AJ McLean has dropped a major bombshell about the Backstreet Boys’ biggest song, revealing that the lyrics could have been very different.
The group, also made up of Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough, first formed in 1993 and dropped their debut album a few years later.
Although they had some success with Quit Playin’ Games, As Long As You Love Me and Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), I Want It That Way shot them to superstardom all over the world when it was released in 1999.
Unpacking their back catalog in Paramount+ documentary Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands, the 46-year-old recalled that music bosses weren’t quite convinced about the catchy track.
‘In our generation, you put out your first album. It does good, cool. But your second album is the one that’s going to make or break your career,’ he recalled.
‘Ours was Millennium. But it wasn’t really until we then released, from that album, the single for I Want It That Way, that everything changed.’
Despite it being an absolute banger of a track, record label executives weren’t quite convinced as they questioned whether the actual lyrics made sense.
’”I never want to hear you say, I want it that way,” Exactly, you’re like what?’ the singer quipped.
‘They felt like this song didn’t make any sense, it wasn’t going to go anywhere.’
Those behind the scenes worked quickly to suggest a change, and eventually came up with: ‘I love it when I hear you say I want it that way.’
Thankfully, the five-piece stuck to their guns and held firm on the original lyrics, urging bosses to trust their instincts.
AJ added: ‘We’re like, “It just doesn’t hit right”. So, they put their faith in us that we made the right call – and we made the right call.’
I Want It That Way was an instant hit when it was released in 1999 and shot up the charts around the world – it has since gone three times platinum in both the US and the UK.
However, with the huge success came tough rules that the Backstreet Boys, and other similar bands, had to follow.
Unpacking the orders to the camera, NSYNC’s Lance Bass explained they were urged to remember that they had a ‘family audience’, and were often given examples of where other bands – such as New Kids on the Block – went wrong.
‘Record labels and management would always have these comparison stories like, “In New Kids, Donnie [Wahlberg] would do [this]. And so you knew you were being told not to do this.
His bandmate, Chris Kirkpatrick, quipped: ‘Because of that, there were some crazy boyband rules. A lot of those rules, I’d challenged from the beginning.’
Some of these rules included no tattoos, no girlfriends, no riding on motorcycles, instructions on when and how to shave facial hair and their weight.
‘They would say, ‘Hey! Shave your mustache. Hold on to your youth,’” New Edition’s Michael Bivins said, as AJ added: ‘We can’t be Fatstreet. That is not cute.’