We were invited backstage at Vector Arena to interview one of the
Backstreet Boys. I was hoping it was Nick Carter – and it was! I’ve never
been a fan of the band but I can appreciate that they have so many huge
fans. There were hundreds of people lined up outside the venue by 6pm.
We were ushered backstage and waited in a tiny room for our interview.
Nick was about half an hour late and we were told we weren’t allowed to
video or take photos. Chang wasn’t allowed in the room and neither was
our winner who won a meet and greet. (She met them earlier anyway)
When Nick came in, he was eating pineapple and talked while eating it. He
sat down and looked so bored. I couldn’t believe he was about to go on
stage in front of 12 000 people. He looked half asleep. He was very boring.
His answers very serious and he did not offer anything new other than a
rehearsed, standard answer. It was hard to work with him. The whole time
he was looking out the door, or looking at his wrists… he did not want to
be there. Mike was a massive fan so is now totally gutted. I figured he got
famous too young and has lost touch with reality – big time. The world
does not revolve around him, although I got the feeling he thought he was
pretty central to it. I find it hard to take anyone seriously who has had sex
with Paris Hilton anyway.
We managed to convince him to pose for a quick pxt and he left. We
wondered how we were going to make that interview sound fun on air.
Brian Littrell walked past and looked in at us and was very friendly. “Hi
guys!” he beamed and as he walked on, there were about 12 girls following
behind him. Very funny. Brad and Sharyn from The Edge Night Show got to
interview him and they said he was AWESOME. Pity we had Nick.

by Kopitiam Team , 06 Oct 2009

The Backstreet Boys were in town recently for their concert at the Singapore F1 race and to promote their latest album. Singapore Kopitiam joins the queue to see what the fuss is all about.

While other boy bands of their era have broken up, the Backstreet Boys (BSB) are still going strong. It’s hard to imagine the Boys -- Nick Carter (age 29), Brian Littrell ( 34), Howie Dorough (36) and AJ McLean (31) -- have been together for 16 and a half years.

In town recently to perform at the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, the boys took some time out to preview tracks off their new album and getting quizzed from some of their ardent fans in a Meet & Greet session at the Fairmont Hotel’s Ink Club Bar.The latest studio album -- entitled “This Is Us” -- is the group’s seventh, and sees them going back to the uptempo dance style they started off with. Many would consider this a surprising move, especially since the group have always prided themselves on their vocal harmony.

Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter offered an explanation as to the change in musical and creative direction.

“We had to look back on the past and see who we were, and what our fans liked the most. We feel we did it with this album,” said the Carter at the interview session. “We did it from a current standpoint and got a lot of great producers to help. That’s why the album is called This Is Us.”

One thing’s for sure: The boys are hell-bent on hogging the radio again. While their previous two albums, “Unbreakable” and “Never Gone”, received lukewarm response from the public, the new album features a slew of powerhouse producers and songwriters. No expense has been spared in engaging producers like T-Pain, RedOne and Claude Kelly. Miami rapper Pitbull was also roped in to collaborate on the hip-hop inspired track Helpless.

No BSB album is complete, though, without those heart-wrenching ballads. After all, how else will the four boys show off their impeccable voices and warm the hearts of their predominantly female fans? And true to form, “This Is Us” features three ballads where the boys sing about love, or the lack thereof.

Producer du jour, Ryan Tedder of One Republic, has produced award-winning songs for superstars like Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson. His Midas Touch is again evident on the track Undone, a haunting song about love lost and one that has all the makings of a potential chart-topper.

“We pride ourselves on making good music. Each record, we try to top the last one. And I think this record, we’re all very proud of it,” added Howie Dorough.

Howie also hinted at a possible stop in Singapore for their “This Is Us” world tour early next year. So ladies, start saving up!

By Joy Fang

Artists: Backstreet Boys
Venue: Suntec Convention Centre Halls 602 and 603
When: Sunday
Attendence: More than 5,000

IT MAY be nostalgia that draws fans to a Backstreet Boys concert, but the pop quartet, in their concert here on Sunday, proved that they have more to offer.

Brian Littrell, 35, Nick Carter, 30, A. J. McLean, 32, and Howie Dorough, 36 - who last played a show in Singapore at the F1 circuit last September - have sexed up their act, showing edgier dance moves that even see them gyrating on stage with four scantily clad dancers.

Carter whips the crowd into a frenzy once, as he strips off his hoodie to reveal a lean body underneath his black wifebeater.

To add a little funk to the mix, a DJ spins hip-hop tracks in the middle of the stage during costume changes.

But the most deafening screams for the Boys come when they belt out their beloved hits like Larger Than Life and I Want It That Way.

The band, which broke out in 1993, once found massive success among teenage girls with their brand of bubblegum pop songs and choreographed dance steps.

Those girls - and some guys - are all grown up now, but can't seem to get enough of their older hits. The crowd would leap to its feet to shake booty and to snap pictures of their idols as soon as the intros to songs like Shape Of My Heart began filtering in from the sound system.

Sadly, when the Boys sing new songs from their seventh studio album, This Is Us, released last October, many in the audience - made up of women in their 20s and 30s and even a few old uncles - sat back down on their seats.

The Boys don't seem to mind.

Littrell, speaking to reporters with Carter during an interview at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Sunday just hours before the concert, said that it's those very fans who have stuck with them from the beginning that keep them going.

And there's "no end in sight" for the group, who have stuck together for close to two decades now, and who have sold over 130 million records in their career together.

"If we ever wake up one day and think it's not fun anymore, then we probably won't do it... but there's a dedication we have to our fans out there. We feel like there's a sense of loyalty," he said.

One thing, though, that Litrell would like to clear up, is that the Boys have never been a boy band.

"We are singers, we are a vocal harmony group," he insisted. Whatever they are, they have proved they have staying power.

Their latest album, This Is Us, debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, making them the first group to send all its first seven albums to the top 10 on that chart.

Entertainment Weekly said the new album, which marks the band's return to its teen-pop sound, is "surprisingly unembarrassing", considering the Boys' combined age.
However, should their fans give up on them, the Boys might be relegated to playing in small clubs and bars in the future, joked Carter.

"But they seem addicted to us as we are to them... It's a good relationship," he said.
He's right, judging by the 90-minute gig on Sunday night.

Their fans may be older, but they aren't ready to let go of their idols. Not when their evergreen songs take them to a place where they can feel young again.