Backstreet Boys
For more than 16 years, Backstreet Boys have delivered the very
finest pop music has to offer – tightly crafted songs, floor-shaking
rhythms, and unmistakable harmonies. The new “THIS IS US” showcases
their preeminent pop mastery with a collection of indelible tracks that
surely rank among their biggest and best hits. After mastering an
organic, more adult contemporary flavor on 2005’s “NEVER GONE” and
2007’s “UNBREAKABLE,” the new album sees Nick Carter, Howie Dorough,
Brian Littrell, and AJ McLean revisiting the groundbreaking dance-pop
sound that first made them international superstars. Songs like “PDA”
“Bye Bye Love,” and the RedOne-produced first single, “Straight Through
My Heart” are classic BSB, bursting with big hooks, unforgettable
melodies, and high-energy rhythms that both highlights the group’s
classic sound and vision while also placing it squarely in the here and
now.
“This record here,” says Howie Dorough, “we reached back into
what made us who we are – that’s great pop melodies, great harmonies –
and made it current and relevant.”
“We made a conscious effort to go back to being ourselves,” notes
Brian Littrell. “It’s important for the fans to remember what was, but
it’s also important for them to know where we’re headed.”
One of the most successful groups in music history, with
countless #1s, record-setting tours, and worldwide sales in excess of
100 million, Backstreet Boys are also among pop’s most influential.
Turn on the radio and you’re certain to hear massive melodies melded
with Eurodance grooves, a modern pop style inextricably rooted in the
group’s innovative approach.
“When we first started,” says AJ McLean, “the Euro sound wasn’t
really happening yet, but it led to Britney and ‘N Sync and all those
other people that came after us. Now music is going back in that same
direction, with great pop songs that are just as rhythmic as they are
melodic. That’s what and who we are.”
The “THIS IS US” sessions kicked off in April 2008, while the
group – a quartet since 2006, when founding member Kevin Richardson left
to start a family – was still in the midst of the “UNBREAKABLE” world
tour. Backstreet Boys took a short pause in the itinerary and teamed
with producer Ryan Tedder (of OneRepublic fame) in a Manchester, England
studio to record what would become the album’s closing track, “Undone.”
The Boys were fighting fit from having been on the road and as a
result, the song crackles with the same electricity the group puts out
on stage every night.
“This was the very first time we were recording while we were
touring another record,” Littrell says. “We’ve always taken a year or
so off to really get out of touring mode, but this time we wanted to try
and get that energy from our live show onto the record.”
Almost immediately upon the tour’s conclusion, Backstreet Boys
resumed recording at L.A.’s Conway Studios – “one of the most chill
places to record,” according to McLean. To truly put their own creative
stamp on the album, the group personally reached out to some of their
very favorite producers and songwriters, just about all of whom were
thrilled for the chance to work with the Boys.
“We took it into our own hands to call and develop personal
relationships with all the producers and writers,” explains Nick Carter.
“And for the most part, they were just as excited to work with us as
we were to work with them.”
One producer with whom the Boys already had a rapport is the
legendary Max Martin. The Swedish studio superstar – who was behind the
boards for such BSB classics as “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” “I
Want It That Way” “Larger Than Life,” and “Show Me The Meaning Of Being
Lonely” – dined with the group when the “UNBREAKABLE” world tour hit
Stockholm and right away, sensed that their passion for making music was
in fact greater than ever before.
“He really saw the fire in our eyes,” Littrell says, “like we
were young kids again. If there was one producer I had to pick to join
the Backstreet Boys, I’d pick Max. He understands us inside and out.”
Perhaps it’s something in the water, but Sweden’s current hottest
hitmaker, RedOne, also had a faultless grasp of the Backstreet Boys
signature sound. One of the most in-demand collaborators in the world,
thanks to his work with Akon, Lady Gaga, and Enrique Iglesias, to name
but a few, the producer was initially too busy to work on “THIS IS US.”
But just as Backstreet Boys were wrapping up the recording, word
arrived that RedOne had indeed crafted a couple of tracks, one of which
marked the album’s definitive musical moment.
“We had almost closed the door on the record before it happened,”
Dorough says. “I’m so glad we didn’t, because RedOne was able to
capture the sound we were looking for, especially on ‘Straight Through
My Heart.’ It’s this great mixture of Eurodance-meets-our pop/R&B
sound, which is kind of like where we started.”
“It was exactly what we were looking for,” McLean says of the
single, “the exact all-around sound that was perfect for everything we
needed. It’s a great song, especially for the fans who want to hear us
being us again.”
At the same time, Backstreet Boys also opted to stray from their
comfort zone by collaborating with a number of producer/songwriters
better known for their work in other genres. The one and only T-Pain
put his trademark sound on the sizzling slow jam, “She’s A Dream,” while
Claude Kelly – famed for writing such hits as Britney Spears’ “Circus”
and Kelly Clarkson’s #1 “My Life Would Suck Without You” – paired up
with the team of Soulshock & Karlin (JoJo, Fantasia, Nelly) to
produce two of the album’s hottest tracks, “Bye Bye Love” and “If I Knew
Then.”
“We really wanted to push the envelope with this record,” Dorough
says. “We wanted to reach out to some writers that people wouldn’t
have expected us to reach out to.”
“Working with Jim Jonsin or somebody else that people wouldn’t
necessarily see us working with,” Carter says, “that’s just our creative
side coming out.”
The collaboration with Jim Jonsin proved one of the album’s most
productive partnerships, yielding three songs including the explosive
title track. Best known for helming hip-hop hits by T.I., Soulja Boy
Tell Em, and Flo Rida, the Grammy Award-winning producer astounded BSB
by confessing his lifelong affinity for the group’s music.
“It was like, ‘Hold on a second, you’re a fan?,’” Carter laughs. “’You’re one of the baddest beatmakers right now!’”
Among the Florida-based Jonsin’s key contributions to “THIS IS
US” is bringing the group back to its own homestate roots with the Miami
Trance-flavored “Helpless.” Hailed by Carter as “the Don of hip-hop”
for his countless connections, the producer nailed the track by reaching
into his little black book to procure a razor-sharp verse from yet
another Miami-based star.
“We came into the studio and Jim said, ‘I’ve got a surprise for
you,’” Nick recalls. “We were like, ‘What do you mean? No one
surprises the Backstreet Boys.’ But he had sent the track to Miami and
had Pitbull put a verse on it. We’re all huge fans of Pitbull’s, so it
was just awesome!”
Despite the smorgasbord of producers and songwriters, “THIS IS
US” is ultimately made a cohesive work by the Boys themselves. “We’re a
vocal group first,” avows Carter, and the album makes plain how BSB’s
purest artistic stamp comes via the magic of four distinctive singers
performing in tightly knit harmony. Their unified voices reveal
Backstreet Boys as still in thrall to making the most vital music
imaginable, constantly striving to create influential, unforgettable
pop.
“We always want to top our past albums,” says Carter. “That’s
always our objective, to create an album where every song could be a
single.”
“Our goal is always to push ourselves as much as possible,” adds
Dorough. “We’re always working to become better musicians, songwriters,
singers. “
“We want to continue to move forward,” promises Littrell. “We
want Backstreet Boys to keep setting the template and raising the bar.”
With “THIS IS US,” that bar has just been raised a little higher…
