THE LOWDOWN Recording on Never Gone, the Backstreet Boys' first album since 2000, began early last year when the Boys — (from left) Howie Dorough, 31; Nick Carter, 25; Kevin Richardson, 33; Brian Littrell, 30; and AJ McLean, 27 — spent time in the studio with R&B producers the Underdogs (Tyrese). But early sessions — including one extraordinarily misguided attempt at Limp Bizkit-style rap — failed to galvanize the group, which had been on sabbatical since McLean entered alcohol rehab in 2001. Their thoughts turned to their old-time hitmaker Max Martin, the Swedish genius responsible for ''I Want It That Way'' as well as career-making singles for 'N Sync and Britney Spears. ''After all the other artists that he worked with,'' explains Dorough, ''the whole pop sound that he created with us got so played out.'' The reluctance was mutual: ''Sometimes you have to think about letting people move on,'' says Martin, who co-wrote and produced Kelly Clarkson's current smash ''Since U Been Gone.'' ''I felt that at first: 'Maybe they should try to work with someone else.'''
But when BMG chairman and CEO Clive Davis heard a Martin demo called ''Climbing the Walls'' (which the songwriter initially intended for the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack), he pegged it as the perfect Backstreet song, and the relationship was renewed. In all, Martin ended up lending a hand on four of Never Gone's 12 tracks, including one of the late-breaking recordings, ''Just Want You to Know.'' ''Basically, the idea is to do 'I Want It That Way' with a little distortion,'' says Martin. ''And not try to be something that they're not.''
The resulting sound, while instantly catchy, is quite different from Backstreet's late-'90s synthesized pop. ''We've shifted into an alternative rock-pop-type sound,'' says McLean. With the title track co-written by Richardson in honor of his late father and another tune (''Just Want You to Know'') about a dead girlfriend, McLean says, ''There's some deep lyrical stuff on this album.''
But will the new direction be too much of a change for their old fans? And have the Boys been away too long? After all, the album's kickoff single, ''Incomplete,'' catapulted to No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its second week, but has risen no higher since. ''My worry for us when I fall asleep at night is failure,'' says McLean, whose vice of choice these days is apple tobacco inhaled from a hookah pipe. ''We're experimenting, and our fans that have grown with us hopefully haven't grown apart from us.''
The guys are hopeful that they still have a place in their once-preteen fans' hearts, if no longer on their bedroom walls. One of the group's favorite songs on the new record is ''I Still…,'' a straightforward midtempo love song that Littrell hopes will take on a special added meaning. ''I think it could be the fans saying it about us,'' he says, offering an a cappella rendition of the song: '''Who are you now?/Are you still the same or did you change somehow?... I still need you.' The first time I heard it, I thought, If the fans all over the world could write a song and dedicate it to us, I feel like they would write something like that. I think they would.''
MOST LIKELY TO... Reconsider changing the ''Boys'' half of their name to ''Men'' — three of them are in their 30s, Richardson and Littrell are married, and Littrell has a 2-year-old son.
Release date June 14
(This is an online-only excerpt from Entertainment Weekly's May 27, 2005, issue.)
