It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from the Backstreet Boys. Fans greatly enjoyed “Millennium,” an album absolutely true to Backstreet Boys’ style. “Black and Blue,” however, was not as well-received. So of course, now that “Never Gone” has come out, fans all over have been wondering just what this time away has done for the boy band’s music. Aside from the fact that it has become overplayed on the radio, “Incomplete” is a good song. It’s a little cliché; the lyrics seem to follow the same format as any other post-breakup song. The actual instrumental music itself makes up for it, though. While it’s not something I think should be played on repeat over and over, it’s a nice, chill song however it does tend to get old fast. Here's an overview of the rest of the tracks found on the album:
“Just Want You to Know” is a lot more up-beat. I find this song to be a lot catchier than most of the other songs on the album. In my opinion, this would’ve been a better first single than “Incomplete.” This is a song that you really could listen to a few more times and still be singing along.
“Crawling Back to You” is basically another version of “Incomplete.” The topic of choice is exactly the same, but with different words and a tempo that actually does move the song along. Because of the slightly faster tempo, this song sounds a lot less whiny than “Incomplete.”
Honestly, when listening to the album, I’m not sure where “Weird World” even came from. The band is known for songs along the lines of the first three, whereas this song includes a reference to the current war and seems a little out of place. While the Backstreet Boys are not known for deviating much from the typical boy band patterns, “Weird World” is something a little different yet still remaining somewhat true to their overall style.
The lyrics of “I Still...” touch upon the same “woe is me, I lost you,” subject. Aside from the lyrics, though, it’s also slightly more upbeat.
“Poster Girl” is perhaps the best song on the album. It’s very upbeat and doesn’t detail the tragic remains of a person post-break up. I think that the song is somewhat clever; songs like this by other bands tend to have incredibly raunchy lyrics, which is okay for some artists however, had the Backstreet Boys taken the song to that level, they would have sounded fake. But the subject and the way it was carried out is well-balanced.
“Lose It All,” is one of the slower songs on the album. It’s another typical-of-Backstreet Boys sort of song and it tends to be repetitive.
“Climbing the Walls,” is an interesting song. Some parts of it sound a lot better than others. It seems as though the Backstreet Boys were trying to sounds a bit too different than their previous albums but that they felt the need to try and interject pieces of their older songs. It sounds a little odd at first, but it’s not a bad song.
There’s no doubt that “My Beautiful Woman” is from their new album. Just by the title and the notable switch from “girl” to “woman” in the lyrics, it’s clearly an example of their growth since the days of their first album. The musical aspect of the song definitely differentiates it from not only the other songs on the album, but from their past repertoire in general.
I really like the phrase “You’re My Safest Place to Hide,” so that song intrigued me when I looked up the songs on the new album. It’s another slow one and some of the other lyrics sound a bit like everything else, but the Backstreet Boys are not known for anything else. Maybe it’s just because I think that “You’re my favorite place to hide,” is such a good line in a song, but I like it.
“Siberia” is another good song. The lyrics themselves don’t pretend to tell some kind of unique story but any number of songs can talk about how cold someone feels in such a situation, but using “Siberia” to describe it creates more and better imagery. Also, the verses tend to be very slow while the chorus speeds up a bit, which sounds very good in this song.
“Never Gone” is the typical slow song that’s destined to be played in the future at proms and other such affairs. I like that instead of post-breakup trauma, this song instead is a fond remembrance; it makes for a little variety on the album.
Overall, a lot of the songs on the album tend to sound the same. However, the ones that stand out will please the fans who have been watching the Backstreet Boys grow musically since day one. But at the end of the day, the Backstreet Boys are the Backstreet Boys so if you were not a fan before, this album will probably not convert you, but for those die-hard fans, I don’t believe it will disappoint, either.
Artist:
Backstreet Boys