I already knew I liked Rachel Lindsay, the new Bachelorette — but besides being cool and funny and smart and beautiful, she clearly has amazing taste in music, too. During the first pre-rose-ceremony cocktail party, DeMario asked Rachel if she preferred *NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys, and Rachel didn’t even blink when she told him her choice — Bachelorette Rachel is an *NSYNC lover through-and-through.
The first night of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is usually pretty surface level, but these are the kind of questions that I like. Questions like “Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC?” or “Destiny’s Child or solo Beyoncé?” are the bonding things that form a relationship. Marriages and long-term romantic relationships are built on these little building blocks of inside jokes and personal preferences. DeMario is on the right track in this conversation with Rachel, because really, how much can Rachel learn about any of her new contestants in the five minutes she gets with each? At least now we know that Rachel loves *NSYNC, aka the best boy band of all time (don’t @ me), which means that she has flawless taste. Everyone gets a mulligan, so we’ll overlook Nick Viall. Rachel’s good decision-making skills will be put to the test on The Bachelorette, and her admission of loving *NSYNC is the first of what I hope will be many good decisions.
One of the reasons that I think people like Rachel is that she’s so relatable, more so than other recent Bachelorettes. A lot of women can probably see themselves in Rachel, a cool, fun woman who focused on her career and really built something for herself and now wants to find someone to share her life with. I hope Rachel finds what she’s looking for on The Bachelorette, and I can’t wait to watch her get there. And maybe Chris Harrison can organize an *NSYNC date?
