Sorry I just have to start by saying what the hell is that album cover. It looks awful. Like god damn who allowed this to happen.
Anyways, the Backstreet Boys. They were HUGE in the 90s. Somehow they never had a #1 hit, but they've had six top 10 singles, including an all time favorite of mine in Everybody [Backstreet's Back]. Then they kinda faded away slowly. They had quite a few hits in 2000/2001, and had a hit in 2005, but after that their highest peaking hit from 2006-2016 peaked at #86, their lowest peaking charting song. The still dropped albums in 2009, 2011 and 2013, but none of them got ahead of #5 on the Billboard 200.
Then 2017 rolls around, and the Backstreet Boys are suddenly back on the Hot 100. They teamed up with none other than Florida Georgia Line and made a song called God, Your Mama & Me. I've heard the song, I don't like it very much. It did make the top 50, but missed the year-end list in the end.
Just last year, the Boys got Don't Go Breaking My Heart to be a minor hit on pop radio and a major hit on Hits 1. Now, I think if you're reading this you know what I think of the song (and I'll talk about it in a couple minutes if you don't know), but safe to say I wasn't a huge fan of it. They also released a couple more singles prior to the album, both of which failed to chart on the Hot 100. This brings us to today, where the Backstreet Boys have returned with their first #1 album in nearly 20 years. Without further ado, let's talk about the quality of the album.
Overview
First of all, god damn it's nice to review a pop album finally. I've reviewed eight albums with this format, and seven of them were rap/trap albums. Out of those seven, I only even sorta liked two. I think its about time to change things up and review a pop album.
Going into this, I did not expect to like it very much. I didn't really love any of the singles released before the album dropped, and though a couple of them are good, they're very forgettable. But the Backstreet Boys did surprise me, as this is a pretty solid album. While there still are quite a few bad songs, there's also a surprising number of good songs. Overall, I think this album hit it's highest points when the Backstreet Boys and their producers played it safe, because when they try to do experimental stuff it doesn't always turn out well. But yeah, this is a perfectly passable album. Let's get into the individual songs.
Individual Track Reviews
1. Don't Go Breaking My Heart: Yeah I still hate this song. The Backstreet Boys don't sound good at all, as they use annoying vocal patterns while lathered in autotune. And holy shit I hate the chorus. The production there is extremely messy, and I don't think the Backstreet Boys sound good. Also the lyrics are really generic, which while it doesn't hurt the song that much certainly doesn't help it. 0/5
2. Nobody Else: So heres a kinda random comparison: this reminds me of 8 Letters by Why Don't We. I do like that song, but I don't exactly love this one. I think the lyrics are the main issue because god damn those lyrics suck. They're talking about how they don't want to share someone, which comes off as obsessive and way too clingy and honestly pretty creepy. Also the production here is really messy. 2/5
3. Breathe: I actually like this one a fair amount. I believe this is acapella, and the Backstreet Boys frankly sound quite good doing this, and it removes all the production issues I had with the last two songs. I feel like more Boyz II Men and less Why Don't We is not a bad trade off at all. However, I doubt the rest of the album will be like this. But hey it was fun while it lasted. 4.5/5
4. New Love: So uh who let the Backstreet Boys use a trap beat over (what I believe) is a jazz saxophone line, with some added chanting backing vocals. Then the post chorus hits and I have no idea what the fuck is happening. There's like a flute and a wind chime mixed with the chanting and sax. It would feel wrong if I didn't mention the final chorus, where they jam literally every sound from the song in at once. Yeah, this sucks. 0/5
5. Passionate: This one is really generic. It's just a kinda deep baseline with some some nice vocals. Then the baseline goes away during the chorus before dropping into a catchy if generic drop. That being said, I don't exactly mind most generic pop music. 4/5
6. Is It Just Me: I don't like this beat. It feels like its not sure what its tempo should be. It'll be fast for like half a measure, then speed up, then slow down again. It just gets to be very distracting. The vocals in the verses are pretty solid, but the chorus has a bit too much autotune for my liking. The lyrics are surprisingly solid though, so I'll give this a 3/5.
7. Chances: This song is pretty sweet. I also quite like the guitar line, even if I would've appreciated some variance instead of it looping throughout basically the entire song. One flaw is that the second verse completely changes the vocal tone from the first verse. The first verse is very reserved, while the second verse is very overdone. That does drag the song down a bit, but I still enjoy it a bit regardless. 4/5
8. No Place: Once again, this is a sweet song. Also once again, the guitar here is very pleasant. This song basically takes all the things I liked about Chances, and removes all the things I didn't like. While I doubt this would hold up after lots of radio play, I enjoy it quite a bit right now, and its my favorite song from the album. 5/5
9. Chateau: This is pretty boring honestly. It doesn't have interesting enough lyrics to save it like Is It Just Me. The production is too sparse so it's not as enjoyable as something like Chances. The vocals are still good, but not good enough. And the chorus doesn't really feel much different than the verses, aside from being slightly more annoying. 1.5/5
10. The Way It Was: Uh am I the only one a little creeped out by this song? This feels like the Backstreet Boys are trying to make a make-out song, but as with most new things they try on this album it doesn't go well. While I do like lyrical detail, maybe giving details about how the woman's body feels is a little TOO much detail. Yeah, skip this one. 0.5/5
11. Just Like You Like It: After that last song going into a song with this title I'm pretty worried what the lyrics will be like here. And yeah this does sorta feel like part 2 of the last song. After their creepiness messed up their attempt to sleep with some girl, they're desperately trying to fix things by saying "oh we'll do what you want tonight (please don't leave)". Instead of going in detail about her body, they're talking about doing "sweet things". I don't exactly mind this song, but I do find the parallel with the previous track to be pretty funny. 2.5/5
12. OK: Alright what do we get as a closing track here. Well, it might seem like an odd comparison, but this seems like something you would here in a musical. So the Backstreet Boys have added musical theater to the ever growing list of musical styles on this album. With that said, this song is perfectly passable, even if I doubt I'll remember it in the future. 2.5/5
Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10 (Decent)
Best Songs: No Place, Breathe
Worst Songs: Don't Go Breaking My Heart, New Love
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