Nick Lachey Says 98 Degrees Was Pushed to Become the 'White Jodeci'

When 98 Degrees first signed with Motown Records in 1997, Nick Lachey thought the group had landed its dream deal. Instead, he says the label quickly began steering the band toward an image that did not feel like their own.

In the new Investigation Discovery documentary Boy Band Confidential: A Hollywood Demons Event, Lachey revealed that Motown executives wanted 98 Degrees to become what he described as the “white Jodeci,” a strategy that left the group struggling with its identity.

“The president of Motown, he wanted us to be the white Jodeci,” Lachey says in the documentary, according to People. “So he was trying to give us that in a crash course.”

According to Lachey, that meant being told to attend Black churches in Harlem and travel to work with Jodeci member DeVanté Swing.

One memory in particular stood out. “I remember going on a train to Rochester, New York, to work with DeVanté from Jodeci and we show up and DeVanté is being fitted for a bulletproof vest, in the studio,” Lachey recalled. “And I'm looking around like, ‘Do we need a bulletproof vest? What did we just walk into?’”

Unlike many of their peers, 98 Degrees was not assembled through auditions. Jeff Timmons, Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, and Justin Jeffre formed the group themselves and worked to get noticed by Motown. That made the label’s push to reshape them especially difficult.

“It does make you question, ‘Well, why did you sign us if you didn’t want us to be who we are?’” Lachey says in the documentary. “You’re trying to make us into something else.”

Jeff Timmons said the group felt they had little choice but to follow the label’s plan. “We were a new act. We’re not making any money. We don’t know what the plan is, and this is our shot,” he explained.

But behind the scenes, the pressure was taking a toll. Lachey said the experience “really starts to mess with you mentally,” adding, “You go home and you’re like, ‘What am I? Who am I?’”

Timmons revealed that the stress eventually spiraled into severe depression. He said he began to feel like “the weakest link in the group,” struggled to sleep, and reached a breaking point. “I went to our manager, and I said, ‘I need some help. If I don’t get some sort of help, I will not be here. This is over. And I mean, seriously.’”

After 98 Degrees went on to sell more than 10 million records, Lachey became a reality TV star through Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, launched a solo career with hits like “What’s Left of Me,” and later became one of Netflix’s most recognizable hosts through Love Is Blind, The Ultimatum, and Perfect Match.

Boy Band Confidential: A Hollywood Demons Event premieres April 20 on Investigation Discovery and will stream on HBO Max.