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A Backstreet Boy reflects on band’s legacy ahead of tour, ‘massive’ 30th anniversary

When a band has been around for almost 30 years, and a big anniversary is approaching, it’s reasonable to start thinking about legacy.

But when you’re part of the Backstreet Boys, whose peak years were a frenzied flash-bulb popping blur, you can’t fault A.J. McLean for needing a little help to jog his memory of what that legacy might look like.

“I have not done it as of late, but I used to every night on the road, go back on YouTube and watch old videos,” McLean, 44, told The News & Observer. “And just go down memory lane, and re-remember things that I forgot, whether it was a TV performance or it was a live performance.”

He’s referring to those performances in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Backstreet Boys were one of the biggest bands on the planet.

Every song release was A Moment. Every album release was An Event. Every tour was A Sellout.

Take the Into the Millennium Tour, which was notable for packing over over 73,300 people into the Georgia Dome in February 2000.

Or take the “Black & Blue” album. In November 2000, the Backstreet Boys careened across six continents over 100 hours to catapult their new album to the top of the charts and into the hands of screaming fans. Such a stunt would be unheard of now. But it helped the album shatter all kinds of sales records — 5 million albums sold globally in one week — that also would be unheard of now.

“You know, if the group disbanded after our 30th anniversary,” McLean reflects, “God forbid, but after 30 years in the business, what have we left behind that is our legacy? We’ve left behind 10 amazing albums, a plethora of music videos, live shows and amazing memories that we’ve made with our fans.”

The boy band, which has done its part to cement itself in music history, will celebrate its 30th anniversary on April 20, 2023, and McLean expects it to be another Moment.

But first, McLean, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell will resume the DNA World Tour that was put on a pandemic-induced hiatus. The tour is named for their No. 1 album from 2019, “DNA,” which spawned a Grammy nomination.

After performing four shows in Las Vegas in April, the Backstreet Boys will hit the road, bringing their tour to PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte on June 24 and Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek on June 25.

The Backstreet Boys is hitting the road with the DNA World Tour. The band is made up of, from left, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell.
The Backstreet Boys is hitting the road with the DNA World Tour. The band is made up of, from left, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell.

McLean, like the rest of the band’s members, is married with kids. He spoke with The News & Observer from his back porch in California about the group’s heyday, extremely loyal fans and how “I Want it That Way” is a “perfectly imperfect” song.

Q: You just got back onstage in Las Vegas after a pandemic break. What was that moment like when you were back performing to all the fans?

A: You know, honestly, right before the first show back, I was backstage talking to our production manager. And I said, ‘Dude, why does this feel like the first show ever? Like not only the first show ever on the DNA Tour, but just like the first show ever. Period. Like in our career? ...

It was awesome to be back on stage to see the fans and to see people’s faces, not stuck behind a mask, and see their expressions ... It was priceless, honestly.

Q: And have them sing back to you. I imagine there’s quite a lot of sing-along going on at your shows.

A: There is quite a lot of sing-along. And again, I think there was a different emotional feeling. I think just amongst us five, as well as just kind of the feeling we got from the audience as well. It was very emotional. Even though concerts started coming back last summer, it was still limited. And it was also quite a few tours that started and then shut down. Because people still were not ready to go out to live concerts yet.

Now you’ve got festivals. Coachella just happened. It’s like the world finally moved on. And thank God, because people need live concerts, man. People need to go and get away from their 9-to-5 and just have fun.

Backstreet Boys bring their “DNA World Tour” to Raleigh, N.C.’s PNC Arena Tuesday night Aug. 20, 2019.
Backstreet Boys bring their “DNA World Tour” to Raleigh, N.C.’s PNC Arena Tuesday night Aug. 20, 2019.

Q: You have been together 30 years and have a lot of material. When you’re preparing a show like this, how do you decide what you’re going to put in your setlist?

A: (laughs) That’s the fun part. That took forever. At the end of the day, we have 32 songs in this show. At one point at the beginning, while we were still in Vegas doing our residency, that was when we started going through the setlist. The original setlist had 67 songs. And it’s like, ‘No, this will be a four-hour show.’

We’ve joked about, and who knows, maybe for our 30th, we’ll do something like that. But we’ve joked about potentially doing a three-hour show where there’s an hour-and-a-half, and then there’s a 30-minute break, and then there’s an hour on the back end. As long as it’s paced right, I think we could do it. And I think the fans would really enjoy it.

But next year is our 30th anniversary and it’s massive. We are planning a lot of pretty insane (expletive), that if most of it comes to fruition, the fans are going to lose their ever-loving minds.

Q: I asked social media for questions they would ask the Backstreet Boys, and many fans want to know what your plans are for the 30th anniversary. Is there anything you can hint about that?

A: We definitely want to do something on our actual 30th anniversary — the actual day, April 20... We definitely want to do something big. Shortly after our 30th, we’ll be wrapping up the DNA World Tour, and then hopefully have some conversations about going back to Vegas.

So there’s quite a few things that are on the table right now, but nothing is locked in stone yet. But rest assured, there will be something big. You can’t have a dirty 30 and not do something big.

Q: Do you all, at this point in your careers, talk about legacy and what impact your group has had?

A: We do. I mean, we talk about it a lot, actually, over the last few years especially. What can we do to solidify our legacy? ...

There’s so much to our legacy that we would be able to leave behind, as well as for our kids. You know, as our kids get older, to look back on their dads, like what we’ve accomplished in 30 years, I mean, it’s pretty remarkable. And we’re super fortunate and super blessed that we’ve been able to last this long, and that we’re still relevant and that we’re still pressing on.

Our current album (“DNA”), the first single (“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”) was nominated for a Grammy. It’s just mind boggling, but it’s also extremely heartwarming.

AJ McLean, from left, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and Howie Dorough of The Backstreet Boys appear at the 61st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2019. The pioneering boy band was nominated for their song, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”
AJ McLean, from left, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and Howie Dorough of The Backstreet Boys appear at the 61st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2019. The pioneering boy band was nominated for their song, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”

Q: As you look back on those 30 years, what would you tell your younger self about what they might encounter going ahead, especially with fame? There’s a lot of looking back now on that time period and that era for you and some of your contemporaries, when the fame was really huge.

A: I would just tell myself, enjoy the ride, and don’t sweat the small stuff. And really try to take it all in. Probably from like ‘99 to 2005, it was a whirlwind, and I don’t think any of us really had time to take it in. “Millennium,” “Black and Blue” and “Never Gone,” to me were our biggest albums, and to really take that in. ...

It’s just to be able to look back at that and to share those stories with my kids and show them videos of Daddy’s not-so-good-style back in the day, or hairstyles, or whatever the hell I was thinking.

You know we have made some great memories together. I would just tell myself try not to miss anything. Because it’s gonna go fast, and it did go fast.

Now things have slowed down, but they’ve only slowed down because we now have control of our schedule. And we pace ourselves and we have balance, because we have families. But our schedule hasn’t stopped. We’re still going nonstop. We love it. We do.

Q: The song “I Want it That Way”? What does “it” mean to you, and what’s one of the more absurd or funny guesses you’ve heard about what “it” is?

A: Well, first of all, the song makes no sense. (laughs). Which is why actually we re-recorded the song and we changed the lyrics to make perfect sense. And it just didn’t feel right. So we ended up making the call with our label and our management to go back to the original version, the version that everyone knows and loves. And I think we made the right decision.

But “I want it that way.” I guess just whatever way is the right way. Whatever way is the way that feels best is how I would take it. We even asked Max Martin, who wrote the song. He was like, “I dunno, these are the lyrics that came out. This is the melody. I don’t know what it means.” OK, cool.

Q: What would have the lyrics said that did make sense?

A: The remake said, “No goodbyes, no more lies. I love it when I hear you say, I want it that way.” Which totally makes sense. But our version? Not so much.

But you know what? It’s perfectly imperfect. (laughs)