A potential future team-up between the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC would surely be “Larger Than Life.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Backstreet Boys — Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough — spoke to E! Newsabout the band’s forthcoming Into the Millennium residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas — and weighed in on the possibility of a future tour with fellow super-group *NSYNC.
After being asked if a “joint tour” could be on the horizon between the two pop powerhouses, McLean, 47, explained that “no one knows what the future holds.”
“They haven’t done something in over 22 years,” the vocalist said of *NSYNC, who last toured in 2002 in promotion of their final studio album, Celebrity. “And we’re gonna keep doing what we do. But we’ll see what happens.”
From left: Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell in 2022.
John Parra/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
While *NSYNC last hit the road in the early ’00s ahead of their years-long hiatus, the group — consisting of JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Justin Timberlake and Lance Bass — has been more active in recent years. Following the band’s brief reunion performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, the guys notably released “Better Place” a decade later as part of the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, marking *NSYNC’s first song in more than 20 years.
As for the Backstreet Boys, the group just announced their nine-show stint in Las Vegas for July and August, which Dorough, 51, told PEOPLE this week “just made sense.”
“I mean, it’s a comeback on the next level. You can’t get any bigger than the Sphere,” he said.
“We’re bringing a rebirth to a record that we released years ago and taking our fans, some that have either seen some of the show back in the days, or some that weren’t even probably born yet that are seeing it for the first time,” Dorough added of the band’s Millennium album. “We’re very blessed to be able to go back to Vegas too in this style — larger than life!”
The Backstreet Boys will be hitting Las Vegas on July 11-13, 18-20 and 25-27 and on Aug. 1-3. And there is plenty more on the horizon for fans. On July 11, the group will release a revamped version of their landmark 1999 album Millennium, titled Millennium 2.0 — which will include remastered tracks, previously unreleased demos and live recordings from the Backstreet Boys’ 1999-2000 Into the Millennium World Tour.
The anniversary release also will feature the new track “Hey!” which the group initially recorded for their 2019 project, DNA. “Once we finished up all the recording process and listened back to all the songs, and started figuring out what the album was going to be, it just didn’t sonically fit,” McLean told PEOPLE this week.
“But the song is great. Everybody sounds incredible, so we’re just waiting for the right moment for the world to hear this song — and this just happens to be that moment,” he added.
