Some boy bands never die; they break up, regroup, go on hiatus, try again. And, of course, they grow up.

The Backstreet Boys, so popular here during their late ’90s heyday, have set a release date for a new CD, “This Is Us.”
The 11-track disc comes out Oct. 6 on Jive Records. The first single is called “Straight Through My Heart.”

The Backstreeters have a link to the Birmingham area, in case you’d forgotten: band member Howie Dorough has cousins in Homewood.
Read more »

The Backstreet Boys are back, all right, and not just on the radio waves. The same day the bubblegum pop sensation of the late ‘90s announced it would release a new album this fall, one of the group’s members was busy with his own new release – bankruptcy court papers.

Howie Dorough (not the blond one that all the girls crushed on, nor the wholesome lead singer or the older one, and certainly not the bad boy) filed an objection Tuesday in the Chapter 11 proceeding of Lou Pearlman, the boy band mogul who spawned the Backstreet Boys and their rival for pre-teen hearts, ‘NSync. Read more »

The lead single off the new BackStreet Boys album is “Straight Through My Heart (Soldier Down)”.

The track is pop-gold. There is a feeling of freedom enhanced by the image of a picturesque and crowded dance floor, but also a sense of longing. As a good dance track indicates, there is room to get lost within the beats with hips to shake and hands to frail up in the air whilst still allowing loneliness to be questioned. In a crowded room with other individuals that are questioning life like everybody else, it is nice to be able to bond over the fact that we are all looking for happiness, and good music let’s that happen. As silly as it sounds, the type of songs like “Soldier Down” are the ones that you remember, regardless of their popularity or selling power.
Read more »

Backstreet Boys announced today (July 28) that it will release its ninth album, “This is Us,” Oct. 6 on Jive Records. The lead single, “Straight Through My Heart,” has just been released to radio and can be heard on the group’s MySpace page.

The 11-track set follows the Backstreet Boys’ platinum-certified 2005 reunion album “Never Gone” and 2007′s “Unbreakable,” which sold 1.7 million copies worldwide but less than 150,000 in the U.S.
Group members Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean contributed to the writing and producing of “This is Us,” joined by original Backstreet Boys hitmaker Max Martin, T-Pain, RedOne, Soulshock & Karlin, Jim Jonsin and Claude Kelly. Other announced track titles include “Bigger,” “Bye Bye Love” and “She’s a Dream.”
Read more »

The Backstreet Boys, who must so be wishing they’d picked a different name since most of them are in their 30s now, will release their seventh studio album, “This is Us,” on Oct. 6.

“This is Us” is the second BSB album since founding member Kevin Richardson left in 2006. It follows “Unbreakable,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. No singles from the project rose above #86 on the Billboard Hot 100.

BSB-Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean-enlisted such producers/songwriters as T-Pain, longtime cohort Max Martin, RedOne, Soulshock and Karlin, Jim Jonsin and Claude Kelly.
Read more »