One of the most successful boy bands in history, The Backstreet Boys, will be releasing their 7th studio album on October 6th. Still only having the remaining four members of the original five, the band has refused to let the loss of one member stop them from doing what they do best.
The record This Is Us will feature the band returning to Max Martin, part of the reason their 1999 album Millennium was such a success and is dubbed some of their best work since that album 10 years ago. The Backstreet Boys has also joined forces with some of today's best producers, including Martin, RedOne who is responsible for Lady Gaga's first two singles, and Ryan Tedder who produced Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and is the frontman for OneRepublic.
Opening with "Straight Through My Heart," the song produced by RedOne, The Backstreet Boys test a new water. Having a strong dance beat, "Straight Through My Heart" is an anthem of falling hard in love, bleeding open and unable to stop. The band may not be Lady Gaga, but the lead single is a departure from previous work and displays their ability to try and stay on top of current trends as they always have.
Produced by Max Martin, "Bigger" is a layered synth mid-tempo ballad infused with some more rhythmic beats that can easily make the listener tap their foot along. It sounds like Martin slapped a vocoder on the guys' voices as well as they sing about a dedicated love who doesn't leave through thick and thin. "Bigger" has the potential to be a big hit if remixed for clubs or even a radio remix. The production is quite mellow for mainstream radio but adding a few more drum hits would make the song much more epic and able to fit in.
However, "All of Your Love (You Need Love)" fulfills that notion more than perfectly. Slammed with some heavy synth leads and a pounding drum, The Backstreet Boys have indeed changed their sound on This Is Us without compromising their traditional R&B likeability. Having such production on the album is almost asking for the album to a bigger success for them as their previous record Unbreakable failed to take off.
A Backstreet Boys album would not be complete with their heartfelt ballads. "Shattered" is just that. "Inside I'm so lost, In the middle of my heart, It's a battlefield of love, I've been fighting far too long," the song plays out into a painful chorus of being broken with soaring vocal notes, displaying the band's maturity in their full grown voices since their beginnings back in 1995. The message and the vocal production of "Shattered" is hindered by a lacking backtrack that is just missing something to make it stand out. The mid-tempo ballad titled track "This Is Us" is another that is lacking something to make it pop compared to some of the album's first handful of songs.
It seems the word masquerade is becoming popular as Kelly Clarkson originally titled her latest effort by that name and Ashley Tisdale included a song of the same name on her latest album. "Masquerade" takes a while to build and it's A.J. McLean's voice that stands out most on his segment of the song. Dancing through the night, removing any masks, they're asking their love to stay with them and show them the true colors with no holding back.
One of the standout tracks comes at the very end. "Undone" consists of a haunting melody placed along a drum programming progression. While the relationship is burning out, feeling numb and not wanting to move on, the song insists they can
fix things and be "undone."
This Is Us by The Backstreet Boys is a great effort filled with ups and downs, ballads and hot beats and if marketed properly by their Jive label, can be a hit for the everlasting band.
This Is Us is in stores October 6th.
Source : BSB Anonymous MySpace
Thu 24 Sep - 7:36