Every Song from Backstreet Boys’ Millennium, Ranked
Here’s a short story. A brand recently asked me to write some blogs for them, which I was happy to do. I love writing for brands so please email me, brands. That said, they asked me to published it on this platform, and that I had to deny. It would compromise the integrity of the material I post to you, my Medium following.
Anyway here is every song from Backstreet Boys’ Millennium.
12. I Need You Tonight. God, this is bad. It has no heft, no drive, no hook. It’s the worst song at a junior high dance. What is fun about the Backstreet Boys is how they can encapsulate the most intense feelings of your first love, whether that love is a person or a band. They bring you back to a moment when you are a little younger, a little more hopeful, a little more ready to believe that love. “I Need You Tonight” is the opposite of that. It’s almost cynical in its emotional emptiness. It is bad and should be forgotten.
11. Don’t Wanna Lose You Now. This song is boring. It’s a fine attempt at a ballad, and look, they can’t all be winners. Still, you can hear the Boys trying. Their crooning is soulful, even if it feels like just a fragment of a soul inside.
10. Spanish Eyes. If this song was actually in Spanish, you could probably trick me into thinking it was good. Like a lesser Ricky Martin joint. As it is, it features some of the worst lyrics on the album. “It’s a place I’ve never been/And it comes from deep within/And it’s telling me that I’m about to win first prize.” It’s very bad!
9. No One Else Comes Close. This song is way too R&B for the Backstreet Boys’ pop voices to handle. You could convince me that a strong R&B singer could take these exact lyrics and melody and produce a great song. As it stands, the song is both weak and off brand.
8. The One. Right as I was calling this song boring too, my boyfriend Alexis walked in singing every word of it. I guess it has an appeal to some. It feels like the lead single on a Christian pop band — I mean, tell me these lyrics aren’t about Jesus: “I’ll be the one, I’ll be the one/Who will make all your sorrows undone/I’ll be the light, I’ll be the light/When you feel like there’s nowhere to run.” Even the acoustic guitar break for the bridge feels Jesus-y. This song is fine.
7. The Perfect Fan. Whoever wrote “The Perfect Fan” gave the Backstreet Boys the exact amount of R&B they could pull off. Plus, they’re helped along with a church-y chorus. It feels like a lesser track on the Hercules soundtrack, which is a compliment. Plus, the Boys get some extra goodwill because it’s cute to sing a song to your mom.
6. Back To Your Heart. The best of the forgettable ballads on the album. I could see Uncle Jesse singing this on one of the later seasons of Full House. Fortunately, everything gets better from here.
5. It’s Gotta Be You. Kind of a surprise banger that I forgot about. I could hear this song in a Soul Cycle today and be pumped to cycle up that hill. Nick may have been the hair of BSB, but he was one of the worst singers. Still, his energetic, forceful delivery of the “kinda make me go crazy” adds a rough texture to everyone else’s smooth crooning that makes “It’s Gotta Be You” more fun.
4. Don’t Want You Back. This is a good one. The forceful banging chords of the piano against the bubbly minor key melody creates a more sophisticated musicality that goes nicely with the more sophisticated theme of this song. These Backstreet Boys have learned: the love of your fans will lift you up, but the love of a woman who will only love you for your fame is less than you deserve. Listen to this song after a girl or guy has done you WRONG. Love the Easter eggs of “Backstreet’s back, all right,” and “sexualiTAY.”
3. Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely. An attempt to expand the band’s lyricism beyond “baby”s and “heart”s and “sexualiTAY”s. Does it work? I don’t know, do you buy “It’s hard to see in a crimson love” as sophisticated lyricism? Or “Life goes on as it never ends/Eyes of stone observe the trends?” I can’t. But the Spanish-y guitar lick gives some musical interest, and the keening bridge of “surrender my heart, body and soul” communicates the pain and intensity of loneliness in a way the clumsy lyrics can’t. It’s a good pop song.
2. I Want It That Way. The band’s most successful single at the time, “I Want It That Way” is in many ways iconic. It’s not a song you dance to; it’s a song to sing in your bedroom. The call and response plays with the band’s strengths, the stronger crooners calling for a chorus to respond to a keening “Tell me why.” It’s more than a call and response of song; it’s a call and response of the heart. It’s your sweetheart telling you all the things to you you wish they’d say, and it’s your own desires calling to theirs. I mean, it’s saccharine to the max and the instrumentation is dated. But it’s pure in a way that only the Backstreet Boys could really execute.
- Larger Than Life. What an impeccable song. It’s not just one of Backstreet’s best, it’s one of the greats. How do you even describe the noise at the top? I’ll give it a shot: bwon bwon bwo-oown. Bwo-oa-oa-ah. It’s both of its time and timeless. I will play “Larger Than Life” at my wedding. I will scream it at my cat. I have no notes for this song. All our lives are the larger for it.
That’s it!! Those are all the songs on Millenium. Anyway, tell Kevin to call me.