I Drive Myself Crazy

Album: 'N Sync (1997)
Charted: 67
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song from the group's first album, 'N Sync sing from the perspective of a guy who cut his girl loose and now regrets hit. She's all he can think about, and he drives himself crazy over it.
  • This was the last single from the 'N Sync album, released almost two years after the album came out. By this time, the group was pretty popular, but nothing compared to what they would become with the release of their blockbuster No Strings Attached in 2000.
  • The song was written by the team of Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley along with a third songwriter, Allan Rich. "Allan is a strict lyricist so he really wrote most of the lyrics to that song with us all chipping in our ideas," Shipley told Songfacts. "It wasn't meant to be goofy at all, it was meant just the way people feel: 'I drive myself crazy thinking about you and I want to know what's going on.'"
  • A few different artists were interested in recording this song, but the songwriters went with 'N Sync even though they were unknown. "I just heard their voices and I said, 'Let's give it to them,'" Shipley said.
  • It's usually metal bands that set their videos in insane asylums, but 'N Sync went with it for this one, showing the group locked up in the loony bin because they have literally driven themselves crazy. It was directed by Tim Story, who went on to direct the movies Barbershop, Fantastic Four and Ride Along. At the time, boy bands were big on MTV (especially on the show Total Request Live), so it was guaranteed to get lots of play on the network.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Tommy James

Tommy JamesSongwriter Interviews

"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

David Gray

David GraySongwriter Interviews

David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.