If you grew up in the late 90’s/early 2000’s there is a very good chance that the Backstreet Boys were imprinted into your DNA, a deep rooted part of what it was to be a teen at that time. You battled your friends over BSB vs. *NSync and you stood proud with the boy band of your choice.
With much needed nostalgia and the crave for it growing everyday we look for music that takes us back, but that also helps us look forward. The Backstreet Boys new album DNA has record upon record that does just that. In it’s entirety, from the moment I heard this album I felt Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, and Howie Dorough had taken up residence in my head for the past 2 years and decided to make an album about what they saw and/or heard. The sound of this album has the classicness of who they always have been and the sound needed to grasp a new generation.
The first single off the album, “Don’t Go Breakin My Heart, was released on May 17th, 2018 and achieved worldwide praise and a quick rise to #1 on iTunes within hours of its release. The quick success is not something that the guys take lightly. In an interview with Elle Magazine Kevin Richardson speaks to the groups first Grammy nomination in close to 17 years, “You have moments in a long career where stuff that you’re making breaks through and resonates on a massive scale, and sometimes you don’t. To have that happen right now, with “Don’t Go Breakin My Heart” being nominated for a Grammy Award, feels really good.”
“Chances” is a special song and video off of the DNA album. The song was co-written by Shawn Mendes and Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic and the video was directed by none other than A.J. McLean. This is the first time a Backstreet Boy has been behind the camera to film a music video for the group. In an interview with Billboard A.J. says “Chances” is “a realistic love song about chance.” It is truly a story of “what ifs” in the best way. A repeated lyric at the beginning and end of the song states, “What if I never run into you?/What if you never smiled at me?” It’s a song about how chance can sometimes be better than the plan and can bring out the pleasantly unexpected.
While songs regarding love like “Chances”, “Breathe”, “Nobody Else”, “Don’t Go Breakin My Heart” tend to takeover the album, the funky collective sounds of BSB are not missing from DNA. “Passionate” and “New Love” bring a unique sound to the album and break up the love songs just a bit with a more get down/sexy vibe. The Backstreet Boys have always played around with a sexier sound to their music. From their earlier albums songs like, “Get Down (You’re the One for Me)”, “If You Want to be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy)”, “It’s Gotta Be You”, and “The Call” you can see they have always pushed the boundaries to find a balance of romance and sex appeal and have done so well.
With the release of DNA the group announced at world wide tour beginning May 11th in Portugal and concluding in October in Singapore (don’t worry the USA is all in between those dates). You can find the album anywhere music is sold as well as on stream from Amazon Music, iTunes, and Apple Music and purchase tickets to the DNA World Tour at https://www.backstreetboys.com/events.
Music In My Lyrics 