Laurent and Charlene met AJ and Brian.
That's the whole story + the Interview she posted:
So finally, I'm coming to you to give you the full story about myinterview with the Backstreet Boys. It was quite an experience in anykind of way!
For those who didn't follow, I got the opportunity to interview theboys this last friday. I've learnt the news on Thursday, so I didn'thave that time left to prepare it. I asked the fan from this forum andsome fansites to help me out. I got some good questions from you alland I thank you for that. Here's the full story (I'll edit it later tofit the article I'm gonna write in french for the magazine I work for).
First of all, I had a meeting with the staff scheduled at 6.45 pm... Ibrought my wife with me (she was a big fan before... and we actuallymet at a Backstreet Boys show in 1998) as she also work for themagazine. We left Brussels, heading to Antwerp, at 5.pm... But after 5minutes, we got stucked in the traffic jam because of an accident. Youcan imagine how stressed we were ("Come on! Not today please!")
We were blocked for an hour... and then, we had to rush to arrive in Antwerp in time.
We arrived a the lotto arena at 7.00pm... I just had the time to dropCharlene (my wife) at the entrance and then I had to park the carsomewhere. I found a spot, ran out of the car, arrived at the entrance,call the staff... and they say they don't wanna let me in becausethere's already someone from my magazine inside (my wife that is). Ihad to negociate 10 minutes withe girl from Sony music before they letme in... I had to enter the room while my wife was already doing theinterview... but here we were, finally meeting AJ and Brian (Howie wasnot there and Nick didn't want to do an interview... We saw him comingclose to us, looking at us from head to toes without a word -'hello' orsomething- He looked a lot pretencious)
When Charlene arrived, the guys were about to shake hands, but she directly said :
Charlene "Can I have a kiss please ?"
AJ: "Of course"
Charlene: "(To AJ) You're so nice. (then to Brian) Youdon't know who you are to me. I can't believe this is happening. Firstof all, I'm not really a journalist, my husband is... But he's stuckedoutside because we were late...
The guys to the staff: "Come on, let him in"
Charlene: "Thanks guys ... Younger, I was a huuuge fan of you, I would have just screamed and jumped on you if I had met you then. "
Eveybody laugh...
Then, I finally enter the room : "Hi guys, sorry, I'm late...."
AJ: "That's cool man ! ..."
Charlene : Ok, first of all let us tell you that it is abig pleasure for us to finally meet you because first of all, we’veboth been to all of your concerts in Belgium since the very beginningof your career and most of all because without you we would never havemet. We met 11 years ago at your concert in Gent and we are now marriedand so happy together…What’s more, we make music together….that is allthanks to you
Brian: "Woaw, great !!"
AJ: "Backstreet boys bringing couples together ? That's cool!"
Laurent: " Ok, let's start. This album is called, “this is us”,Does that mean that this album really IS YOU, that it represents yourmusic, your world more than your other albums?"
AJ: "Yes, it is actually. "Never gone" was more like a kindarock album, wich was cool but it wasn't really us. We wanted torecreate the Backstreet sound. We found it back a bit with"Unbreakable" but we really think we found it with this new album"
Charlene: "I'm surprised because when we know your musicaltastes and your personalities, we expect something a bit more special,unexpected...
Brian: "We wanted songs that we could dance ton on tour because,on the previous tour, the reaction of the audience was better for theold songs than the new one. This time, we wanted everybody to dance onour new songs. We really wanted to go back to real backstreet sound."
Charlene: So you like every track of the album and you were free to chose all the songs that made it on the final tracklist ?
Both: Yes, if one of us doesn't like a song, we don't put it on the record
Brian: Of course, our personal tastes and Backstreet Boys musicaren't aren't exactly the same but we like our music and we are proudof this album.
Charlene: But I've read on the internet that Brian didsn't like "Masquerade" ? Is it true? And if it is, why did you keep it ?
Brian: Well, we got a voting system. Before Kevin's departure,we were 5 so there was always a majority. Now, we're 4, so sometimes,it's 2 against 2 and, in this case, this our label our our managementthat take the final decision. In the case of "Masquerade", that's a guyfrom our label that decided to keep it.
AJ: And we should fire him (laugh) Because Brian and I had voted for "Fallen Angel" instead.
Charlène: I love "Fallen angel", that's such a good song. I'msorry to admit it but I've downloaded some tracks that were leaked. Iwas disapointed that it wasn't on the record.
- Brian starts to sing the chorus of "Fallen angel" -
Brian: Yeah, we both love that track... But we're already happy that we could have 12 tracks on the record.
Laurent: Why don't you release it later as a new unreleased single then ?
Both:Yeah, It would be great... But it's not only up to us.
Laurent: An why didn't you keep "Hologram" ?
- Brian starts singing "Hologram" to us -
AJ: We first heard it recorded by a solo artist
Laurent: By Chris Brown and Dre ?
AJ: Yeah. that's it. But when we recorded it together, wethought it sounded better sang by a solo artist. And we really thinkChris Brown is going to release it in the future
Laurent: What about "She's trouble ?"
AJ: Man !! That really was my favorite track. I was really sad we couldn't keep it.
Brian (talking to AJ): But you know we had to make a choice. We could only keep 12 tracks.
Charlène: Why didn't you keep 14 tracks then ?
Brian: We would have loved to, if we could but...
(making a face)
Charlene: It's all about the money!
Brian: Yes, it's all about the money... Anyway, Neyo wanted togive it to Dima Bilan (famous russian singer) because he was sure touse the song as a single... and had more money to put on that song
Laurent: You've been very successful, you've sold millions ofrecords... Now things have changed and the music business is moredifficult. Do you feel the difference ?
Brian: Of course, we feel the difference. The world of musicbusiness has changed a lot. With all the mp3 downloads on the internet,record sales are more difficult... but you have to adapt...As you said,you downloaded our tracks....
Charlene: ... Yeah, but we bought the CD when it was out.
Brian: It's alright. We download as well. Everyone does it ! But you know, when we were away for 4 years (- between Black & Blue and Never gone -) , that's normal that nobody cared that we were back.
Charlène: "That's not true, you always had your true fans that supported you !
Brian: Yes, yes, that's true... I mean, you have to reintrioduceyourself to the general public...because people thinks you quit, thatit's over.
Charlène: Yes, that's true! When I said to my friends (of thesame age) that I was about to interview you, they were impressed ofcourse. But the older ones were like "What ? They still exist ? Wedon't hear about them for years. And I said: "Of course, they stillexist"
Brian: We know that well. I gotta tell you a story. Wewere in LA for the rehearsal of this tour.We were working hard everydayfor 2 months One day, I was at some petrol pump station in LA. The pumpguy recognises me and say: "Hey ! Do you still sing ?" You're workingso hard and then this guy ask you if you still exist ! But that's justthe way it goes...
Charlène: But you have to know that here, in Belgium, thepromotion is very bad. But don't see your video on television, we don'thear you a lot on radio...
Brian: But you know, the promotion is bad everywhere. It's not like it was before. Videos aren't broadcast on tv anymore...
Laurent: Yeah, we had to go on youtube to see your videos
AJ: Yeah, Youtube is the new reference to watch videos now.
Brian: Evene the radio world has changed. You must have a lot of connections. You must be chosen.
Charlene: We know what you're talking about. Laurent and I areboth singers. And we know that you must have the right connectionsEVERYWHERE. By the way, we were supposed to open for you guys tonight.But at the last minute, the belgian organisator of the show told us youwere bringing your own opening act...wich was not true. We didn't theright connections this time .
AJ: No. On this tour, we never know who will open for us before we join the places we're performing.
Charlène: We did open for Akon's tour this year but we would have loved to open for you.
Brian: Maybe we can arrange that for the next time...
Laurent: That would be so great ! Thanks!
Charlène: I got one last thing to say, on a personnal level. Ithink you should work more on your lyrics on the next albums. Forexample, Brian, on your solo records, the lyrics were deeper and aboutpersonnal experiences. That was more touching. On Backstreet Boysrecords, you always sing about love and break-ups always.
Brian: I know, that's frustating. My solo record was very important for me, to finaly talk about important things for me.
Charlène: In 1998, you sang "That's what she said" aalone with the guitar... I loved that.
Brian: Yes, that was my first own solo song on stage.
Charlène: I loved it !
Brian starts to sing it
Charlène: Stop doing that, I love your voice, I'm gonna cry (laugh)
AJ: In Backstreet Boys songs, we say "Heart" and "love" all thetime. Heart, love, heart, love, heart, love.... We laugh about it. Itbecame a private joke between us. We parody ourself!
BOTH: But that's what the public expect from us (-not the fans-) ... That's what the business push us to do.
Brian: Sometimes, it's ok to do silly songs. Sometimes, we evenwrites real silly songs... But we don't release it... We make it tojoke about it between us.
Brian: Anyway, at the end of this year, you will hear AJ's fisrt album. It will be very different.
Charlène & Laurent: Waouw, great ! We're looking forward to listening to it.
AJ: Thank you !
