‘I think This Is Us is definitely the Backstreet Boys being comfortable with who we are,’ Littrell says.

The Backstreet Boys are back. And on their latest album, This Is Us, the guys are declaring their return to the sound that made them famous back in the late ’90s.

Gone are the adult-contemporary touches they’ve favored in recent years. It’s back to the pulsating beats and dance-music vibe. And Brian Littrell thinks now is the perfect time for the guys to show the world they still have what it takes.
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You grew up in the 90s, a time brimming with Beanie Babies, Titanic and, of course, boy bands. Artists like 98 Degrees and ‘N Sync pretty much defined your entire childhood, so when you heard that the Backstreet Boys reunited to release their seventh studio album, it’s probable that you could barely contain your excitement.

After downloading all 11 tracks from This is Us, you prepare yourself for music that, like you, has changed since the boy band explosion of the late 1990s but still contains the magic that had you screaming your head off anytime Nick or A.J. busted a move on MTV. This is going to be awesome. Right? Wrong.
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Backstreet Boys began as a group of wide-eyed teenagers but 16 years later, after battles with drug addiction and the loss of loved ones, believe their seventh album shows they have matured.
The Backstreet Boys, the first U.S. group launched by boy band mogul Lou Pearlman, started as a five-member band with a list of chart hits but is now a quartet.

The band took a break from 2002 but returned two years later, with a fifth album released in 2005, “Never Gone,” then a sixth, “Unbreakable,” in 2007 after singer Kevin Richardson left in 2006 which did not sell as well.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Backstreet Boys are back (all right!). I have seen the future of music and it is good. This is Us, the latest endeavor by the ‘90s boy band, ushers the group to a new level of maturity. The lyrics are heartfelt and soulful, the best that I have heard in a long, long time. Picture a beautiful stream filled with choirs of angels… Pffft… Singing… Songs… About beauty and—HAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, I couldn’t keep a straight face.

Seriously though, it’s difficult to eloquently explain the experience of listening to this album without the use of a shotgun. Here is the best explanation that I can give after several hours of thought.
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The first time I ever heard the Backstreet Boys, I was 10 years old and on my way to the hospital to be treated for a fractured wrist. The song was “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),” and boy, did those dreamboats have me hooked. Amid my pain and my hatred for Ralph Green — the boy responsible for my broken arm — I still remember thinking, “Man, this is going to be my new favorite band. These guys are going to be huge.”

And huge they were, snagging fans like me and just about every other 8- to 17-year-old girl in 1997 after the release of their self-titled debut. The hits kept coming — “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” “I Want It That Way,” “Shape of My Heart” — and it seemed like these singing and dancing machines were unstoppable.
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