I didn’t plan on posting today, but after reading the anniversary posts from the Backstreet Boys and various BSB bloggers, all of which brought tears to my eyes, I felt inspired to write a post of my own. Today marks the 27th anniversary of the day Brian flew to Orlando and became the fifth member of the Backstreet Boys as we know them. From that day on, their lives were forever changed. They would go on to change our lives, too; we just didn’t know it yet.
My life has definitely been changed by the Backstreet Boys. I was first introduced to BSB at the tender age of twelve by my best friend at the time, who brought their U.S. debut album over to my house for one of our sleepovers. That was sometime in late 1997 or early 1998. For the next three years, my little circle of friends loved the Backstreet Boys. We each had our favorite, and we would regularly listen to their music and watch the All Access video or one of their concert tapes whenever we got together. When I discovered fanfiction in the summer of 1999, we would even sit around reading fanfic together. The same friend who had turned me into a BSB fan went with me to my first concert on March 7, 2000, during the second leg of the Into the Millennium tour. But by the time Black & Blue came out, she and the rest of our friends had moved on from BSB. We weren’t the same silly seventh grade girls we had been when we first became fans. We were sophomores in high school, learning to drive and starting to date. Suddenly, my friends were too cool for boybands, preferring edgier punk bands instead. I became a fan of rock music around this time, too, but the Backstreet Boys were still my favorite. I felt out of step with the rest of my friends. We remained friends until we finished high school, but once we lost the commonalities that had brought us together, we drifted apart, as friends sometimes do. But through the Backstreet Boys, I made new friends. Lifelong friends.
It started with fanfiction. The more my “real life” friends grew out of the BSB fandom, the more I got into it. In a matter of months, I went from just reading fanfic to writing it, too. I had always been told by teachers and family members that I was a good writer, but aside from writing a short story once a year for my school’s annual Young Authors competition, I had never really written for fun. Fanfic gave me a reason to write, an opportunity to hone my craft and become a better writer, and a built-in audience to read my work and help me develop more self-confidence. These days, I feel especially blessed to have a creative hobby that helps me pass the time without climbing the walls while I’m living alone in quarantine.
Fanfic also helped me make friends in the fandom, for which I’m eternally grateful. I never met my first good online friends face to face, although I’m still friends with most of them on social media. But in many ways, I felt closer to them than I did to my real life friends. We would chat for hours every day on instant messenger, once in a while even on the phone or webcam. It wasn’t always about BSB or fanfic, but it was nice being able to bond with people who were passionate about the same things I was. The only problem was that they all lived in different states, some even in different countries, and none of us had the means to travel to meet in person. When the Boys went on tour, I would beg one of my parents to go with me to their shows because none of my friends wanted to, and I didn’t want to go alone.
That all changed once I hit adulthood and had my own car and income. I wasn’t dependent on my parents anymore, so there was nothing to stop me from traveling to meet up with friends from other places. By then, I had befriended a girl who only lived a couple of hours away from me, Laureen, so she and I made plans to go to one of the shows on the Unbreakable tour together. Even though I had been talking to her for four or five years by that point, I was still nervous about meeting her face to face for the first time. But it went great, and she’s been my BSB concert buddy ever since. Our first of many concerts together was also the first time meeting the Boys for both of us. 08/08/08… one of the best days of my life.
Since then, I have made and met many more friends in the fandom from all over the world, people I never would have had the opportunity to know had the Backstreet Boys not brought us together. I’ve also traveled so many places that I might never have gone otherwise. I’ve been on three BSB cruises, which is where I’ve been able to meet up with the majority of my friends. Beside the Bahamas, I’ve also been to Florida, California, Nevada, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan for BSB events or trips with my BSB friends. With these friends by my side, I’ve made a pilgrimage to Lexington to watch Brian and Kevin’s induction into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, taken four trips to Vegas to see the Boys and my bestie Rose, and flown to LA to go to the Backstreet Boys exhibit at the Grammy Museum and their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Between concerts, cruises, and conventions, I’ve been blessed to be able to meet the Boys more times than I can easily count. I have all the autographed merch I’ll ever need and more than one photo of myself in full zombie makeup, standing next to Nick Carter. If I could go back and tell twelve-year-old me about all the awesome BSB adventures she would get to go on as an adult, it would blow her mind.
So much has changed in the past twenty-seven years, but the Boys have remained a constant in my life. They’ve been with me through the highs and lows of growing up and becoming an adult – graduating eighth grade and then high school, going away to college, getting my first teaching job, moving out on my own, buying my first house, earning my master’s degree, losing friends and loved ones, becoming an aunt. They’ve been a source of stability for all of us during uncertain times, such as after 9/11 and now in the midst of this global pandemic. Whether it’s Brian posting daily selfies to track his workouts or Nick sharing cute pictures of his kids, they continue to put a smile on our faces even when it doesn’t feel like we have much to smile about.
So thank you, Brian, Nick, AJ, Howie, and Kevin. Thank you for twenty-seven years of music and memories, fun experiences and lifelong friends, and for simply being there for us. Even before I became a fan, you promised us, “As long as there’ll be music, we’ll becoming back again,” and you’ve continued to fulfill that promise year after year, album after album, tour after tour. In return, I’ll keep the Backstreet pride alive and continue buying your music, going to your concerts, and supporting you through whatever the future brings… “because I’m passionate. I can’t help it. I need to get my hands on all of it…”
Happy anniversary, Boys, and here’s to at least twenty-seven more years together! If I could spend my retirement following you across the country on tour, I would die a happy fan. “There ain’t no place, ain’t no place like you.”