The Backstreet Boys just released their very first holiday album, A VeryBackstreet Christmas , and it’s surprising that it took them this long. Afterall, their boy band peers — New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC, Hanson, 98 Degrees— released their own collections of jingle bell pop many seasons ago.
“We’ve been busy — for, um, going on 30 years!” BSB’s Nick Carter jokes toYahoo Entertainment via Zoom, sitting on the set right before their live-streamed “JCP Live Holiday Spectacular” with JCPenney, which Carter’s bandmateKevin Richardson describes as “a variety show-meets-game show-meets-fundraiser- meets-telethon” in conjunction with Feeding America. The quintetwill also be making up for lost time with a more traditional TV special, AVery Backstreet Holiday , coming to ABC and Disney+ on Dec. 14.
“But no, [making a holiday album] been a bucket list of ours,” Cartercontinues. “We grew up listening to holiday songs, Christmas songs. They werein all of our homes when we grew up, and they’re special to us. We talkedabout it for years. … These classic songs are not just our favorites, butthey’re everyone’s out there. And so we wanted to do our best with that. We’rereally proud of this album. It’s charting now, and this is the first timewe’ve actually had an adult contemporary hit — with ‘Last Christmas’ — since’I Want It That Way.’”
“And I just want to add that I feel like this Christmas album happened at theperfect time in our lives and where we’re at as men, because I feel like thethought, the heart, and the soul that we put into the record , it wouldn’thave been the same if we were in our twenties,” notes Richardson. “Like, we’refathers now. We have life experience. And I feel like you feel that in thealbum.”
As the Backstreet Boys have evolved into men over their long career, they> have indeed experienced the ups and downs of life — and Carter just suffered> a massive loss right before the holidays, with the tragic death of his> younger brother, pop star Aaron Carter, on Nov. 5. As Nick sits with his> bandmates — Richardson, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and Brian Littrell — he> says they’re “leaning on one another” during this tough time, but he seems> happy to share a fond Carter family Christmas memory about Aaron.
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“Actually, I was telling the guys… we were getting ready to do our ABCChristmas special and we were sharing some stories, and I didn’t get anopportunity to share this story,” Nick tells Yahoo Entertainment. “But when wewere touring over in Europe, I was around 15 years old, and we were alwaysover in Europe for about three, four years before we actually broke [inAmerica]. And every time we were onstage, things were thrown at us, and therewere all these stuffed animals that were thrown at us. This is when we firststarted; we were just trying to do our best and didn’t really have much at thetime. So, I collected all these stuffed animals and I bagged them up. It waslike a couple of days before we got home for Christmas, and I bagged them allup and I put them in this bag, and I literally had like this huge bag on anairplane. I stuffed it in the bin up there and brought it home.
“And that night, I was a little older so I could help my parents decorate andget things prepared, wait for me to help. So, I was ‘Saint Nick’ that night. Idecorated everything, and I remember setting up these little footprints goingto from the chimney, and I put these cookies out and had a bite out of it.That next morning, all my brother and sisters woke up and they were so excitedto see all these stuffed animals underneath the tree. And I actually put on aSanta outfit and I came out dressed up like Santa, and it was just a beautifultime.”
Carter empathizes with other people who are grieving during the holidayseason, and since he has a strong support system with his bandmates, he alsotakes a moment to offer some kind advice to anyone out there who’s feelinglonely or sad. “There are a lot of people out in this world who are goingthrough times dark times in their lives,” he says. “And I encourage anybodyout there to find someone — pick up a phone, call someone — and just cometogether with anybody, the people that you love the most. It definitely can beone of those times during the year, but just know that there’s people outthere for you.”
The Backstreet Boys have always leaned on each other during hard times, and> working on A Very Backstreet Christmas was another example of that. “The> silver lining during the pandemic was we had some time we had to stop, and> so we jumped into the studio together,” Carter explains. “We hadn’t seen> each other in about six to eight months. We decorated the studio up in Los> Angeles in the middle of summer to look like Christmastime: We had trees, we> had yule logs, we had music, we had eggnog, and we had it all in there in> the heat of summer. And we picked our favorite songs, the things that we> love the most, and then we started recording them. And it took a little> while, but I think it’s also good that it did take some time, because we> were able to perfect it as well. You know, we’re a band that sings in> harmony, so we really were able to get intricate harmonies in all these> songs — make them our own, make them really special.
“People are so hungry for entertainment. They’re so hungry to just gettogether. They want to feel good right now. They just want to come together,”Carter continues. “And I think that’s what the Backstreet Boys represents: agood time in people’s lives. … And that’s what we’re giving them. We’re givingthem an escape from all the crap in the world and just to come together.”
And now, three decades into their career, the Backstreet Boys are celebratingwith their first full holiday record, and they’re still charting hits. Didthey ever envision this future for themselves when they were just startingout, eking out a meager living on the road and stockpiling stuffed animals?
“We had hoped, when we signed up for this 30 years ago, that we wanted to havea career ,” stressed Littrell. “At the end of the day, when you’re in themusic business, it’s not about a flash-in-the-pan, it’s not about a one-hit-wonder, it’s not about the flavor-of-the-month , or whatever that is. It’skind of like sharing your goal, sharing your life together, and building acareer. And that’s exactly what we set out to do on April 20, 1993, when wefirst were introduced to everybody. This journey began, and here we are. Ithink we love this experience and we love the band even more today than we didyears ago. Just sharing our lives together, becoming a part of each other’sfamilies, and growing and nurturing each other and being there for one another— that’s what makes this band so special. And that’s what makes people like, Ibelieve, JCPenney, call up the Backstreet Boys and say, ‘Hey, could you be onthis special with us?’ We just want to bring people together. Music bringspeople together, and having that bond that we’ve shared for 30 years makes ourmusic even more special.”
_Watch Yahoo Entertainment ‘s full-extended interview with the Backstreet Boysabout their holiday album and two holiday specials, the rumor that JohnMellencamp protested being on the same record label as BSB, and AJ McLean’smemorable and victorious run on another television show, _Secret Celebrity