You know it’s time to get the Backstreet Boys back together again when AJ McLean is seen dressed as a sloppy tranny on a street corner.

Backsteet bad boy AJ took part in a shoot by controversial photographer Tyler Shields – the guy responsible for all those hoochie American Apparel ads.

Tyler posted the photo on his website, writing “this is a photo we did in prep of AJ’s wedding which I was the minister of people laughed people cried and Connor Paolo Objected!”

AJ, for the love of God, go back to rehab and go to Harry Rosen and buy yourself a nice pair of dress pants!

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

When we first met Nick Carter, we were under the assumption that he spent most of his free time on a bed of money playing with precious metals. Contrary to our initial thoughts, we were quick to discover that even though he was a part of one of the largest-grossing groups of our generation, he’s just a regular guy. How do we know this? He plays World of Warcraft. Not only that, he’s the head of his guild, demonstrating that it IS possible to juggle being a hardcore gamer with being a top-selling recording artist. Just remember that the next time you blame your lack of a social life on your devotion to your guild.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Once upon a time, long before the sold out stadiums and screaming fans, little Howie D was a self-proclaimed “Dough Boy.” Apparently, his first love wasn’t music, it was Twinkies (insert sponsor here). In all fairness, Howie went on to much better things, however, for this interview the guys reminisce about some of their more embarrassing moments.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Let’s face it, whether you want to admit it or not, we’re all Backstreet Boys fans. However, what happens when they grow up, have children and become Backstreet Men? Howie D talks to @jordans_life about baby making music, becoming a father and his new album titled “Back To Me” (2011).

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Get down, get down and move it all around because Nick Carter’s dropping by the andPOP studio tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Our favourite Backstreet Boy will sit down on the famed red couch with Jordan and since it’s live, anything can happen! Tune in tomorrow at 12:30 here on andPOP.

This wont be the first time Nick’s given a little love to andPOP. In August he chatted with Jordan about the release of his second album, I’m Taking Off. You can watch the hilarious interview here.

Don’t forget to take a longer lunch break tomorrow to catch Nick live in our studio by going on andpop.com at 12:30 and clicking the watch live link. Be there or be square!

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Nick Carter’s a Backstreet Boys vet who’s been hanging on the walls of teenage girls for over a decade. Sure he’s just released his second solo album, but he’s also just completed Call Of Duty: Black Ops for the first time. (That’s got to rank pretty high on his achievements, if you judge by his celebration dance.)

He sat down to talk to us about the new album, what it’s like to be him, and to answer a couple of the questions our Twitter followers, (that’d be you,) demanded he answer. Honestly, we would have asked more, but he’s a very busy man.

Also the interview takes place on Nick Carter’s bed. Is that not enough to get anyone excited?

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Despite the mediocre dance steps, less-than exemplary vocals, and cheesy end-poses following their performance, it was hard to not get excited as NKOTBSB (the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys collaboration name) poured their heart and souls into singing their new single, “Don’t Turn out the Lights,” during the results show of Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday night.

Backstreet Boys also performed their song, “I Want it That Way,” back-to-back with the New Kids on the Block performance of the ever-loved “Step By Step.”

While the singing was strained and not all that exceptional, the bands stuck true to the typical boy-band performance, with the synchronized dancing and all, which made up for the lack of singing-talent that was expressed. It was definitely exciting to see these two bands perform together once again, albeit the fact that it might be their last attempt at some sort of come back (although the DDub himself, Donny Wahlberg, only has about 180,000 followers compared to the c.400,000 of Ryan Butler, who is famous for none other than being Justin Bieber’s best friend, let alone Bieber’s own over-9,000,000 followers; it seems boy bands are just not as valued as they used to be).

Along with their joint album which is to be released soon, NKOTBSB will also be hitting the road together on tour (which this performance gives a small preview of), kicking the festivities off at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL, on May 25, and going through until the last show on July 6 in Anaheim, CA.

Their album, which will be released on May 24, will be comprised of New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys songs off their previous CDs, as well as three NKOTBSB singles; “Don’t Turn out the Lights,” “All in my Head”, and the “NKOTBSB Mash Up.”

Did you catch NKOTBSB’s performance on Dancing with the Stars? Watch the video below and let us know what you thought of the performance!

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Neverest are certainly a talented group of guys who seem to have nailed the boy band formula. They can sing, they can write, and they are certainly cute. But what sets them apart is they have the backing of boy band royalty. Yes, Howie D from Backstreet Boys is backing Neverest. Not a bad way to start a career.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Jordan and Korey swallow their pride to discuss a guilty pleasure, the critically dismissed acts of the 90′s. Hootie and The Blowfish, The Backstreet Boys, The Goo Goo Dolls and Marcy Playground provide some much needed nostalgia.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

A.J. McLean’s substance abuse issues have been so out of control that crew members of the Backstreet Boys tour threatened to quit over his behavior.

TMZ reports that staff on the tour made it clear that if A.J. didn’t seek treatment that they would quit. Apparently his actions have become so out of control that on a recent Backstreet Boys fan cruise, several passengers lodged complaints and some even demanded refunds.

According to the TMZ story, A.J. and his entourage acted like “drunken fools” for the five day trip.

But that’s not the only problem. A.J.’s behavior on a day to day basis has become increasingly difficult. During rehearsals even more people have threatened to quit because of A.J.

Nevertheless McLean is back in rehab and hopefully the BSB train can continue.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys (the one who was usually singing) is in rehab due to substance abuse. As reported by TMZ.com, the singer has been “out of control” in the last few months.

Washup teen bands, The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block were apparently supposed to team up for a tour, but McLean’s drug addiction has put a hold on the plans.

McLean has been dealing with drug problems for many years. In 2001 and 2002 he was in rehab for cocaine and alcohol abuse. The musician is beginning another sober journey. Hopefully this time he will reach enlightenment. Often times these celebrities who receive early success find trouble maintaining their lives without drugs and alcohol. It’s a deadly cycle we have seen regularly.

Perhaps McLean can seek guidance from recently released from rehab Lindsay Lohan.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

I don’t believe we knew this at the time, but many of you know we had the rare opportunity to interview the Backstreet Boys a couple of weeks back. Anyways it turns out that A.J. had pink eye, however we did not know it at the time.

TMZ caught up with A.J. at the airport to ask him about this medical condition. Although A.J. is not a hundred percent sure how we contracted pink eye, he is not ruling out Nick Carter as a suspect.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

So you think the Backstreet Boys are finished? Well you would be dead wrong! We had the rare privilege of talking to the guys right before a recent Toronto show, and believe us, these guys are still hot. The Molson Ampitheatre was completely sold out for this show with thousands of female fans. We spoke with the guys about their amazing career, their amazing fan base, and they give some words of wisdom to Justin Bieber. Oh ya, they also teach Jordan how to dance!

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Last weekend we had the privilege to interview one of the biggest bands of all time, the Backstreet Boys. Although we will be posting a fully edited version of the interview next week, we wanted to post a sneak peak. In this clip, the boys give us some dance tips, and sing happy birthday to a fan who went to some extreme measures to get their attention. Stay tuned for the full interview coming soon!!!!

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Backstreet’s back, alright!

Only this time, critics are not grooving to the music.

The Backstreet Boys have returned with their seventh studio album entitled, This Is Us. But reviews are in, and they are not in favour of the boy (er, man?) band.

The album was released on October 6, and music critics across North America are in agreement: that sure, the Boys deliver a few catchy tunes, but that at the end of the day the album just sounds like a regurgitation of their previous hits.

“Though the Boys were one of the biggest pop acts of the ’90s, they largely hand the reins off to their producers here, who include Lady Gaga’s hit-maker RedOne, Jim Jonsin and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder,” writes August Brown of the Los Angeles Times. “Cuts like ‘Bye Bye Love’ and ‘Straight Through My Heart’ have au courant hotel-lounge decadence to them, and ‘She’s a Dream’ benefits from the light melodic touch of guest T-Pain. But when the boys extol a lady’s virtues because ‘she don’t even know I’m a celebrity,’ the lyric rings of self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Other critics agree.

Elysa Gardner of USA Today writes that the album’s songs don’t ”provide the Boys — now grown, thirtysomething men — with a distinctive musical persona, outside that of an aging teen act. These frothy, synth-laden love songs — co-written and produced by a predictable posse of studio professionals, from old collaborator Max Martin to the now-ubiquitous Ryan Tedder — are basically ghosts of singles past, updated with some contemporary flourishes.”

The Backstreet Boys hit superstardom in the 1990′s, with hits like “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, off of 1997′s Backstreet’s Back, and ”I Want It That Way,” off of 1999′s Millennium. The group took a break after 2000′s hit album Black & Blue, and reunited in 2005 to release Never Gone, which drove BSB fans wild with the hit single, “Incomplete.”

After a successful comeback tour, band member and co-founder Kevin Richardson, decided to leave the group in 2006 to start a family. That left his cousin and co-founder Brian Littrell, as well as AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, and Nick Carter to keep the band going. They did so with 2007′s Unbreakable, which, much like This Is Us, was an attempt to re-ignite a flame that burned in a much-different musical era.

The new album features only the four members.

Still, the Grammy Award nominated band enjoys bringing back that 90′s pop sound, and infusing it with more current approaches.

“We made a conscious effort to go back to being ourselves,” says Littrell on the band’s website. “It’s important for the fans to remember what was, but it’s also important for them to know where we’re headed.”

Nick Carter says, “We always want to top our past albums. That’s always our objective, to create an album where every song could be a single.”

While the chances of This Is Us topping the massive success of the Boys’ early albums is unlikely, perhaps USA Today’s Gardner says it best: “If you’re a band that’s nearly a decade past your commercial heyday, it takes either considerable courage or enormous hubris” to do what they’ve done.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell A. J. McLean and Kevin Richardson reunite for the first time since former ‘Backstreet Boy’ Kevin Richardson left the band in 2006.

Richardson joined the rest of the band in Los Angeles at the Palladium in Hollywood on Sunday (November 23) for the last stop of their “Unbreakable” tour. He did not perform with the band during the “TRL” finale.

The boys told MTV News in October they weren’t so sure Richardson would return to the group after leaving in 2006. Still, they insisted that the door was always open for him to come back.

“In the beginning of the tour, we left a gap onstage where Kevin would be, and then it started closing up,” Carter told MTV News. “We love him to death. We have to move on. We have new goals and dreams.”

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Backstreet’s back – and getting ready to head north.

The Backstreet Boys, less original member Kevin Richardson, announced Tuesday they will tour North America this summer, with 13 Canadian stops scheduled along the way.

Pop group Girlicious, whose four members came together as the winners of a reality show, will open.

The Canadian leg of the tour kicks off July 30 in St. John’s, N.L., before heading for Moncton, Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria.

BSB are hitting the road in support of their 2007 album, “Unbreakable.”

“We couldn’t wait to get back on stage with a big extravagant show using this material as the base,” member Nick Carter said in a statement.

“Half of what we do is vocals and harmonies on our albums, but our other role is as entertainers, which we take great pride in.”

The Backstreet Boys enjoyed huge popularity in ’90s but went on hiatus between 2001 and 2005. They returned in 2005 with a new album, “Never Gone.”

Richardson left the group in 2006 to start a family.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Back when The Backstreet Boys and N’Sync were in the height of their popularity, most 15-year-old girls would have done anything to tour with them. But Mandy Moore, who did just that, told Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“I don’t even think they knew I was there,” she said of her one-time tour mates. “I had a crush on a different guy every day of the week!” adding that Justin Timberlake was her number one obsession at the time.

Unfortunately, Timberlake didn’t exactly whisper sweet nothings to the “Candy” teenybopper. “He told me, ‘You have big feet for a girl,’” Mandy recalled. “I think he was trying to be cute.”

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

The Backstreet Boys have released a new single, Inconsolable, which you can listen to below.

The single will be featured on their next release, slated to hit shelves on Oct. 30.

Inconsolable was written and produced by Emanuel Kiriakou (Nick Lachey “What’s Left Of Me,” Katherine McPhee “Ordinary World”), and co-written by Lindy Robbins and Jess Cates. The track impacts at Top 40 Radio on August 27.

The album will be the first one the Backstreet Boys record without founding member Kevin Richardson. He decided to take a break from the group but Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean are continuing on.

Listen to: Inconsolable

Windows Media 96k
Windows Media 64k
Real Media 96k
Real Media 64k

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Boy band BACKSTREET BOYS are making a return to the pop charts after a two year hiatus.

The group are currently recording their sixth studio album – their first since the departure of Kevin Richardson last year.

The Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) hitmakers’ last disc Never Gone reached number three in the U.S. album charts in 2005.

A spokesperson tells MTV.com that new album will hit stores on Hallowe’en.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance