Britney Spears has succeeded in truly surprising us. No, not by declaring mid-concert that she's looking for a "hot nerd" with a "really big penis" — that (almost) seems logical. Rather, it's her recent online admission of love for the Backstreet Boys that has our heads tilting quizzically to the side, like a confused puppy dog.
Because back in the early aughts, when we were first introduced to the "Hit Me Baby One More Time" pop princess, she kick-started her career by going on tour with none other than the Backstreet Boys' direct competitors, *NSYNC. This tour, of course, was also the start of her heavily publicized relationship with *NSYNC band member Justin Timberlake. (We will never forget.)
But that didn't stop Spears from declaring herself the "biggest @backstreetboys fan" on Instagram, posting a photo of herself after her Pieces of Me concert in Las Vegas last night with Backstreet Boys alum A. J. McLean. She does know her audience well enough by now, though, and rightfully labels the admission a "huge confession."
McLean's backstage visit with Spears isn't his only recent foray back to the heyday of the BSB. He recently appeared in fellow Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's new music video for “19 in 99,” a song off Carter's third solo album, All American. Carter told The Hollywood Reporter that he hopes the album will "take the viewers back to '99 with me."
As for Carter, it's been 20 years since the release of the Backstreet Boys' self-titled first album and the changes that have happened within the music industry since are not lost on him. "I sometimes miss the days where I could fly a little more under the radar. There was no social media in the '90s and it was a different world," he told THR. He also gave a well-deserved shoutout to a television program no '90s kid could ever forget: Total Request Live. "I also miss TRL — that was always a blast!"
If only we could have been there.