The year was 1999 and the Backstreet Boys were preparing to release one of the most important songs in their discography. I want it like thisfirst single from the boyband’s third album, Millenniumpremiered on April 12 and became an international hit. The song, which earned three Grammy nominations including Song of the Year, reached number 1 in over 25 countries, while in the United States it reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Screaming “Tell me why!” “, the song by the group formed by Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell became a late 90s pop anthem. However, not all has been joy and good news in the history of this subject. When it was released, some of the public and specialist critics were completely confused for one reason: what did the lyrics mean?
A meaningless letter?
For the most famous song in their entire repertoire, the Backstreet Boys turned to two Swedish composers: Andreas Carlsson and Max Martin. Martin, now known for helping to compose some of the most popular songs by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, was beginning to work in the industry at that time.
Maybe this little experience played a role when writing the lyrics. “When Max had the original idea for the song, it already included the line ‘You are my fire, the only desire.’ We tried a million different variations for the second verse, and eventually we had to go back to what sounded so good. Then we changed it to “Am I your fire, your only desire?” » (Am I your fire, your only desire?), which It made absolutely no sense in combination with the chorus… But everyone loved it,” Carlsson explained afterwards.
The boys of the boy band sang “I Want It That Way”, which, beyond the title, was one of the key phrases of the song, but What exactly did they want and how? Many listeners then tried to analyze the lyrics, without finding a very clear explanation of the meaning. Carlsson later explained that the ambiguity of the lyrics was mainly due to the fact that Martin was barely fluent in English at the time.
The boyband’s reaction
In 2020, members of the Backstreet Boys appeared on Watch what’s happening liveAndy Cohen’s talk show, where they confessed the absurdity of their hit. A fan dared to take the plunge the question that many have been asking for over 20 years. “Why do they sing ‘I never want to hear you say / I want it that way’? What way don’t they want it to be?” » he asked the famous choir.
It was AJ McLean who answered him. “First of all, the song doesn’t make sense. There was a completely different version that made sense, and luckily we decided to go back to the one that didn’t. I don’t think (the success) would have been as great.if (the song) had made sense,” confessed the singer and rapper of the boy band.
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