Article written by Lauren Johnston.
Guess who’s back! The Backstreet’s back, with their new hit “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. The all American vocal boys group was formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Howie Dorough capturing the hearts of thousands of young girls with their first ever self-titled album in 1996. The following year they released their second studio recorded album thanks to Jive Records and with the help of Trans Continental Records in August 12 1997, ‘Backstreet’s Back’ with their hit single “Everybody” which, to jog your memory goes a little something like this ‘Everybody, Rock your body, Everybody, Rock your body right, Backstreet’s back alright!” If those two albums weren’t enough, they then released a third album ‘Millennium’ in 1999, this continued their ride to fame all the way to pop star superstardom! But it didn’t end there because in 2000 they released a follow up album titled ‘Black & Blue’. Throughout these 4 fantastic albums we have jammed out to songs such as ‘I Want It That Way’, ‘Everybody’ as mentioned before, ‘As Long As You Love Me’ and ‘Shape Of My Heart’.
After a two-year break, our beloved boy group rejoined to release a comeback album ‘Never Gone’ in 2005. Not only that but in 2006 they went on tour playing 38 shows in North America, 28 in Europe, 10 in Asia and 4 in Australia giving the tour a grand total of 80 shows. As this show was a comeback show it did vary from their previous performances and tours by not including matching costumes and dancers other than the boys, which definitely made the tour more intimate. This tour made millions, an estimated $49.5million according to records, as hundreds of thousands of people swarming to see the boys live once again after so many years. To peoples surprise this tour would also be Kevin Richardson’s last tour, leaving the group in ’06 to pursue other goals. After Kevin’s departure in ’06 the boy band released to albums as a quartet with ‘Unbreakable’ in 2007 and ‘This Is Us’ in 2009.
2012 was the year the boys announced that our dearly missed Kevin Richardson is permanently returning to the band, and in that following year they celebrated their 20th anniversary and couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate then releasing their first independent album ‘In A World Like This’. After 2 years of long hard work the boys were stocked to release their first ever documentary movie titled ‘Backstreet Boys, Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of’ in January of 2015. 109 minutes of the boys in everyday life, it was every fan girl must see, and boy did people see it making $2,837,800 in the box office, more than doubling their movie budget of one million dollars.
With selling over 100 million records worldwide making the Backstreet Boys ‘the best-selling boy band of all time’ and making them one of the best-selling music artist. Apart from the band Sade, they are the very first group to have had their first nine albums all reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, and the only boy band to do so. These boys are one group that have continue to keep hold onto that success and continue it long after their peak, an example of this is in 2013 their album ‘In A World Like This’ debuted in the top five, two decades after the group was formed rightfully earning the boys a shiny star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the 22nd of April 2013. 2013 was really the last year we heard anything from the Backstreet Boy’s leaving us with great all time songs like ‘Show ‘Em’, ‘Permanent Strain’, ‘Try’ and ‘Make Believe’.
Photo 1 from https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/the-backstreet-boys-accepting-their-award-for-radio-slow-news-photo/2222848 Photo 2 from
Five long years we have anticipated the return of the boys, five long years we thought maybe the Backstreet Boys are dead (not literally). Now 5 years on and they drop a new hit ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ personally this song is currently one of my favorite, the upbeat pop song gets me dancing every time I hear it. With heaps of now mums and young fan girls that have grown up listening to Backstreet Boys it’s safe to say that I am not alone in absolutely loving the new single. Some may argue that the boys are drifting from their original sound, and some may argue that it’s not all that different at all. Either way the band has changed in various ways including changing their sound a little more to become more ‘pop like’ and they have had to change to keep up with the ever growing and development of today’s music industry, which at times can be a very nasty place and downright hell at times.
Nothing compares to a good throw-back song from our favorite band/artist, but, when it comes down to that one loaded question, which do we like the most? That’s when people start thinking. It is all well and good to stick to the old sound of the band, but with their new song ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ it’s almost impossible not to sing and dance along to it. I honestly prefer the new song as it’s got a lot more to offer than the last few albums, don’t get me wrong the Backstreet Boys have been killer since day dot, that’s why they are sleeping on a bed of money. It’s not that the old albums and songs weren’t that good, it’s that I feel they are now more of an era song now, they are suited to the year they were made and produced. The record label and studio they recorded in has really helped the boys lift off again, I mean how hyped were you when you heard the Backstreet Boys are back? That though is also another thing that can influence why some people prefer the older material compared to the new single, they just didn’t think it was what they anticipated, which is fine, but this happens a lot and I can guarantee you that it has happened to many more of their albums.
Personally I am more than excited to see how this new album plays out and what more bangers will be released, the questions now that I have is because of all this commotion about ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ if the boys will try and return to the roots of their music or if they will throw the middle finger up and keep making music that they want to? And will the boys live up to the legendary standard they left behind 5 years ago? All we can say is that this album should be a massive chart topper.
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