Backstreet Boys

Black & Blue

Heard Here Rating:
"It ain't great, and you're not proud of it, but you still kinda like it. Just don't tell anyone, 'cause as far as you're concerned, this album blows, yeah."

The state of music today is such that even I eagerly awaited the release of Black & Blue, the new Backstreet Boys album. Let's face it, this is the music we're going to be hearing on the radio, pretty much non-stop, for the next several months. And I am now sad to report that those will be some very mediocre months of radio-listening.

The album's first single was an early clue. "The Shape of My Heart" (not a cover of the Sting song) has, of course, lodged itself at the top of TRL since its debut several weeks ago, even though the album itself came out only last week. For those living under a rock the last two weeks (or in Oberlin), the song is of the "sit on a stool and scrunch your face in feeling" genre and not a particularly compelling variation of that form. So it was with trepidation that I awaited the full album's release.

And with reason, as it turns out. The reason; Max Martin. Or rather, a lack of Max Martin. The Swedish writer-producer-pop god was the real talent behind "I Want it That Way," "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," "As Long as You Love Me," and many of the Boys' other finer songs, as well as N'Sync's "Tearin' Up My Heart" and every one of Britney's good songs.

Martin, along with cohort Rami, are behind Black & Blue's three best cuts; "Get Another Boyfriend" and "The Call" are both pretty good, and "Everyone" comes the closest to pop classic of any track on the album. But those aren't enough to save the album, which is made up mostly of sappy, down-tempo ballads that suck, including one where the Boys themselves try their hand at songwriting (with predictably pathetic results).

This is a particularly important album for BSB. Not only do they have the success of Millennium to follow up on, but they have the unenviable task of trying to best N'Sync's summer (and current) success of No Strings Attached. That album, rather famously by now, sold 2.4 million copies in its first week - Black & Blue did not. No Strings has produced a string of radio hits - Black & Blue likely will not. And thus, BSB must, for the time being, cede the title of "King of the [American] Boy Bands" to N'Sync. Really, this is not as big a deal as it's made out to be, but it's something you should know as an American citizen, if you didn't already.