If you didn't sing that in the style of the Backstreet Boys, are you even alive right now?!
I, as a grown woman in her 30's, spent her hard earned money to go to Las Vegas to see the Backstreet Boys at their residency at Planet Hollywood. Worth. EVERY. Penny.
I am unashamedly a member of the Backstreet Army. I will still defend those harmonies against N'Sync. I still give friends side eyes when they start bumping Bye Bye Bye or something of that nature. Tearing Up My Heart is a jam but my allegiance is known; Kevin Richardson is my first husband. I would tell my teachers when I was going to cut class. There was no shame in my game. These are my boys. In fact, I bet there is some really embarrassing footage of me in a bucket hat on the eve of the Millennium album release, where I was first in line at the Virgin Mega Store in Times Square, that aired on TRL. <--- If that sentence is not the most 90's sentence of all time I don't know what is! lol
Just take it!
Anyway, when they first announced they would do a couple of shows to "test the market" I rolled my eyes really hard and just started saving my money. There is no way these guys were going to do 4-5 shows in Vegas and not drive the business for a full fledged residency. The nostalgia market is so hot right now. Everything old is new again and Backstreet never really went away, they just stepped back so I knew that the fans were going to be rabid. And rabid we were!
Let's talk about the concert: I bought my tickets wanting to be as close as possible but when I walked into that theater and kept being directed to go further down, I almost couldn't handle it. It's the closest I have ever been to the stage. SWOON! As a warm up the theater played montages of the boys through the years and it hit me: Damn, we've been doing this a long time. 20 years and now we can all drink together, lol. When the lights go down, the screams go up and it's SHOWTIME!
I absolutely lost my shit....there's no eloquent way of saying it. I screamed and lost my mind and it was exquisite. My heels came off about 37 seconds into "Larger Than Life", thank Goodness it was carpeted.
I'm getting sweaty just thinking about it! They just speak to the pre-pubescent and post pubescent girl who just wants the world to communicate in pop song lyrics and choreography. I just had to stop and pull up the Large Than Life video, like wtf?! My heart just raced for no reason. I can forget what I walk into the kitchen for but know all the choreography of the dance break, these are my priorities obviously.
But thinking back on the show, it makes me realize how music can influence us and make us feel part of community. Music has a way of speaking to you. Via lyrics, harmonies, beats, whatever - music is a language that can be universally translated. I can recite songs in French but can only say a handful of phrases in conversational French.
Music makes us feel. Whatever that feeling is...it's accentuates it, it is indeed the soundtrack to our lives. I can't help think about Chester Bennington of Linkin Park who recently committed suicide. He had documented mental issues and his death is a tragic reminder that you can have it all but if your mind has turned against you, none of it really matters. Was there a song that got him through a bad day? Were there lyrics in his head that day? What were they? Did he have a song that he would crank up that made him happy? Chester never hid his "demons"; his vulnerability to open up about the dark thoughts in his mind actually helped other people NOT kill themselves. It's like Robin WIlliams killing himself, the clown is the saddest person in the room. You never know what is going on in someone's head.
Perhaps that's why I'm still bumping these Backstreet tracks. It accentuates my positive head space. A place where boys sing and dance to say they're sorry. A place where a dance break is as routine as the sunrise. Where love is so true, nothing can defeat it. That's a cute head space to be in. Or maybe Rhi Rhi is hying you up to be the baddest gyal you can be...perhaps Solange is emphasizing your need to not have your hair touched. You want to say Hello to that ex of yours? Let Adele do it, (don't actually call him girl...negative) Maybe you need to scream the pain away, let Chester do it for you.
Photo by Alice Moore on Unsplash
Hold on to your music, whatever it may be. It's going to get you through everything there is to get through in life. You will hear a song 20 years from now and remember exactly where you were, who you were with and what you were thinking.
What are you listening to?
Check out the latest rendition of my Spotify list. SquareVibes are all these different songs that make me feel a certain way, which of course changes constantly! FYI - It is a ridiculous mashup of songs through the ages and it will be confusing and funny and very WTF? Take a listen and tell me what you can relate to. Which of these would you bump with me to?!
xoSquared