Mandy Moore & JT Are Too Cute In This #TBT

Back in the summer of 1999, just months before her debut album dropped, a young up-and-coming pop singer named Amanda Leigh Moore went on tour with a pop group called *NSYNC. And on Thursday, she shared a very special #TBT from her days of opening for the "It's Gonna Be Me" quintet. And that very special #TBT is a photo of a young Mandy Moore standing next to a young Justin Timberlake. There is a fisherman’s hat, some chunky blonde highlights, and a long-sleeved shirt that was acquired from a store called Abercrombie & Fitch. It really is an outstanding #TBT. Moore wrote in the caption,

“Summer of 1999. Abercrombie tshirts and bucket hats. Opening for this guy and his band. Look at my nervous smile!”

She does not look nervous to me (so composed and professional, that Moore), but I am happy to take her word for it. (Hey, I am not here to doubt Queen Mandy.) And who could blame her for feeling jittery? She was on tour with "Tearin' Up My Heart"-era *NSYNC. Sure, she would go on to release a bunch of hit jams, have an impressive film career, appear on a whole pile of TV shows, and win a ton of awards, but back in ’99, 15-year-old Moore was a pop newbie. And *NSYNC (and this tour) was a Very Big Deal.

As for Timberlake? I suppose he went on to have a fairly solid career, too. He sold a bajillion albums (give or take), acted in some award-winning movies, and became a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. Oh, and he reunited *NSYNC at the 2013 VMAs. Nothing to sneeze at.

Anyway, here's the #TBT.

This pic is real. So, so real.