Following Up A Winner

BSB's American debut (a combination of their first two international releases) has produced four hit songs, en route to spending over a year on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and achieving certified diamond status (five times platinum). Following up such a successful debut puts a tremendous amount of pressure on Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson. After all, fans and critics alike expect nothing short of a smach from the fab five. "Most of the rpessure is just what we put on ourselves," Kevin told us. "We always want to just keep progressing, making better music, better videos, putting on better shows and keep growing."

"There are a lot of things we still want to achieve as a group," Brian added. "A lot of goals and a lot more albums, many more videos."

A New Backstreet Sound?

The Boys have learned so much about music and the business from all their time in the studio, at rehearsal and up onstage. And with the recent death of one of their key producers, Denniz Pop, coupled with the fact that BSB has parted ways with their management, you can expect them to have much more of a hand in making their second record. "The new album will definitely be a growth period for us. Vocal challenges, different producers - we're going to try to broaden our range," A.J. explained. "Everything has been working out great for us for these first two albums. We're not going to make any drastic changes quite yet. The Backstreet Boys have a long way to go."

This may be true as far as longevity, but as far as talent and embition, the Boys have gone to great lengths to add instruments to their repertoire - Nick plays drums, Kevin plays piano and Brian, Howie and A.J. are learning instruments themselves. They've also been trying their hands at producing and song writing. "During the downtime of Brian's surgery, some of us took time to do some writing," Howie told us. "I did some writing with Gary Baker. Kevin and A.J. are going to be doing some writing and Nick is doing some of his own also. So, we're definitely gearing towards writing a lot more material for the next album."

You can also expect to hear some new voices on the next album. "We've already received a couple of demos from the Bee Gees and there's a possibility that we'll work with Teddy Riley from Blackstreet," Kevin said. If all goes as planned, the Backstreet Boys - ALL-STARS

April 1999