If Spotify had existed in 1999, at this point in the year there would be a name that would be in all the application’s music summaries: Backstreet Boys. The Orlando group didn’t need millions of downloads on platforms or an exorbitant number of followers on Instagram to become the biggest boyband in history, a title that they still hold 30 years after their debut and that they defend with tremendous energy on the scenery. His latest world tour, DNA World Tour, confirms this.
The secret that this group, which many did not predict a great journey, remains active lies in the respect that its members, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Nick Carter, have for each other, something that allows them carry out solo projects without the band’s health suffering. McLean presents his new television adventure at the head of The Fashion Hero, a fashion space that “promotes internal beauty, where if you are being true and authentic you are being beautiful inside and out.” The contest, in which participants face their fears and insecurities to bring out the best in themselves, is currently casting its fourth season, something of which the performer, who also serves as executive producer, feels very proud. “We need more programs like this in the world. More positivity, more inspirational television. There is a lot of toxicity in the world, a lot of negativity on both social media and television. The perception of what beauty is, and what is real and what is not real,” he comments.
The development of this program has been parallel to the personal journey that the artist is taking after overcoming the addictions he has carried since his youth. “I spent 12 weeks in Arizona participating in an intensive program dedicated to mental health for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. My sobriety is solid, but I wanted to get back to the point of ‘why has all this happened?’ This is something that also inspired me to sit down and talk to my father after 42 years,” he tells La Vanguardia. The singer reunited with his mother last September to heal the wounds of the past. Another point that he is working on is that of limits with himself: “Understanding that AJ is a character, it is not who I am, it does not define me. Being a Backstreet Boy is my job. Alex is really who I am, AJ is my character, but I had the two together for a long time and I let AJ take over Alex, who was never able to shine. “I deal with it every day, I’m still learning.”
McLean speaks openly about his mental health problems and physical complexes to show that they are also a reality for big stars like him. An example of this was the body dysmorphia that he suffered years ago: “I feel that many men who have suffered from body dysmorphia want to show themselves as a ‘macho’, like ‘I’m fine’ when in reality they are not fine on the inside. I looked in the mirror and I didn’t like what I saw, and I punished myself, that’s why I starved myself. He didn’t eat or eat an apple all day. And that is not healthy, it is not life. That also affects your head.”
The digital environment in which we operate, dominated by social networks, is one of the demons that people like him have to battle, although the worst is borne by the youngest. AJ McLean is the father of two girls, one 11 and the other 6 years old, and he has already had talks with them on the subject. “My youngest daughter, Lyric, has come to talk to me and her mother about her weight and her body. This shouldn’t happen, but it does. It is a challenge to talk to your child and try to be as firm as you can. But I have simply told her: ‘Look, you are perfect, just the way you are. You are 6 years old, you are still growing, and you will continue to change. People who have said negative things about you have problems with themselves, they don’t like the way they are and they need to project that onto other people. They don’t control you. They don’t dictate your emotions or the way you see yourself. You do,” she shares.
At 45 years old, AJ McLean looks back and can’t hide how much Backstreet Boys fans mean to them. “Our fans have grown up with us and many have become family, they have become an extension of who we are,” she reflects on those teenagers who today attend her concerts accompanied by their children.
How is it possible that that training for pubescents has gone through three decades and is still standing? “For the brotherhood. Many bands may stay, but they hate each other or can’t even be in the same room. That’s not us. This is our family. Yes, we have our families, but this was the first of all. So definitely our brotherhood is what makes me most proud because I think we are now more united than ever,” he says with a smile and the promise of many more years of Backstreet Boys. The artist confirms that by 2024 they have something “very big” on their hands but that, for now, he cannot give any clues. We will have to wait to find out what they surprise the public with that continues to be loyal after three decades.
