We celebrate a larger than life classic.
Backstreet Boys
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To say that the Backstreet Boys' second album (third internationally) was born out of difficult circumstances would be something of an understatement. Ever since they made their belated hit in the US with 1997 Backstreet's Back, Brian Littrell had undergone open heart surgery, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson had both lost close family members, and their original creator Denniz Pop had died of stomach cancer. Throw in a bitter legal battle with former manager Lou Perlman over the millions of dollars he had allegedly taken from them and it is a miracle Millennium ever saw the light of day.
But as the saying (almost) goes, out of great suffering comes the art band record. Produced by Max Martin and an army of other Swedish hitmakers who would go on to define the chart landscape for the next decade and beyond. Millennium sold an astounding 1.13 million copies in its opening week and would go on to sell 12.3 million copies in the US, per Luminate.
Thanks to a string of bona fide teen pop classics (all four of his singles hit the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, with two going to the top 10), a lengthy world tour and the impressive rise of MTV Total Request Live, spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart and earned the group four Grammy nominations (including album of the Year). It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Just to make any late '90s teenager feel a little older, the unstoppable chart juggernaut celebrates its 25th anniversary on May 18. So what better time to rank his dozens of Y2K offerings from worst to best?
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“I need you tonight”
“I Need You Tonight” was first performed by contestant Andrew Fromm during Ed McMahon's final season in 1995. Search for stars. said the New Jersey singer-songwriter Advertising sign had no idea who the Backstreet Boys were when the senior executive at Jive Records asked to borrow the track for Millennium. And he'd be none the wiser after hearing their take on his shameless slushfest. First, the boyband's harmonic signatures have been pushed to the background in favor of a nasal Nick Carter vocal. And while BSB typically excelled at romantic ballads, Mutt Lange's tender production leans into every cliché. Listen here.
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“Back to Your Heart”
“Back To Your Heart” was written by Jason Blume, author of the Music Industry Guide Six Steps to Songwriting Success. Another one of the schmaltz ballads that goes away Millennium Rather forward, this isn't exactly a standout. With country music mastermind Gary Baker – the man behind All-4-One's inescapable “I Swear” and Lonestar's “I'm Already There” – also on board, “Back To Your Heart” it should have been a sure favorite wedding dance. But the only success he achieved was reuniting his lyrical inspirations, Kevin Richardson and his future wife. Listen here.
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“Spanish Eyes”
“Spanish Eyes” shares a title with a 1999 song from Ricky Martin's English-language debut, but musically, it's more likely to be confused with Westlife's only Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Swear It Again,” which reached No. .20 in 2000. A story of a blossoming multicultural romance, this flamenco ballad was written by Fromm and her hit cousin Sandy Linzer with Martin in mind. But even Latin pop Casanova would have trouble selling sentiments like “When I look into your Spanish eyes/I know the reason I'm alive.” Listen here.
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“The Perfect Fan”
The Backstreet Boys are nothing if not kind. After opening Millennium with a tribute to their adoring audience, the quintet then wraps it up with an ode to the women who raised them. As with the Spice Girls' similar Mother's Day anthem two years earlier, “The Perfect Son” is essentially a greeting card in musical form (“I want to thank you for what you've done/I hope I can repay you/Be the perfect son'') but the addition of a gospel choir – recorded at co-writer Littrell's old high school – makes it a little more remarkable than the rest of the album's sickly-sweet ballads. Listen here.
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“No one else comes close”
Just like their closest rivals *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys occasionally ventured outside their Swedish factory comfort zone to flirt with the world of R&B (see the Rodney Jerkins-produced “Shining Star” on Black blue or the PM Dawn “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” cover. Backstreet's Back). “No One Else Comes Close” originally appeared on All that I am, the 1998 sophomore from one of the genre's smoothest masters, Joe. And while this carbon copy lacks the soul of the original, the group's five-part harmonies at least bring something new to the table. Listen here.
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“I do not wanna lose you now”
Sadly, no cover of Gloria Estefan's power ballad of the same name, 'Don't Wanna Lose You Now' is the Backstreet Boys firmly on autopilot. Rami Yacoub, who co-produced the track with Martin, even freely admits that he intentionally tried to replicate the sound of his snare drum Millenniumhis greatest success. Of course, the Backstreet Boys continue to be heard more than most boy bands firing on all cylinders. And while this midtempo track is unlikely to be a crowd favorite, it's a perfectly conservative breather between two of the record's friendliest dancers. Listen here.
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“It's gotta be you”
“Now I know why I was born/You feel my feelings one by one.” “It's Gotta Be You” doesn't produce a golden verse, but musically, this is the hit factory in fine form, with Yacoub and Martin hitting just about every button in their bank of bombastic sounds. Cooing vocal formations? Control. Orchestral synth stabs? Snare patterns that sound like they're about to burst out of the speaker? Control. Everyone is here. Listen here.
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“I don't want you back”
“You hit me faster than a shark attack/You saw my picture/Sto Backstreet's Backokay.” “Don't Want You Back” boasts one of the boy band's catchiest and super meta opening lines. It also finds the five-piece ditching their usual romance for something a little more searing, almost double as a riposte to *NSYNC's far more admirable hit “I Want You Back.” As with their Joe cover, the album's best non-single dips its toes into R&B waters, this time adopting the same harpsichord sound that would define the hits of Destiny's Child, TLC, et al. Listen here.
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“The one”
Having already shifted millions of copies of it MillenniumThe Backstreet Boys were afforded the luxury of giving their fans some creative control by asking them to choose his fourth and final single. Of course, once Nick revealed that he had voted for “The One” himself, the TRL the poll result was a foregone conclusion. However, it turned out to be the right choice. A far cry from the album's stilted second half, this Littrell co-penned beautifully bridges the gap between their sentimental love songs and their precision-tooled pop beats. Listen here.
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“Show me the meaning of being alone”
The melodramatic ballad “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely” is something of an outlier in the Backstreet Boys catalog. It is their only single to give Kevin a prominent lead vocal. It's accompanied by their darkest, and most devastating, promo yet, one that alludes to all the heartbreak and hardships the group members have recently experienced. And while BSB's lyrics are usually on point, they're almost deliberately dark here (“Life goes on as it never ends/Eyes of stone observe the trends”). Despite getting a Grammy nod and tying his No. 6 spot MillenniumHis lead single, this Latin-tinged effort seems understated compared to their more effortless ballads. Listen here.
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“Larger Than Life”
By Joseph Kahn Blade Runner-meets-Star Wars epic (yet one of the most expensive videos of all time) for Cheiron Team's unashamedly bombastic production, every aspect of MillenniumThe aptly titled opener is indeed larger than life. A thank-you note to the teenyboppers who had stuck with them from their “grown up in Germany” days, it reinforces everything that made “We've Got It Goin' On” and “Everybody (Backstreet's Back)” such a band. bangers, and then cranks it up some more. Don't be fooled by the No. 25 position on the map. “Larger Than Life” is late '90s pop at its maximalist best. Listen here.
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“I want it this way”
It's still not clear what the “this” or “that” refers to in the silly title, but semantics aside, MillenniumIts lead single remains a masterclass in the boy band ballad. “I Want It That Way” boasts a chorus that feels like it's always been part of the fabric of pop, layered harmonies (the “you are” crescendo is particularly glorious) that would put any classic vocal troupe to shame, and an iconic airport -Based video that perfectly encapsulates the frenzy the team inspired. Nominated for both song and record of the year at the Grammys, this song was on top Advertising signThe 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time on the list and it deservedly remains BSB's signature song. Listen here.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/backstreet-boys-millennium-songs-ranked/