Lance Bass and ‘Frosted Tips’ Brings the Wild Behind-the-Scenes Boy Band ‘Antics’ & ‘Beefs’ to Life
Lance Bass’s iHeart podcast Frosted Tips brings the boy band era to life by pulling back the curtain to reveal what really happened behind the scenes with boy bands like *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, and more.
Along with guests like Joey Fatone and AJ McLean, Bass, and co-host, husband Michael Turchin share behind-the-scenes stories that may surprise even the most loyal fans.
Lance Bass is the ‘spokesperson’ for boy bands which led to ‘Frosted Tips’
Bass reflected on how Frosted Tips came to life. “I’ve had a talk show for many years on Sirius XM and took a break. But then podcasts just blew up and I missed being in front of the microphone. So I’ve always had the idea of using the title Frosted Tips if I ever did it again,” he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “Originally, it was going to be with Nick Carter and we were going to give unsolicited life advice to our fans out there. He’s a little busy with the Backstreet Boys.”
“So iHeart came up with the idea that the fandoms out there of boy bands, they need a show,” he said. “They need a show to really catch up with their favorite icons and know what really went down behind the scenes. And since I guess I’m the spokesperson for the boy band world it just made sense that I would bring that in and get all these fun stories. I thought it was super niche and I’m like, do people really want to listen to something like that? But iHeart knew exactly what the listeners wanted, and it’s been amazing.”
‘Frosted Tips’ explores behind-the-scenes ‘antics’ & ‘politics’
Fans definitely want to listen to a show like Frosted Tips. “It’s been the number-one music show for a month now and the fans are having so much fun,” Bass added. “And what’s funny is I know a lot of these stories, but I’m learning so many and you forget that the fans haven’t heard a lot of the things that you knew. So it’s super interesting to them and it’s not going to just stop with boy bands. We’re opening up the doors to all teen idols.”
He also teased future episodes. “You’re going to get to see in future episodes, people that you really loved in the late nineties, early 2000s. But of course, they all have to have some kind of ‘frosted tips,’ adjacent. And, pretty much everyone had frosted tips at one time. So, we have a lot of celebs to go through,” Bass dished.
Turchin said while he’s heard all of Bass’s stories, he loves hearing other stories he didn’t know. “It’s interesting to hear how so many similarities there are between all these different boy banders and the experiences they went through, whether it be good or bad. And also hearing about different kinds of beefs they had with other groups that you didn’t really know at the time. And just the thought of backstage antics and all like the politics within it is kind of fascinating.”
Lance Bass said ‘Frosted Tips’ will travel back in time
Bass said Frosted Tips isn’t just for fans from the ’90s and 2000s.
“This show is for every boy band fan. So BTS, Jonas Brothers, all the new groups. We want to catch up with them all. Even the British groups … Take that!” he laughed. “We could do five years of this show with just boy band members. And then you’re talking about Donny Osmond, Paul McCartney. The word boy band has evolved over the last few years to just include any kind of group that had boys in it. It didn’t have to be dancers. They could just be sitting on stools.”
“So it really has opened up to a lot of people, which makes me happy because even talking to Boyz II Men,” Bass dished. “They completely accept that they’re a boy band now. And for so many years, there was no way you would call Boyz II Men a boy band. But they’re embracing it and I love it.”
“But yes, I’m all about the newbies, too. So hopefully in the near future, you’ll get to hear a One Directioner or BTS member because I’d love to kind of compare and contrast the fandoms out there from our fans compared to BTS’s fans,” he mused. “Also, this new generation of Gen Z, finding out about our music now through TikTok. So there are lots of fans out there, which is really fun how they all kind of meld together.”
