98 Degrees Says Taylor Swift Inspired Them to Re-record Their Masters: 'Brought It to the Forefront'

"Taylor Swift sort of brought it to the forefront," Justin Jeffre told 'E! News'

98 Degrees are heating up their classics once again — thanks to Taylor Swift.

The '90s boy band – brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre — told E! News that they have been inspired to re-record their masters because of the pop megastar's own endeavors with her classic albums.

"We're actually in the studio now working on a new project," Nick, 49, told the outlet. "We're gonna re-record five of our classic hits in kind of the re-record/get-your-masters-back move. And then we're also gonna have five new songs as well, and a new single coming out at the top of the year."

Related: 98 Degrees Jokes *NSYNC Reunion 'Stole the Thunder' amid Band's Own Comeback

Timmons, 50, said the band had "been talking about doing it for a while."

"Because, look, I mean obviously there have been opportunities for our songs. And you know, you have these battles with the label," he said, adding, "So, we thought it'd be natural for us to do this, you know, sort of rerecording of our masters. Taylor Swift brought it to the forefront. The fans have embraced that. And so we're like, 'OK, now's the time to do it.'"

Drew, 47, believes Swift, 33, who is set to share her fourth re-recorded LP 1989 (Taylor's Version) on Oct. 27, will inspire other artists to embark on the re-recording process as well.

"I feel like, almost before Taylor did it, it was like, 'Oh, you're re-recording the masters,'" he told the publication. "It was like, 'I'll just stick with the original' kind of thing. When she did it and she was like, 'No, this is my music. I want to take ownership of it again,' people were like, 'Yeah Taylor!' Now, everybody's like, 'I want to re-record my masters and get it back out there.' So, I feel like there's an acceptance and almost an alliance between the artists and the fans now to support the re-recorded masters."

Last month, 98 Degrees teased a reunion just as *NSYNC teamed up again for the 2023 MTV VMAs and their first new music in more than 20 years.

Related: The Boy Bands of the 'TRL' Era: Where Are They Now?

In an interview with SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, the host asked the foursome "how annoyed" they were knowing *NSYNC were making their return to music, to which the band gave a handful of responses.

"Stole the thunder," Nick joked in the interview, before Jeffre, 50, added, "it's a boy band universe."

However, they delivered a more serious answer eventually while discussing the resurgence of boy band hysteria.

“When one succeeds, we all succeed. Because we're all kind of like us, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, we're all clumped into the same, into the same kind of pile there. So, if one's elevated, it elevates everybody,” said Drew.

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