Justin Timberlake Defends His and Britney Spears’ Infamous Denim Outfits From 2001 AMAs

Justin Timberlake stopped by his former bandmate Lance Bass‘ podcast, The Daily Popcast, for an episode that aired this month, and the duo discussed a number of topics including *NSYNC, their careers now and the denim-on-denim outfits Timberlake and then-girlfriend Britney Spears wore to the American Music Awards in 2001. The two teen stars showed up to the ceremony in coordinating denim and diamonds ensembles, and Timberlake shared that he doesn’t regret the matching look.

“You could kind of rock that today,” Timberlake said, though Bass didn’t seem to agree. He admitted that “denim on denim is kinda popular right now,” but didn’t think it would be a good choice for a red carpet. “You do a lot of things when you’re young and in love,” Timberlake responded. “That’s what you do.” Timberlake and Spears dated from 1999-2002, and their matching have since become infamous and have inspired countless Halloween costumes. Katy Perry even replicated the look when she attended the 2014 MTV VMA Awards with Riff Raff.

Timberake also discussed his own boy band style, joking that “there’s a ton” of hairstyles he would rather forget. Fans know that the singer had several notable looks during his days in *NSYNC, including a bandana phase, which Timberlake attributed to the fact that he “couldn’t figure out what the hell to do” with his hair. He also credited the internet for the fact that said style will live forever digitally, musing, “If we could have only been a decade earlier…where everything wasn’t so documented.”

Bass had invited Timberlake on the podcast to celebrate the 20th anniversary of *NSYNC’s album No Strings Attached, which sold 2.4 million copies in its first week and set a record that would stand for 15 years. Bandmates JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone also appeared in their own episodes, and the group has stayed close over the years and even has an ongoing group text. During his podcast with Bass, Timberlake floated the idea of a group conversation after some of their previous words had been “distorted.”

“This isn’t a click-bait conversation, this is two friends talking over a crazy experience that we had and I really appreciate it man,” he said. “You’ve got to figure out a way to get all four of us in a room with you.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Frank Trapper