Songoftheday 10/1/21 - You are my fire the one desire, believe when I say...

"I Want It That Way" - Backstreet Boys

from the album Millennium (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (eight weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 30

Today's song comes from the Backstreet Boys, who ushered in the "new golden age of the boy-band" with their first American album Backstreet Boys, which went on to sell over eleven million albums and spun off five top ten radio hits with "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)", "As Long As You Love Me", "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", "I'll Never Break Your Heart", and "All I Have To Give". Those songs were split between two international album releases, so by the end of its run the U.S. had caught up with the rest of the world. However trouble was brewing in boyband land as the group, receiving little compensation for the millions of albums they've sold as well as having their manager slash felon Lou Pearlman double-dipping by guiding their competition, N-SYNC, sued Pearlman to leave the company. Also, Brian Littrell had open heart surgery, which was all over the news, right in the middle of their tour. Also, influential Swedish producer Denniz Pop died, leaving protege Max Martin to help helm their sophomore effort Millennium. The lead single from the record, "I Want It That Way" was written by Martin with Andreas Carlsson, and produced by Martin with Kristian Lundin. A midtempo song that's a classic example of people who don't speak English as a "first language" in writing for sounds rather than meaning, the verses and choruses sound nice but admittedly (even by the group) confusing. As for me, I always took it as them singing to a girl who might break up with them in troubled times. At first they're saying they want to stay together, giving their "I want it that way". But apparently the other may not feel the same, having the guys proclaiming "I never want to hear you say I want it that way", meaning they don't want her saying it's over. At least that was my impression. All in all, it was more about the smooth melody and harmonies in the chorus than the content, and the rabid fans, as well as radio, was pleased. The music video has the now-iconic scene of them ready to board a private plane donned all in white, like angelic Romeos trying to calm their woman with song...

"I Want It That Way" became the Backstreet Boys' sixth consecutive top ten pop hit in America in June of 1999. The song was massive on "easy listening" radio (attracting all the 'cougars' will do that), spending ten weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary radio chart, while making it to #11 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format list. It also got to #5 on the Rhythmic radio list (stations that focused on R&B and dance music). Internationally, the single topped the charts in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, and Greece. It also made the top ten in Canada (#2), Australia (#2), Sweden (#2), Denmark (#2), Hungary (#2), Ireland (#3), Belgium (#4F/#7W), and Finland (#4), and peaked in France at #20. The Millennium album, released in May of that year, spent ten weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to move over fifteen million copies in the U.S.. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "I Want It That Way" was nominated for three awards, losing Song of the Year and Record of the Year to Santana for their "Smooth" with Rob Thomas, while losing Best Pop Duo/Group Performance to Santana's "Maria Maria". The Millennium album was also nominated for Album of the Year, which went to Santana again for Supernatural, and Pop Vocal Album, which Sting took home for Brand New Day. Both the Backstreet Boys and this album will return to the series.

(10/10)

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Here's the Boys premiering the song on British television in 1999...