This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Backstreet Boys? 98°? O-Town? Honestly, I had to think for a second to recall which interchangable boy band JC Chasez once called home. Turns out it was ’N Sync.
Hey, it’s not our fault they all sounded alike. Or that Chasez never managed to steal the spotlight away from Justin Timberlake — and still seems to be living in his shadow on his debut solo album Schizophrenic. Like JT, the 27-year-old JC is apparently trying to make the leap from teen-pop heartthrob to adult chart-topper by repositioning himself as some sort of happenin’ dance-club sex monster.
To that end, he recruits the now-mandatory list of hip trackmasters — Rockwilder, Basement Jaxx and so on — to help him craft a raft of priapic, pelvis-pumpin’ party-pop. To his credit, he eschews Justin’s Jacko fixation in favour of a more varied approach that justifies the album’s title. Some tracks recall the freaky sex-funk of classic Prince; others the lurching cartoon freakiness of OutKast or George Clinton. And to be sure, many if not most of these 17 cuts come packing some seriously funky techno-grooves.
Trouble is, even when JC walks the walk, he can’t talk the talk. Vocally, he still sounds like he belongs in a boy band. Lyrically, he’s not much of a mack daddy either, judging by rhymes that range from laughable (“She’s such a sexy dame / I just can’t control my thang”) to gross (“When I’m all alone / I lay awake and masturbate”).
Don’t get me wrong; in general, Schizophrenic is a fairly listenable effort, especially from a teen-pop balladeer. But if he really wants us to remember his name, he’s going to have to work a little harder.
