With hits like “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, the quintet’s second album consolidated the boyband’s global success.
Backstreet’s Backthe second and most celebrated album by the Backstreet Boys, turned 25 this Thursday (11). Originally released, the album includes three of the biggest hits of the boy band’s career, “As Long as You Love Me”, “All I Have to Give” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” – which remains to this day as the most associated track. to the group.
Despite the success of the first authorial album, the Backstreet Boysfrom 1996, would be with Backstreet’s Backfrom 1997, which Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson would see careers reach international audiences.
With different dissemination strategies for the international market and with the United States, the second album ended up consolidating part of what would become the legacy of the Backstreet Boys for 1990s pop. The record reached number one on the charts in 16 countries outside of the United States, where the local version earned 14 platinum certifications, making it one of pop’s best debuts to date.
To remember the record, which ended up becoming the hallmark of a very specific pop generation, we gathered 15 curiosities (another bonus) about the record. Backstreet’s Back.
1. Despite being the group’s second international album, Backstreet’s Back was reissued as a compilation for the American market in the same year 1997. In the domestic version, it even included hits from the first album, Backstreet Boysfrom 1996, such as “We’ve Got It Goin’ On” and “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)”.
2. The marketing of the second album turned out to be one of the group’s most successful, taking the five members to popular TV shows of the time, such as Sabrina, the Sorceress’s Apprentice and Saturday Night Live.
3. The only track written by a member of the group was “That’s What She Said”, the ninth track of the album, which carries the signature of Brian Littrell.
4. The album’s eighth track, “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss”, has an interpolation of Gary Kemp’s “True” (famous for his rendition of Spandau Ballet), plus a sample of “How High”, by Method Man & Red.
5. In Brazil, the album was certified Double Platinum, with more than 100 thousand copies sold.
6. In addition to the Brazilian success, the album had wide international acceptance, closing the year 1997 among the five best-selling albums in Austria, Denmark and Germany.
7. At the end of 1998, the album was still among the best sellers of that year in Australia.
8. “All I Have to Give”, the album’s third single, was written by the R&B group full forcewhich has already signed collaborations with Britney Spears and N’Sync.
9. Now a classic, the video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” was conceived mainly by the members of the group.
10. The group’s driver in the video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” was played by the actor Anthony Fargasfamous for his role in the series Starsky & Hutch; Fargas would still appear in another video of the group, “Larger Than Life”.
11. The director Joseph-Kahn admitted to billboard what Nick Carter was particularly stressed during the filming of the music video “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”: “I remember he was almost crying because he had been up all night, on his feet for over 36 hours. I think I almost had a nervous breakdown with the mummy take, because he was the last one to shoot.”
12. “As Long As You Love Me” it was the last track to be added to the album’s setlist; she was a request Clive Calder, president of Zomba, the album’s distributor, which connected Jive Records and the band’s then manager, Johnny Wrightthen add the song to the disc.
13. Initially, AJ would be responsible for the bridge in “As Long as You Love Me”, but was eventually replaced by Brian after getting tonsillitis.
14. For the video clip “As Long As You Love Me”, recorded in 1997, the production selected six female extras, to deny the association that they would be partners of the singers. Still, one of the actresses, Leighanne Wallaceended up marrying Brian in 2000.
15. In November 1997, Brian discovered a heart defect that progressively increased in full disclosure of Backstreet’s Back/Backstreet Boys (1997). The musician even postponed repair surgery twice, but finally had to undergo pricing in May 1998, which caused a two-month hiatus from the global tour.
Bonus: Track “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” gained popularity again in 2022 among TikTok users. In the viral, tiktokers took advantage of the passage in which the song answers several questions with “yeah” to reenact questions with affirmative answers.
Source: Rollingstone
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
