AJ McLean is an unofficial website made by fans for fans. Please don´t send me any kind of personal stuff for AJ McLean unless otherwise noted on the site.
I've added a new header to the fanfiction part of the site. The header is made by Annie, hope you like it.
Don't try this at home // Posted on 21 Oct 2009
It's wednesday again, so time for another This Is Us song that didn't make the album to be put up for download. This time I picked Don't Try This At Home.
I already posted about it at the start of the month, the Starshine Music Awards... Voting has started today, so please vote for the guys in the category "best live show" at the SMA's.
New Vibrations: Backstreet Boys - This Is Us // Posted on 16 Oct 2009
You grew up in the 90s, a time brimming with Beanie Babies, Titanic and, of course, boy bands. Artists like 98 Degrees and 'N Sync pretty much defined your entire childhood, so when you heard that the Backstreet Boys reunited to release their seventh studio album, it's probable that you could barely contain your excitement.
After downloading all 11 tracks from This is Us, you prepare yourself for music that, like you, has changed since the boy band explosion of the late 1990s but still contains the magic that had you screaming your head off anytime Nick or A.J. busted a move on MTV. This is going to be awesome. Right? Wrong. [Read More]
Album news // Posted on 15 Oct 2009
It looks like AJ's album might be out on january 27 2010 in Japan. HMV.co.jp & cdjapan.co.jp have the album listed to be out that day!
Review: This Is Us // Posted on 15 Oct 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, the Backstreet Boys are back (all right!). I have seen the future of music and it is good. This is Us, the latest endeavor by the ‘90s boy band, ushers the group to a new level of maturity. The lyrics are heartfelt and soulful, the best that I have heard in a long, long time. Picture a beautiful stream filled with choirs of angels… Pffft… Singing… Songs… About beauty and—HAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, I couldn’t keep a straight face.
Seriously though, it’s difficult to eloquently explain the experience of listening to this album without the use of a shotgun. Here is the best explanation that I can give after several hours of thought. [Read More]
All in my head // Posted on 14 Oct 2009
Since the album is out now and we know the tracklist & bonussong(s) I figured I'd go add a bside to download once a week. This week I'm starting with All in my head, a nice calm song.
Climate Change: EU and MTV mobilise // Posted on 10 Oct 2009
Climate Change: EU and MTV mobilise youth together with Backstreet Boys at the start of UN conference in Copenhagen
The European Commission and MTV Networks International announced today the main artist of the third and final concert of the “Play to Stop – Europe for Climate” campaign: Backstreet Boys. The band will play on 7 December in Copenhagen in front of hundreds of young people, coinciding with the opening day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The Backstreet Boys will be featured on CNN's Headline News Sunday, October 11th.
Due for a Makeover: Backstreet Boys, ‘This Is Us’ // Posted on 08 Oct 2009
THE BACKSTREET BOYS shouldn’t be so willing to label their latest and seventh album “This Is Us.” Why? Because diehard fans — and anyone who remembers BSB from their boy-band dominance during the mid-’90s — will get the wrong idea about who the group is if they were to take this electronica-dominated, slickly synth-pop production at face value.
Back in the day, before N*SYNC challenged the Backstreet Boys for their crowns, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean were at the top of the world, using their smoothly harmonized R&B and pop jams to capture tweens’ hearts. Who cares if group creator Lou Pearlman was secretly stealing lots of their dough? The group has been nominated for Grammys, had 13 Top 40 hits and sold more than 100 million albums, securing their spot in pop music’s record-books. [Read More]
Backstreet Boys Call On Top Producers To Say “This Is Us” // Posted on 08 Oct 2009
What can I say about the Backstreet Boys that I haven’t already said? It’s no secret that StarShine has supported the group over the past 8 years that we’ve been a magazine. Band member, AJ McLean’s mother, Denise Solis is one of our writers for crying out loud!
We are indeed biased!
However, I try to approach every review with a fair honesty. Needless to say, I listened to the new BSB album, This Is Us, several times already and nitpicked wherever I could. It wasn’t easy, especially with an album that tries so hard (and accomplishes it) to be true to what the Backstreet Boys are famous for, yet keep up with the times in music. [Read More]
StarShine Music Awards // Posted on 08 Oct 2009
Sandy Lo from Starshine mag send me an email to let you know that the boys are nominated for Best Live Show in our 2009 StarShine Music Awards (SMAs). Voting begins October 19th!
She also told me that they got a review up of the album, I'll post that in a minute.
Music Review: Backstreet Boys' latest is weak // Posted on 07 Oct 2009
The newest CD from the Backstreet Boys features a number of uptempo, club-sounding songs — but the weak effort from this quartet won't have you running to the dance floor.
"This Is Us," the group's seventh studio album, is full of boring, uneventful tracks — though hitmaking producers like RedOne, T-Pain, Jim Jonsin and Ryan Tedder help out.
What may be most disappointing is that Swedish producer Max Martin — who helmed classic grooves for the boy band like "I Want it That Way" and "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" — fails to present anything as addictive on "This Is Us." [Read More]
Neither original nor the only one // Posted on 07 Oct 2009
Backstreet’s back and it’s not all right. The group is still in teeny-bopper form.
Despite the gradual increase in the maturity level of both the lyrics and music over their past few albums, the Backstreet Boys are back to their old ways with the release of yet another teenage pop-based record: This is Us, their seventh album.
And “this” is undeniably mostly 30-something-year-old men who refuse to leave their cheesy lyrics and computer-altered music behind in exchange for a sound appropriate for their age group. [Read More]
Listen Up: Backstreets back, but This is not all right // Posted on 07 Oct 2009
If you're a band that's nearly a decade past your commercial heyday, it takes either considerable courage or enormous hubris to make the opening track and first single from your new album, This Is Us(* * out of four), a song that shares half its title with one of your hits from that era.
As it turns out, Straight Through My Heart— not to be confused with Shape of My Heart, from the Backstreet Boys' 2000 blockbuster Black & Blue— is one of the more instantly infectious tunes on their latest release. [Read More]
