(North Hunterdon High School Paw Prints, December 2000)
by Amanda LaMarca
Threse boys have no reason to be singing the blues after the release of their new album, Black & Blue. The Backstreet Boys' album was released on November 21, and in its first week of sales, sold 1.6 million copies, easily debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Magazine Top 200 chart.
Kevin, Nick, A.J., Howie, and Brian put on a 100-hour promotional tour of the world, stopping for news conferences at landmarks in a half-dozen countries. In addition, the Backstreet Boys also had a weekend of MTV programming to promote their album, and had a live performance broadcast ot more the 1,000 Wal-Marts on the day the album was released.
Although Black & Blue did not break the record of N'Sync's No Strings Attached, which sold 2.4 million copies its first week, it did break the sales of a its previous album, Millennium, which sold 1.13 million copies. Some believe that the reason for this album not breaking the record may be a loss of some fans that were grief-stricken over the recent marraiges of band members, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson.
The Backstreet Boys are a hit all over the world. In the US, whil Black & Blue is at Number 1, Millennium, which debuted May 18, 1999, is still on the charts at No. 85.
Their new single off Black & Blue, "Shape of My Heart," is at No. 10 in the US, and is in the top five in other places of the world, such as, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
On Black & Blue, the boys are now writing a few of their own songs, edging to a more mature sound. They went on a week and a half "writing trip" to the Bahamas, where they collectively wrote seven or eight songs for their new album. Millennium, and their self-titled debut album, Backstreet Boys, both had many of the typical pop songs. But now they are straying from the norm, and have broken out with a new sound that is great to listen to. The arrangements of songs go from funky, like on "The Call" and "Shining Star," to soft, like "I Promise You (With Everything I Am)" and "Time," but the whole blend comes together. They also have a song dedicated to their fans entitled, "Everyone."
It is a CD you will want to listen to the whole way through and is great no matter your mood.
Those of you who are not planning on purchasing Black & Blue because you are not into the whole boy band scene, should not be so quick to judge this album. Black & Blue has a wide range of songs, and there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Paw Prints
staff writer
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