Chris Kirkpatrick and Drake

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Chris Kirkpatrick is fully behind *NSYNC collaborating with Drake.

While chatting with Variety, the 49-year-old musician opened up about working with the “One Dance” hitmaker, 34, after he sampled one of their deep cuts on his recently released album, Certified Lover Boy.

On the CLB track “TSU,” Drake samples a cover of Christopher Cross’ song “Sailing,” which was recorded by *NSYNC for their self-titled debut studio album.

“He’s on another level,” Kirkpatrick told Variety. “I would just sit back and go, ‘Tell us what you need us to do and we’ll figure it out.'”

“It’s things like this song that really puts it in perspective,” Kirkpatrick added. “We were five guys having fun and things just happened to go crazy and we got to do all these amazing things without really understanding what was happening… it really hits and you’re like, ‘It wasn’t just five guys goofing around. It was very meaningful.'”

*NSYNC

*NSYNC. BOB BERG/GETTY

Kirkpatrick also shared that it flatters him when contemporary artists sample the group’s work, such as Ariana Grande on her song “Break Up with Your Girlfriend,” even if it makes him feel old.

“It’s flattering when things like this happen and with us, it doesn’t happen that often,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s neat that I can tell friends who don’t know I was ever in a band, ‘Hey, I’m in this new record. Check it out!'”

“It’s like when Eminem wrote a [lyric] about me and at first I was like, ‘Wait, I have beef?’ Then I thought, ‘I’m in an Eminem song. That’s amazing,'” Kirkpatrick added. “And Ariana [Grande] did it [sampling *NSYNC’s ‘It Makes Me Ill’ in ‘Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored.’] It makes you feel old, but also makes you go, ‘At least we affected music today.’ It’s cool we had a little hand in the landscape of music today.”

Drake

KARWAI TANG/WIREIMAGE

Kirkpatrick shared with Variety that he was initially a bit confused as to why Drake chose that specific song to sample from.

“At first, it didn’t make sense because ‘Sailing’ was a cover,” he said. “It’s Christopher Cross’ song. So, when I heard he sampled our version, I was like, ‘I’m gonna go home and listen to it on some real speakers tonight and get excited.’ I love it.”

“If I could guess why Drake does what he does, I could be Drake,” Kirkpatrick added. “I guess he had an idea, went with it and it worked perfectly.”

CLB was originally scheduled to be released earlier this year in January but was postponed due to health issues Drake had been facing at the time.

Fellow artists including JAY-Z, Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, Future, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla $ign, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Lil Baby, and Project Pat all appear on the 21-song album. Nicki Minaj also performs a spoken-word cameo on “Papi’s Home.”

The album marks the Canadian native’s first full-length project following Scorpion. Drake previously released other new material in between, including 2020’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes and the EP Scary Hours 2, which was released in March.

Along with the *NSYNC sample, Drake also sampled other artists on CLB as well. The fifth song on the LP, “Love All” featuring JAY-Z, begins with a sampling of the “Life After Death Intro” from Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 album, while “Way 2 Sexy” plays with the 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred.