Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean stopped to chat with Billboard’s Taylor Weatherby on the red carpet at the CMT Music Awards on Wednesday (June 6) in Nashville, discussing his recently released country song “Back Porch Bottle Service” and his other new music and working with Florida Georgia Line.
Speaking of the success of “Bottle Service,” McLean tells Billboard that his wife woke him up on Tuesday morning to tell him that the track was in the top 20 on the iTunes country chart. “I almost fell out of bed,” he exclaims. “It’s just so mind-blowing. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been working on music for years, and after we did ‘God, Your Mama, and Me’ with us and [Florida Georgia Line], it just lit this spark in me to really step outside the box. I’ve been a fan of country music — of music in general — my whole life, and what I love so much about country is that it all tells stories, and I wanna tell my story.”
McLean also opens up about the story behind “Bottle Service,” explaining that he has grown out of the phase of going out to nightclubs and spending five grand on a bottle no one even drinks. “Why not just kick it with your old lady at home,” he explains, “and just sit on the porch, just you and her.”
The singer also talks about his friends and collaborators Florida Georgia Line, revealing that he is inspired by them because they “always stay in their own lane and they’re trend-setters. They’re trailblazers, like they don’t stick to the standards, and that’s why they’re so successful because they stand alone.”
The Backstreet Boy provided an update on more new solo music as well, revealing that there will be a new track called “Rare,” which uses a talkbox and is about his wife. “It’s just an amazing song and I get choked up when I sing it,” he shares. “Then the next single as of right now is gonna be a song called ‘Night Visions,’ which seems to be a bit of a tear-jerker. … It’s a pretty intense record. And then a song called ‘Boots On,’ which is just basically about you know what, let’s just go have fun tonight, but you gotta keep your boots on.”
You can watch the full video interview with AJ McLean above.