Sony BMG
Release Date: October 14th 2022
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Backstreet Boys – A Very Backstreet Christmas (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- White Christmas
- The Christmas Song
- Winter Wonderland
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Last Christmas
- Oh Holy Night
- This Christmas
- Same Old Lang Syne
- Silent Night
- I’ll Be Home For Christmas
- Christmas in New York
- Together
- Happy Days
- Feliz Navidad (Deluxe Edition)
- It’s Christmas Time Again (Deluxe Edition)
The Backstreet Boys have been in and around the music industry for quite some time, ever since the 1990s with their smash hits like ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’, ‘I Want It That Way’, ‘As Long As You Love Me’, ‘Quit Playing Games With My Heart’, ‘Larger Than Life’, and ‘Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely’, to name a few. They’ve created songs for the radio, and songs for the avid BSB fan (not necessarily myself, but plenty of others around the world), and now more than 3 decades later on, they are still at it, this time with a holiday album A Very Backstreet Christmas, released in October 2022, and written and recorded throughout the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns over the last 2-3 years. Brian, Howie, Nick, Kevin and A.J. have crafted an album that is certain to be loved, enjoyed and respected, by anyone who appreciates traditional carols, fun-filled holiday songs, or even anyone who has loved Backstreet Boys’s material previously. Fans of artists like Westlife, Take That, Boyzone or even *NSYNC will be pleased with this holiday album, and while I myself am not necessarily a huge fan of these guys, I still found myself enjoying numerous tracks throughout this album. Much of these songs don’t necessarily deviate from their original counterparts, and maybe that’s ok. But what this album brings to the table within and amongst the whole plethora of other Christmas albums, is this- that A Very Backstreet Christmas is a reminder of the talent that the Backstreet Boys are, and that a band from the 1990s (who’s prominence is still from the 90s too) can still make music that speaks, even now. Sure, most of these songs are songs we’ve heard before, at every Christmas, in years and even decades gone by. But we haven’t heard them the ‘Backstreet Boys’ way, and surely that ought to count for something, right?
In all seriousness, this album released at the end of 2022, and now we’re at the beginning of 2024…well, I dunno if this album made enough ‘waves’ for it to even be mentioned by anyone a year later. To be honest, I’m not even sure places like JB Hi Fi (in Australia) and Walmart (in America) are even stocking this album at the moment, which makes me assert that this album is for the BSB enthusiast…and that’s about it. One look at the track list and you can see that the ‘usual suspect’ songs are there- ‘White Christmas’, ‘The Christmas Song’, ‘Winter Wonderland’, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, ‘This Christmas’, ‘Silent Night’ and ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ are all present on this album, while WHAM fan-favourite ‘Last Christmas’ is given the BSB treatment. Even worshipful carol ‘O Holy Night’ is presented here on this track list, as well as deluxe only ‘Feliz Navidad’, not to mention Backstreet Boys originals ‘It’s Christmas Time Again’, ‘Happy Days’, ‘Together’ and ‘Christmas in New York’.
However, as much as this album delivers on the musical front (soaring harmonies and powerful instrumental moments of grandeur), I dunno if this album has a lot of ‘substance’ when it comes down to it- there isn’t much of a ‘wow’ factor that ought to set this album apart from other Christmas album releases that have been released by artists over the years. Sure, these 5 members from arguably the most popular male vocal group ever, have created an album that is sure to resonate with BSB fans around the world, the album seems to unfortunately pale when trying to project to a wider target audience. The album is fine, but that’s just all that the album is. Maybe, just maybe, another way to broaden the appeal of any future Backstreet Boys Christmas albums in the future, would be to cover more ‘obscure’ Christmas carols, or even write more and more Christmas originals? Or maybe even cover songs like ‘The Christmas Shoes’ or ‘Christmas is All In The Heart’? Who knows. Until then, time for me to listen to Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God, again, and then again, for good measure.
3 songs to listen to: Together, It’s Christmas Time Again, Happy Days
Score: 2.5/5
RIYL: Westlife, Take That, Boyzone, *NSYNC, Ronan Keating, Robbie Williams