Aj McLean and Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys sat down with Out Magazine to talk about their new album, summer tour, their involvement in San Francisco Pride this month, crazy fan stories and their true feelings about Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” (“That song sucks!”).
Read a bit of the interview below:
How do you make sure that you're not dwarfed by their contributions? How do you make sure in the end it's a Backstreet Boys' song and not a Red One song?
A.J.: Working with the producers that we've worked with -- like T-Pain, Jim Jonsin, Red One, Max Martin, again, Ryan Tedder -- they're all artists, as well. So they understand when we go in the studio that it is about the Backstreet Boys -- we are making a Backstreet Boys record. Not even once have we felt that any of the writers or producers were trying to one-up us. They're all just great guys to work with. We definitely would work with them all over again. And we now have a lot more creative control than we used to. Back in the day, when we first started, it was kind of like point and shoot. Now, we're the ones holding the gun, so to speak.
Brian: [gun shot noises]
A.J.: And we kind of call the shots. And say, "You know what? We don't really like that part, or I don't like that sound. Can we try this? Can we try that?" We even get more into the production side now, whether it's a keyboard sound, or a guitar lick, or whatever it is. We never used to do that before. It makes the recording process much more fun now than it ever was before.
Brian: It's funny, because when you go back to the beginning, the beginning times for the Backstreet Boys were about the success of the Backstreet Boys. And then there was a time when the industry kind of turned to who was writing, who was producing. And if you do go back, way back, on our second record -- that was our first record in the U.S. -- we even had songs that we were writing and producing at that time. I think, we talk about this term, "dwarfed by the producers," or, "how can we make it ours when we're the Backstreet Boys and we're working with somebody amazing," it's a good collaboration because we have many, many years in this business. And I think we're seasoned artists. A lot of times we're great writers that have been also overshadowed by our own success. And in that, when you really think about it, it's something to take in. And these producers know they are the guys that read the liner notes on the CD, and they know who wrote something, and they know who produced it. Working with great producers now, in today's world, it's all about who produced it and who wrote it, so it's kind of turned, but I think it'll get back to us again -- hopefully.
Tell me about this cruise you guys have coming up in December. It's already sold out.
Brian: [Makes cruise ship horn noises]
A.J.: Yup. The Backstreet Boys Cruise. It's the first of, hopefully, many. We'll see how the first one goes.
Brian: Carnival Cruise!
A.J.: A bunch of artists have been doing it. I know the New Kids did it. Rick Springfield did it.
Brian: Yeah! Go, Rick Springfield.
A.J.: It's just -- it's something that's more intimate for us to be with our fans. It's kind of a vacation for us, but not really. It's a vacation that involves work. But...
Brian: We're on a boat.
A.J.: So obviously, if we get a little stressed out, we can't just jump overboard. But...
Brian: Send in the chopper.
A.J.: Give me a dingy.
Brian: [Laughs]
A.J.: It's going to be fun. We're going to do a lot of personal stuff with our fans. Whether it's hosting a pool party or a casino night.
Brian: I ain't doin' that.
A.J.: Heck, it could be even bingo, who knows?
Brian: I ain't doin' that.
A.J.: And then we'll do a proper concert -- we'll have our dancers.
Brian: I ain't doin' that, either.
A.J.: But Brian won't be there.
Brian: [Laughs]
A.J.: It's just going to be fun. It's our very first time doing it. I'm not a big boat guy, so I'm a little leery about the boat part. I know it's a cruise, and they tell me that you don't feel it. But if I get it in my head that I'm feeling it, I'll be all, [singing "I Want it That Way"] "Tell me... [throw up noises]" I'm not trying to throw up on a fan, but, it should be fun.
Brian: [In the tune of "I Want it That Way"] Ain't nothing but a stomach ache [throw up noise].
A.J.: We start in Miami and then go down to Cozumel and end up in Key West and then back up to Miami.
Brian: It's fun; we've been talking about this cruise for like five or six years. It's actually now come to pass where we can say, "Hey, we're doing a cruise." So hopefully it'll turn into something that's a yearly charity event type thing that we could raise money for a great cause out there.
You guys have a lot of gay fans, too. When did you first realize that you had a gay following, and do you have any kind of relationship with your gay fans?
A.J.: I think, I mean...
Brian: I have gay friends...
A.J.: Years and years ago, especially over in Europe, it's funny, a lot of the boy bands, a lot of the members that were in a lot of those boy bands were actually gay, and it was just something that was normal over there. Doing a lot of these outdoor festival shows, you would see a lot of gay men and gay women just chanting and going for it. It kind of started over in Europe, and we did this show with Divine Brown years ago and it was during gay pride, and we were unaware of who she was, we had no idea -- I didn't put two and two together with her and the whole Hugh Grant thing. And, you know, it was amazing. We have a huge gay following -- it's awesome. I, personally, am trying to get more and more involved with the gay and lesbian movement, very much so. I've got quite a lot of gay friends back in L.A. No on Prop 8. It is a really huge market, and people are people, it doesn't matter what you believe. And we make our music for everyone, and whether you're gay, straight, black, white, it doesn't matter. Young or old.
Brian: Yellow or red.
A.J.: Music touches everyone, and if our music touches the gay community, I think it's awesome. I think it's absolutely brilliant. We're actually going to be doing the Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco. We are the Grand Marshals. We're going to perform -- it's before we do our show in San Francisco. So I'm looking forward to that -- we all are. It's going to be fun.
Brian: We are not here to judge, we are here to love.
A.J.: Absolutely.
Is there a song from your catalog that you hate or wish that you never had to perform again?
A.J.: There's one that is the general consensus of the group, and unfortunately this song was written by an absolutely amazing songwriter, Mutt Lange. But I think it was Mutt's approach to being a Max Martin–type song. It was called, "If You Want it to Be Good, Girl, Get Yourself a Bad Boy."
Brian: And that's one of the longest Backstreet Boys titles in history. Probably one of the...
A.J.: It was a political thing. Our record company was friends with him. They wanted the song on the record.
Brian: They managed him.
A.J.: Yeah. We were like, "No." We've never performed it live. It's actually in our show, now, as the end of Brian's video. We each do four individual films that we've been kind of CGI-ed into. I do Fight Club, Howie does The Fast and the Furious, Nick does The Matrix and Brian does --
Brian: Enchanted, the Disney --
A.J.: Enchanted. And at the end, when the dragon comes up, that song's playing. So that's the only way that song will ever get into any of our shows. Ever.
Brian: I always say, "If we were Shania Twain, then it would be cool." But we're not Shania Twain.
A.J.: Man, I feel like a woman. Like that? Yeah. That song sucks. It's horrible.
The boys are currently touring.
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“Straight Through My Hear” (VIDEO)
THIS IS US exclusive photo shoot (VIDEO)
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