Millennium is the third album (second in the United States) by the Backstreet Boys. It was a highly anticipated follow-up to both their U.S. self-titled debut album and their second internationally released album, Backstreet's Back (1997). It was their first album to be released in the United States and internationally in the same form simultaneously.
Millennium held the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipments sold in the United States in 1999. It was nominated for five Grammy Awards and became one of the best-selling albums ever, selling 24 million copies worldwide. The Backstreet Boys promoted Millennium through the Into the Millennium Tour, which became one of the fastest-grossing tours ever.
Background[]
Following the release of their first US album Backstreet Boys and second international album Backstreet's Back selling a combined 27 million copies worldwide, the Backstreet Boys were met with critics accusing them of being a "flash in the pan" and misconceptions that they earned a lot of money. From 1997 to 1998, the band filed a lawsuit against manager Lou Pearlman, stating that they only received $300,000 from recording and touring while he kept over $10 million. Pearlman claimed to be the "sixth Backstreet Boy" and revealed that he managed rival boy band NSYNC, who sold over 6 million copies of their debut album, stating that "it's business." On September 18, 1998, the band left their management company, Wright Stuff, formerly associated with Pearlman's record company, Trans Continental Records.
During the same period, the band also dealt with personal tragedies; Kevin Richardson suffered two family deaths, Brian Littrell needed to undergo Cardiac surgery|open heart surgery, Howie Dorough lost his sister from lupus, and the band's producer Denniz Pop died of stomach cancer. The album was initially titled Larger Than Life, which Dorough described as "almost like a thank-you song for all they've done" because they always supported the band.
Production[]
After the massive success of both Backstreet's Back, and their U.S. debut album, a follow-up album was guaranteed to be made, and sure enough, sometime in 1998, it was confirmed the group would be working on a follow-up. However, the group would be dealt an enormous blow very early in production when Denniz PoP, who worked on many of their biggest songs on the last two albums, died of stomach cancer in August 1998. In an interview with Billboard, Rami Yacoub said that by the time Denniz died, the Cherion team was finishing production on presumably the writing of songs for the album, meaning he could have possibly worked on Millennium in some form. Still, no songs written or produced by Denniz appear on the final album. With Denniz gone, Yacoub became much more involved with the production.[1] Disco group, The Bee Gees, wrote a song for the album, something that was brought up in many news articles from the period, but this song was cut, and it is unknown what it was titled. [2] Dianne Warren, Teddy Riley, and Jermaine Dupri also wrote songs for the album, but they too were cut. [3] "That's What She Said," a song from Backstreet's Back left off the U.S. album, was also said to be included on the album, presumably only on the U.S. edition, but it too was cut.[4] The Boys wanted to be more involved with the production of the album, specifically wanting to write songs for it.[5] Previously, Brian had written "That's What She Said" on Backstreet's Back, but the rest of the group had yet to write any songs themselves.
Brian, A.J. and Kevin (offscreen) working in the studio on Spanish Eyes.
The Boys began recording for the album in early October 1998 and had five tracks finished by mid-October. At this point, the album's title was already set to include the word "Millennium," with one potential name being "Backstreet Millennium." Heaven In Your Eyes (which would become I Need You Tonight), a song being performed on tour, was also confirmed to be on the album. They hoped to release the album in March or April of 1999, with the first single coming out in January.[6] Jive Records disliked how one of the lead tracks, I Want It That Way, (which would end up becoming the lead single) didn't make sense lyrically, and got Robert John Lange to write alternate lyrics which the Boys recorded. However, the group preferred the original version and fought to keep it on the album. Jive relented, and the album would not release the alternate version. [7] This alternate version would find its' way online by at least April 4, 1999, when fansite Backstreet.net included it on their site, [8] (of which the actual link was not archived online), possibly sourced from an early demo cassette some radio stations had in March.[9] Europeans fans would receive a small preview of what was to come on the compilation CD A Night Out With The Backstreet Boys when it was released in late 1998, with snippets of three tracks being included. [10] A shortened version of this preview would be brought to the United States as a hidden track on the All I Have To Give single. Early printings of Britney Spears' debut album ...Baby One More Time, released in January 1999, also included tracks from the new album.[11] Finally, in February 1999, it was announced the album would be titled Millennium, and it would be released on May 18, 1999. At this point, That's What She Said was still set to be included, suggesting it was a late cut. [4] I Want It That Way was released as a single on April 12, to significant fanfare. On May 18, 1999, the day of the album's release, the Backstreet Boys publicly appeared on MTV's Total Request Live.
Promotion[]
Every version of Britney Spears's debut album ...Baby One More Time, released before Millennium, contained previews of three songs as hidden tracks, placed at the album's end against Spears' wishes. The band appeared on Saturday Night Live and Total Request Live during the album's release date and filmed a Disney Channel concert special called Backstreet Boys in Concert the same day.
Singles[]
Four singles were released from the album:
- "I Want It That Way" is the lead single from the album, released on April 12, 1999. It is one of the Backstreet Boys' most commercially successful songs and is often regarded as the group's signature song.
- "Larger Than Life" is the second single, released on September 7, 1999.
- "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" was released as the third single, released on December 14, 1999. It peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of March 18, 2000.
- "The One" is the fourth and final single from the album, being released on May 1, 2000. "Don't Want You Back" was originally the fourth single based on a Total Request Live|TRL fan vote. However, when Nick Carter called in to vote for "The One," the fans followed after him.
Tour[]
Main article: Into the Millennium Tour
The album's supporting tour, Into the Millennium Tour, started on June 2, 1999, and ended on March 15, 2000, with 123 shows in 84 cities spanning three legs. Their concert at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta was the fifth most-attended concert in American history and the most-attended concert by a pop artist.
Critical reception[]
Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, "Millennium has no pretense of being anything other than an album for the moment, delivering more of everything that made Backstreet's Back a blockbuster." Robert Christgau gave Millennium a two-star honorable mention, stating that the album is "softening it a little up for their younger demographic, sexing it up a little for their own peace of mind," specifically praising "I Want It That Way" and "Larger than Life." Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B−, stating that they have taken risks in their lyrics, as "Teen acts normally can’t acknowledge their romantic power. They have to remain the longing ones to seal the twin fantasies of purity and accessibility".
Arion Berger of Rolling Stone commented that the album was "prefabricated, too pretty, suspiciously well-choreographed," criticizing Nick Carter's straining vocals on "I Need You Tonight," stating that "It's Gotta Be You" was a rehash of their 1997 single "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" and mentioned how "The Perfect Fan" evaporated throughout the song. However, he praised "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely," describing it as "digging its melodic claws into your skull on the first listen [...] it's the swooniest blending of the five vocalists' timbres to date, and mighty pretty besides". Writing for Spin, Joshua Clover criticized the opening track "Larger than Life," stating that it "boogies deftly and punks daftly [...] but huffs fame like glue" while praising other up-tempo songs such as "I Want It That Way," "Don't Want You Back," "It's Gotta Be You," and "Spanish Eyes". He concluded by stating that while "the calendar flipping soundtrack" isn't Robbie Williams' song "Millennium" (1998), it 'smashes Silverchair's "Anthem for the Year 2000"' (1999), comparing the band more to Alanis Morissette than NSYNC.
Commercial performance[]
Millennium debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, where it remained for 10 non-consecutive weeks. It sold 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release, breaking the previous Nielsen SoundScan record held by Garth Brooks for single-week record sales. This record was subsequently overtaken in 2000 by NSYNC with the release of No Strings Attached. Millennium sold nearly 500,000 copies in the US on its first day alone, setting a record for first-day sales, and became the best-selling album of 1999, selling 9,445,732 albums. It remained on the Billboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 13 million copies in the United States and being certified 13 times platinum.
As of 2023, the album stands as the sixth best-selling album in the United States of the Top ten best-selling albums of sound scan era|SoundScan era with 12.3 million units sold. In 2003, it was also reported as the fourth biggest seller for Music Club sales in the US over the past 14 years, with sales of 1.59 million, though these sales are not included in SoundScan's total. In Canada, Millennium was the seventh biggest-selling album since 1995 in the Canadian Soundscan sales era up to the end of December 2007, while in Japan, sales reached 1 million, according to Billboard. In 2015, Millennium became one of the best-selling albums ever, selling 24 million copies worldwide.
Tracks[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Larger Than Life" |
|
Lundin | 3:52 |
| 2. | "I Want It That Way" |
|
|
3:33 |
| 3. | "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" |
|
|
3:54 |
| 4. | "It's Gotta Be You" |
|
|
2:57 |
| 5. | "I Need You Tonight" | Andrew Fromm | Lange | 4:23 |
| 6. | "Don't Want You Back" | Martin |
|
3:26 |
| 7. | "Don't Wanna Lose You Now" | Martin |
|
3:55 |
| 8. | "The One" |
|
|
3:46 |
| 9. | "Back To Your Heart" |
|
|
4:21 |
| 10. | "Spanish Eyes" |
|
|
3:55 |
| 11. | "No One Else Comes Close" |
|
|
3:43 |
| 12. | "The Perfect Fan" |
|
Eric Foster White | 4:15 |
Bonus Tracks
- I'll Be There For You
- You Wrote The Book On Love
- If You Knew What I Knew
- My Heart Stays With You
Notes
- ^[a] signifies additional vocal production
Personnel[]
Credits for Millennium adapted from AllMusic and the album's liner notes.
Backstreet Boys
- Nick Carter (tenor/baritone) – vocals, additional vocal arrangements (track 7)
- Brian Littrell – (tenor/falsetto) vocals, additional vocal arrangements (track 4), BSB vocal arrangements, and choir conducting (track 12)
- Kevin Richardson (baritone) – vocals; additional vocal arrangements, musical arrangements, keyboards, and bass (track 9)
- Howie Dorough – (tenor/falsetto) vocals
- AJ McLean – (baritone) vocals, additional vocal arrangements (track 4)
Additional musicians
|
Technical
Design
|
Charts[]
Certifications and sales[]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| CAPIF) | 3× Platinum | 180,000^ |
| ARIA) | 3× Platinum | 210,000^ |
| IFPI Austria) | Gold | 25,000* |
| BEA) | 2× Platinum | 100,000* |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) | 2× Platinum | 500,000* |
| Canada (Music Canada) | Diamond | 1,075,000 |
| IFPI) | — | 57,665 |
| Colombia | Gold | 30,000 |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark) | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| Finland (Musiikkituottajat) | Platinum | 42,525 |
| BVMI) | 3× Gold | 750,000^ |
| Iceland | — | 3,000 |
| Italy | — | 300,000 |
| RIAJ) | 4× Platinum | 1,000,000 |
| AMPROFON) | 4× Platinum+Gold | 675,000^ |
| Netherlands (NVPI) | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
| RMNZ) | 2× Platinum | 30,000^ |
| IFPI Norway) | Platinum | 65,000 |
| ZPAV) | Gold | 50,000* |
| KMCA) | 4× Platinum | 250,000 |
| PROMUSICAE) | 4× Platinum | 400,000^ |
| GLF) | Platinum | 80,000^ |
| IFPI Switzerland) | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| Thailand | — | 130,000 |
| BPI) | Platinum | 487,542 |
| RIAA) | 13× Platinum | 15,402,000 |
| Summaries | ||
| IFPI) | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000* |
| Worldwide | — | 24,000,000 |
| * Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Trivia[]
- It was their first album to be released in the U.S. and internationally in the same form simultaneously.
- Millennium has since become one of the best-selling albums ever, selling 40 million copies worldwide.
- The album is dedicated to Denniz PoP, who died during production.
- The linear notes contain a secret message from Nick, 5483-5433-86-843-3855378-367-843-388873-47-722723. The message is decoded by looking at the letters on a phone keypad and replacing the number with the letter. When translated, it read, "Live life to the fullest, for the future is scarce."
Video[]
Sources[]
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/backstreet-boys-millennium-anniversary-interview-collaborators-8511739/
- ↑ Bee Gees Will Write For Backstreet Boys
- ↑ Backstreet Boys Settle With Pearlman, Record New Album
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 New Backstreet Boys Coming in May
- ↑ Backstreet Boys Discuss Writing Songs For New Album
- ↑ AJ Talks about the new CD on YTV's Hit List
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/backstreet-boys-millennium-anniversary-interview-collaborators-8511739/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/19990429192232/http://www.intranet.ca/~jmw/bsb/index.html
- ↑ http://backstreet.net/www.cgi?x=show&d=news&i=990320-0859-01&c=0&b=40
- ↑ Hidden tracks on the CD sampler that comes with the New Video "A Night Out With The Backstreet Boys," Non-US releases
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/18659548-Britney-Spears-Baby-One-More-Time