You can guess what got me into it! NSYNC. But also, although it is not everything I do, watching crime documentaries can be intriguing and fascinating, leaving you with your eyes more open to the atrocities that occur around us, unbelievable as they might seem, as though it’s just another Friday. And this recapitulation did not disappoint.
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam is a documentary in the form of a TV mini-series composed of 3 episodes, each lasting between 40-45 minutes. It was released on Netflix, in the year 2024, during the summer, on July. It features clips from artists involved in the events as well as direct testimony from some of them and many others.
If you’re into seeing more of the messed-up things that messed-up people do, particularly in the music industry, or if you’re just a fan of any of these bands and would like to learn more about what they went through, I recommend it to you.
SPOILER ALERT! Keep reading at your own risk. There are spoilers ahead...
" With Lou, it always seemed genuine. But at the same time, if you make a deal with the devil,
he's not going to show up as the devil because you wouldn't make a deal."
- Chris Kirkpatrick (from NSYNC)
What most gets me about all of it is how convincing he was. You’d think (and would like to believe) that he’s just genuinely excited about the possibilities and the potential that all of these artists brought. So, in that excitement, missteps were bound to happen. Because, after all, who can be perfect in every aspect and at every level? So you let things slide until you can’t anymore. Quite likely, the excitement was indeed real, just not absolutely for reasons so noble. Or it was simply an inevitable response, convenient to air, while witnessing such impressive talents and impressive breakthroughs. Yet, behind and despite all that, there was still a mostly self-serving individual putting themselves first at the expense of others, crossing or downright ignoring serious ethical lines. It takes guts (or outstanding security in oneself) to come forward and admit that you fell for it, but how could you not? These people play such a long and arduous game that it only makes sense to do, from a rational standpoint, if they actually cared. However, it is all thoroughly irrational. The lengths they go, the twists they make and the turns they take, are not founded in sound judgement. They yield results, indeed. But at what cost?
Cognitively, certain processes were on and running while others not so much (if at all). Imagine chasing whatever you like the most and having everything bend around that. There are things you heighten the volume of, things you lower the volume of, and things you completely mute. And the alarms sounding, no matter how urgent, to warn you of risks and dangers, you can completely ignore. Then, worse, once ignored and receiving the consequences of such, you can still enter into denial and delusion to continue to ignore your faults and shortcomings. A person like that benefits tremendously from having a “positive attitude”, fooling not only themselves but also others. Of course, they’d be happy-go-lucky.
I do love that NSYNC exists, however. That Lou Pearlman had a part in that, that significant progress and success came out of it, is something I cannot overlook and dismiss. But rather than being thankful to him in particular, I see it more as greater and deeper forces at work, in the way life and the universe are, that made what happened happen, and he was but a ‘necessary evil’ to gather and push forward boy bands. Now, you may wonder, “What’s so special about boy bands, anyway?” And, well… IYKYK.
The documentary kept me watching from beginning to end, the whole package in one sitting. I worried I’d have trouble keeping my attention on it (unless it was NSYNC related), but it kept me hooked, eager to know more and more about Lou Pearlman’s character and the characters of those who agreed or disagreed with him, supported him or opposed him, as he continued to show more and more of how far he would take it. It’s a psychological and sociological phenomenon to study.
