Backstreet Boys deliver anxiously awaited ``Millennium''

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: May 20, 2099 Source: Reuters/Variety Submitted By: Iovediva@aol.com By Gary Graff DETROIT (Reuters) - The flurry of histrionic squeals you may hear emanating from record stores these days is the sound of Backstreet Boys fans -- most of them adolescent girls -- picking up copies of the group's anxiously awaited CD, ``Millennium.'' The new release, a follow-up to the 1997 self-titled album that sold 27 million copies worldwide, ranks as one of the hottest pop-culture sensations this side of ``Phantom Menace.'' With a media blitz encompassing a ``Saturday Night Live'' appearance, a Disney Channel concert special and an ambitious advertising campaign, the message is being delivered: Backstreet's back, and all the little girls are saying, ``All right!'' The Boys themselves -- Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter, Brian Littrel, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough -- are aware of how high the stakes are for ``Millennium.'' Coming on the heels of the Spice Girls' success, the Orlando, Fla.-based quintet created a phenomenon that opened the pop-market doors for a slew of similar ``boy groups,'' including 'N Sync, 98 Degrees and C-Note. The Backstreet Boys, however, are the first of these bands to truly test the loyalty of their notoriously fickle audience. Some of the others have exploited their success through the release of quick-hit fodder, such as holiday albums. The pop trio Hanson, for instance, cashed in with a live album and a collection of archival recordings. But the Boys, who deny rumors of an intense rivalry with other groups of their ilk, are coming out with an album of all-new material. ``We put the pressure on ourselves just to make better music,'' says Kentucky-born Richardson who, at 27, is the senior member of the group. ``We're not really looking at the sales; if you make good music and keep trying to outdo your last album as far as quality of music, the sales will come. ``Everybody is not gonna like our music, or us. But we just want people to know that everything they hear on the album is real, it's us. It's our voices singing. It's us coming up with the treatments for our videos and the ideas for our stage show.'' ``We're not just the guys that are told what to do, where to be, what to sing, how to look. ... this is us, not somebody else's idea of us.'' This has been a particularly sensitive issue during the past year, since the Backstreet Boys parted ways with Lou Pearlman, the Orlando-based entrepreneur who put them together. Pearlman was inspired by the idea -- and tremendous success -- of New Kids on the Block and set out to assemble his own vocal group. He recruited the Boys, beginning with Richardson, from aspiring performers working at theme parks and other venues around the Orlando area. The group's 1995 debut floundered in the modern rock-infatuated United States but was a big hit in Europe. Two years later ``Backstreet Boys'' cracked the U.S. market and made the Boys pin-ups around the world, launching hits such as ``Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),'' ``As Long As You Love Me'' and ''Everybody (Backstreet's Back).'' But a disagreement over finances led to a schism and lawsuit with Pearlman, who had built a stable of other pop acts, including 'N Sync, and he eventually settled out of court with the Backstreet Boys. That episode, along with several family deaths and Littrell's open-heart surgery last year, made what should have been a celebratory 1998 ``the hardest of my 27 years on the planet,'' according to Richardson. The Boys bring out ``Millennium,'' then, with a fresh business operation and a new creative charge. The group retained key players from the last album, particularly songwriter-producer Max Martin (who also scored recently with Britney Spears), but Richardson says the five singers assumed a greater role in creating and overseeing the music. Richardson co-wrote the song ``Back to Your Heart,'' while Littrell co-wrote three tracks, including the album-closing ''The Perfect Fan,'' a tribute to his mother that features his high school choir. ``We feel like we've grown on this album,'' Richardson says. ''The album's deeper, lyrically, but it's not over our young fans' heads.'' Richardson says the group is acutely aware of the delicate balance between change and delivering on fans' expectations. The song ``I Want it That Way,'' he says, was chosen as the first single because ``it's a nice bridge'' between ``Millennium'' and the group's last album. Edgier dance tracks like ``Don't Want You Back'' will be introduced once fans have a chance to digest the album a little bit, prior to the group's upcoming world tour, he says. The futuristic in-the-round extravaganza kicks off next month in Europe before moving to North America in September. ``We're just trying to evolve with the times in order to stay in the pop music scene,'' Richardson says, ``just like Madonna's done, just like Janet and Michael (Jackson), so we have a long career.'' And the Boys still don't expect any help from the critics, who as a rule pay little heed to this brand of aim-to-please pop. Prior to the interview, in fact, Richardson read an Entertainment Weekly review that gave ``Millennium'' a B-minus and dismissed the quintet's vocals as ``the sonic equivalent of warm milk.'' Unfortunately, Richardson notes, these sentiments tend to be the rule rather than the exception. ``Critics are critics,'' he says. ``We're not trying to be the Joni Mitchell of our time, or the Jimi Hendrix of our time. We're just trying to make good music and make people happy and forget about their problems. We're not trying to send a message.'' (Gary Graff is a nationally syndicated journalist who covers the music scene from Detroit. He also is the supervising editor of the award-winning ``MusicHound'' album guide series.) Reuters/Variety Comment on this item. Next Item: Brian may make a cameo appearance in 'Olive Juice' Prev Item: Having trouble figuring out Nick's code?