Lance Bass is happy this ’90s nostalgia is back (Exclusive)

Lance Bass is reminiscing about the ’90s.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the *NSYNC star, 46, reflected on this glorious decade and the trends he’s revisiting — or firmly moving away from the past. Bass said looking back on the ’90s more than 25 years later, he has a new perspective, at least on the style of the time.

“It’s so funny. Living in the ’90s, I always thought this fashion was terrible. I just remember being like, ‘Really? This is what we’re doing?’ Even then, I was like, ‘This doesn’t feel right,'” he said.

“Everything was too big and everything else was, but now that style is back and it’s so interesting and I actually appreciate it now,” he continued. “I’m like, ‘Okay, that might have been kind of cool.’ Yeah, I’m glad it’s back, especially now that I appreciate ’90s fashion.”

Although Bass has fond memories of the ’90s — “I think the ’90s were great, it was a really melting pot decade,” he said — not every trend should come back, in his humble opinion.

“I was grateful for a lot of things, but there are some things that I probably don’t need to give back. I was never a Tamagotchi person. I never got a Tamagotchi. I just thought it was the stupidest thing,” he said of Japanese toy brand Bandai’s popular digital pets. “I know they tried to bring it back, but they failed. Well, it could stay in that decade.”

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“It was really ridiculous,” he added of the Tamagotchi concept. “It’s like, ‘Okay, this just makes noise. I’m always hungry. Bye.'”

It’s not just clothing and gadgets that are making a comeback from the ’90s. *NSYNC returned to the top of the world music charts last year thanks to their hit song “Bye Bye Bye,” which was included on the soundtrack for the movie Deadpool & Wolverine. Twenty-four years after its release, the catchy song has become popular again, reaching Billboard’s Global Excluded Top 10. US chart for August 2024.

However, Bass tells PEOPLE that there is actually another song on *NSYNC’s album No Strings Attached that he would like to see given its moment in the spotlight.

“One song that I think gets overlooked is ‘It Makes Me Ill.’ That was my favorite song off ‘No Strings Attached,'” he explained, adding, “I think it was a really great, fun song. We definitely fought for it to be a single, but there were other songs as well. There were some bangers from that album, so it was hard to pick a single.”

Further tapping into ’90s nostalgia, Bath has teamed up with Bath & Body Works for its Semi-Annual Sale, which began on Friday, December 26th. Bass told PEOPLE that he was first introduced to the brand by his girlfriend in the ’90s.

“I’ve loved it since the ’90s…When I got to this age, I was always giving my girlfriends pear scents and fragrance sprays and things like that,” Bass said. “It always reminds me of my girlfriends from the ’90s. It’s always a special memory for me.”

He tells PEOPLE that the brand remains a staple for him all these years later.

“I mean, my cabinet is literally filled with all my favorite things, from moisturizers to fragrances to candles,” he said. “We have a ton of plug-ins in our house. We always stock up on candles. We also have a lot of hand sanitizer.”