Backstreet Boys Making Big Changes


(BB, January 1998)

In this exclusive interview, the band behind the hit singles Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) and As Long As You Love Me share their New Year's resolutions with BB.

< C'mon admit it: There are one or two things you wouldn't mind changing about yourself. Maybe you want a bod that's totally toned and muscled. Or maybe you wish you could stop procrastinating and start doing your homework as soon as you get home from school instead of frantically stressing about it at the last minute.

Well, what are you waiting for? Now is the perfect time to make those changes! You can start off the new year with a new-and-improved you, just like the Backstreet Boys. As the five Orlando, Florida-based bandmates recently shared with BB, they're sure that their New Year's resolutions will totally change their lives for the better.

In Nick Carter's case, that means cutting back on candy bars and fast food. "I don't get into New Year's resolutions, really," the 17-year-old singer tells BB. This year, however, Nick does have one serious resolution: "To not eat so much," he says.

However, that's hard to do when you're on the road and you have to grab a bit at the closes, most convenient restaurants, which often means fast-food joints and greasy spoons. "It's really hard to stay healthy on the road," Nick confides. "It takes work."

For Nick, his healthy resolution means cutting back on the cans of his fave beverage, Mountain Dew, that he drinks every day and not eating more than a few slices of his all-time fave food--pizza--in one sitting. It also means that when he and his bandmates chow down at fastfood joins like McDonald's, NIck might want to resist ordering those yummy but fat-and-calorie-filled French fries that he likes so much with his burger.

Yet Nick won't be the only answering "no" when the McDonald's cashier ask, "Do you want fries with that order?" A.J. McLean is also determined to stick to a healthier diet in 1998 by cutting back on fast food. "My New Year's resolution is to stop eating at McDonald's," says A.J., who turns 20 on January 9. "But it's going to be so hard because I've been eating there since I was 6. It tastes so good, I'd eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I had a choice!" But as yummy as this greasy fast food may be, A.J. knows that it isn't as good for his bod as vitamin and nutrient-packed veggies and fruits, which is why he's reluctantly resolving to stop eating it.

In addition to filling his bod with healthier foods, A.J. aslo plans to start managing his more more responsibly in 1998. "I need to budget," the singer admits to us. "I spend way too much money on frivolous things. I'm an impulse shopper. I don't have time to go shopping, so when I do, I don't take my time. I just buy."

While A.J. works on managing his money, BSB's Kevin Richardson will be busy trying to manage his time more effectively. "My New Year's Resolution is to manage my time more wisely than I have in the past," the 25-year-old singer tells BB. "With all the touring that we do, and with our schedules, I don't have a lot of free time. I want to make the most of the little time that I do have so I can get my personal life in order."

But that's hard to do when you get so little sleep that you feel totally exhausted most of the time. That's why, Keivn shares, "I'm also going to have to work on my sleeping habits. We're so busy now that when we do get some free time, we don't want to waste it sleeping. So I get back to the hotel rooms and I'm wtaching TV, reading, writing music, or playing video games. It's hard for me to wind down and just go to sleep."

Like Kevin, Brian Littrell knows that he has to put some effort into taking care of himself while the band is on the road. It's way to easy to let yourself get too little sleep, stop working out, and eat nothing but bad-for-you foods. But Brian also knows that depriving your bod of a healthy diet, excercise, and sleep eventually takes it's toll, leaving him exhausted and cranky. "My resolution is to focus on me rather than the band a little more," Brian, 22, tells us. "I need to eat healthier and start taking better care of myself."

That inclues continuing to take care of his fingernails. "My resolution last year was to stop biting them, and I stuck with it," Brian declares. "But I'd still like to gnaw them off right now! I still have that craving, but I'm not embarrassed by my hands anymore when I'm signing autographs and holding microphones. I've seen many photos that I didn't like because of my hands."

But of all the Backstreet Boys, Howie Dorough may be the one who has to work the hardest to keep his New Year's resolution. Trying not to nibble on your nails, adding sleep to your daily schedule, and steering clear of fast foods are easy compared to what Howie will be doing in 1998: trying to overcome serious insecurity. "This is the same resolution I have every year, and I never actually deal with it," the 24-year-old singer confesses. "I'm very bad at making decisions. I'm the type of person who's always asking everyone's opinions on everything whether it's clothing, or whether it's to do this or that or whatever. I ask too many people and I end up getting too many different answers. That gets me confused, which makes it even harder to make a decision. So, I want to try to become secure enough with my own decisions that I can just accept them."

Trusting himself to make good decisions won't be an easy thing for Howie to learn. After all, it takes many months of therapy for some people to learn to do this! But with Howie's determination to change, and with the support his bandmates are sure to give him, we're betting that this will be the year he finally succeeds with sticking to his New Year's resolution. In fact, we're sure all of the Backstreet Boys have the willpower to stay true to their resolutions--which means, of course, that at this time next year, you'll be seeing an even better version of the Backstreet Boys!

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