A Very Backstreet Christmas, the Backstreet Boys’ first holiday album, will be released on October 14 and will include both original songs and covers.
When putting up the record, band members AJ McLean and Nick Carter told Variety that they discovered inspiration in an unexpected source – another former boyband member.
“Nick would be the first to tell you he really wanted ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’ to be the inspiration for one song,” McLean, 44, of Justin Timberlake’s single, told the publication. “He wanted that really happy, funky vibe.”
“It’s funny because there’s all this stuff about Backstreet versus *NSYNC, but we’re all about good songs and good movies and Trolls was a movie we watched a lot with our kids,” Carter, 42, said of the 2016 film “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
“Justin wrote a really great song,” Carter added, “and we wanted to write a happy, uplifting song with the same feel.” “Especially given the state of the world right now.” ‘Let’s put some nice things out there,’ we thought, so we created ‘Happy Days.'”
The holiday album will include original music as well as classics such as “White Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland.” The first song, “Last Christmas,” a rendition of Wham”Last !’s Christmas,” was released on September 6.
“This is Backstreet in its truest form,” McLean stated of the new album. “It’s very mature, and the vocals sound fantastic.” We sound better as a group than we have in years. ‘This will be on repeat in our house,’ my wife says. In July, she begins playing Christmas songs.”