As the lines that encapsulate the genre of country music continue to blur, we’re seeing more and more pop artists start to dip their toes into country. Artists like Nelly, Kelly Clarkson and Steven Tyler have all crossed over in one way or another. And the latest? That would be Backstreet Boy, A.J. McLean.
On Friday, March 2nd, it was announced that McLean had joined the Country Music Association in Nashville. Not a major surprise as the pop and country worlds have been colliding quite a bit these days. The former boyband member isn’t a stranger to the genre either, he’s seen success with the Florida Georgia Line + Backstreet Boys chart topper, ‘God, Your Mama, and Me,’ and spent some time out on the road with FGL on their Smooth Tour last year.
So what’s next? Well it looks like the Nashville community will be seeing a lot more of A.J. around town as all signs point to a solo country album. On March 3rd, the singer followed up the announcement with an Instagram post that pretty much confirmed what everyone was thinking. “I have to say thank you to my amazing team behind me and my new journey I’m about to embark on stepping into the world of country music!” he said. He ended his post with this, “You guys are all in for a treat and I couldn’t be more proud of the music I’m doing and that a little dream is now becoming reality! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I wanna make great music and make people happy and be the first solo country artist to shake things up!”
So McLean is clearly fired up about his new project, and has a lot of backing behind him, but can a former Backstreet Boy be successful in country music? We don’t think he should be written off just yet. Even the most passive country music listener can tell that the genre is growing and evolving. Whether you like it or not, country music featuring pop influences like drum machines and synthesizers remains prevalent, despite the decline of the bro-country era. And McLean’s former tourmates, Florida Georgia Line, are no strangers to that style. It’s possible that he’s borrowed a page from their book and is headed the pop country route.
If everything works out, he wouldn’t be the first crossover to have a successful career in country music, just take a look at Darius Rucker, for example. As frontman of the Grammy Award-winning rock band, Hootie & The Blowfish, Rucker released five studio albums and charted six Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 before moving on to a solo career. In 2008, Rucker signed with Capitol Records Nashville and by 2009 he had earned three consecutive Number 1 hits. Almost ten years later and he’s still topping the charts. McLean already has a solid fan base, saying on Instagram, “I know my fans are the best most loyal in the world and no matter what kind of music I do they will support my vision.” Not to mention he probably scooped up some country music fans through BSB’s work with FGL.
There’s also that other guy from a 90s boy band who left the group and embarked on a solo journey over 15 years ago. And although Justin Timberlake’s latest album ‘Man of the Woods’ didn’t turn out to be a country album like many speculated, (It was actually named after his son, Silas, which means “of the woods”) he still has some connections to the country world. The Tennessee native made his first appearance at the CMA awards in 1999 when Alabama and NSYNC performed their collaborative, ‘God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You.’ But more notably was Timberlake’s infamous 2015 CMA performance with Chris Stapleton. The two performed a cover of ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ and Justin’s ‘Drink You Away,’ which he later released as a single to country radio. The pair reprised their collaboration recently on ‘Say Something’ – Timberlake’s most successful single from the album so far. The track was co-written by Stapleton, who also lends a pen to a couple other songs on JT’s album. For A.J. McLean, he’s successfully collaborated with Florida Georgia Line, who are pretty remarkable songwriters themselves, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the words of Brian Kelley or Tyler Hubbard wind up on McLean’s new project.
We can speculate for days about what exactly all of this will amount to, but in reality all we can do is wait and see. Since the announcement, AJ hasn’t teased much else – no word on a single or any specific dates, only this short Instagram video (with a very short audio clip) from the studio. We’re eager to hear more and can’t wait to see how McLean really “shakes things up.”