Back Street Boys I Want it That Way – Song Facts
Back Street Boys I Want it That Way was written by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson, Swedish producers who have also written hits for ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, and Celine Dion.
This was the first single from The Backstreet Boys’ third album, Millennium. It was the fastest selling album ever, until ‘N Sync released No Strings Attached later that year.
The band did not think this should be the first single because it sounded too much like their last album. Their record company convinced them otherwise. The result was the biggest selling Backstreet record in UK (and their only #1 hit there). The song also peaked at #6 in the US.
This song proves the importance of melody when writing a hit. The lyrics don’t make much sense, but contain lots of simple rhymes that support the music:
You are, my fire
The one, desire
Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache
Ain’t nothin’ but a mistake
More About the Writing – Not Much to the Song surprisingly
There’s really not much story, although our hero seems concerned about his relationship. Co-writer Andreas Carlsson explains: “When Max came up with the original idea for the song, it already had the line ‘you are my fire, the one desire.’ We tried a million different variations on the second verse, and finally we had to go back to what was sounding so great, ‘you are my fire, the one desire.’ And then we changed it to ‘am I your fire, your one desire’, which made absolutely no sense in combination with the chorus – but everybody loved it!”
The fact that the song doesn’t make much sense can be pinned on Max Martin being a Swede and not writing in his first language. “His English has gotten much better, but at the time…” BSB member Kevin Richardson admitted to LA Weekly in 2011.
Backstreet Boys – A History of the Band
The Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. They were formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida.
The group rose to fame with their international debut album, Backstreet Boys (1996). In the following year, they released their second international album Backstreet’s Back (1997), along with their self-titled U.S. debut album, Backstreet Boys (1997), which continued the group’s success worldwide.
They rose to superstardom with their third studio album Millennium (1999), anchored by the worldwide hit “I Want It That Way”, and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000). They also released a greatest hits album, The Hits – Chapter One (2001). After a two-year hiatus, they regrouped and released a comeback album, Never Gone (2005). After the conclusion of the Never Gone Tour in 2006, Richardson left the group to pursue other interests. The group then released two albums as a quartet: Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009).
Richardson permanently rejoined the group in 2012. In the following year, they celebrated their 20th anniversary and released their first independent album, In a World Like This. Their follow-up album DNA (2019) debuted at number one, more than two decades after the group formed and 19 years after they last topped in 2000. They also became the first boy band to top the U.S. album charts in three different decades. In 2022, they released their first Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas. They celebrated their 30th anniversary on April 20, 2023.
The Backstreet Boys have sold over 100 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling boy band of all time, and one of the world’s best-selling music artists. They are the first group since Led Zeppelin to have their first ten albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, and the only boy band to do so. The albums Backstreet Boys and Millennium were both certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making them one of the few bands to have multiple diamond albums.
The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22, 2013 (2 days after their 20th anniversary). They released a documentary film, titled Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of in January 2015. In March 2017, the group began a concert residency in Las Vegas that lasted two years, titled Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life.