. I wish we could take credit for reimagining the remixes, but honestly, it’s the producers we worked with and they just did a fantastic job pulling out things that we’re hidden under there and bringing those up into the focus.”
“There’s a couple of those that dare I say I actually like the remixes a little better than the original,” Nick added. “It’s like, ‘Wow, I wish we did that the first time around.’ But it came out really well, and we’re super excited for everyone to hear it.”
The remixed EP will drop in the midst of the band’s current campaign titled “98 Degrees of Summer”, where they’ll be posting things like old artifacts and never before seen footage every day until Sept. 17.
“It takes us down memory lane, too,” Timmons said. “Some of this stuff we’ve compartmentalized and put in the back of our minds because of the way we looked or the way we were dressed, but it’s been refreshing, and we want to encourage our fans to submit stuff through our socials and we’ll put it out there.”
But it’s not all a blast from the past; 98 Degrees also recorded a new track that is set to drop July 9th. Though the ready for summer song was recorded in a hotel room in the midst of a global pandemic rather than a fully functioning recording studio, the guys all agree, the experience was “like riding a bike.”
“It’s funny because we were working with our production team on another song that we had really fallen in love with and they said there’s this other song that you should check out, which is a similar story to how we first recorded ‘Because Of You’ back in the day,” Nick said. “We heard this song and thought it was a smash and the perfect summer song. It’s got that cool summer party vibe.”
“Everybody is coming out of a horrible year and a half with COVID and we all want to get back to doing things we love with friends that we love and this song is totally right for that time,” he added. “We’re really excited about it, and on a musical level, I think we sound better than we ever have and I’m really proud of who we are as singers and musicians.”
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Accompanying the new track will be a music video that alludes to some of the band’s best and most embarrassing fashion moments of the past.
“Most of the outfits we tried to burn and not bring them back,” Drew joked. “But there were a lot of overalls without shirts and things like that. It’s about finding the balance between the modern fashion that is an ode back to ‘90s fashion and what we feel comfortable in.”
“Ironically, our stylist said they didn’t have to go through the old archives or thrift stores because they went to Urban Outfitters and pretty much all that stuff has been recycled and is in style now,” Timmons added.
Looking back at the band’s overarching career, Nick says he “doesn’t regret a thing because our path was exactly how it needed to be.”
“The beauty of it is that we still get to walk down that path,” he said. “We’re still doing it, we’re enjoying it more than ever, and I think we’re doing it better than ever, and appreciating it more than ever.”
Check out 98 Degrees of Summer on the band’s Instagram now, and listen to their newest track, “Where Do You Wanna Go” when it drops on July 9th.