sometimes I wish I could turn back time
Cozy Boy Autumn is upon us.
‘cause it’s too co-old for you here—oh, wrong band.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re in the midst of fall. In my specific location (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX) fall is a bit of a chaotic time, far as the weather goes: warm one day, rainy and fog-draped the next, and so on.
I’m originally from central North Carolina, though, so come early November the weather was usually a bit more decisive. I’m going to take you back to 1998 half to give you the fall vibes, and half because this week I want to talk about boy bands in autumn—even though I feel like they’re far better suited for the warmer parts of the year.
Fall of 1998 was really when my personal boy band era was still in its infancy. I’d gone to see the Backstreet Boys over Labor Day weekend with my best friend Katie, screamed my head off, and fell even further in love with the group. I’d been crushed to realize that there was no way that my mom would allow me to go see Janet Jackson (with *NSYNC opening for her) a month later, because that show was on a school night. I would come home every weekday to catch Total Request Live, the MTV countdown show that was one of the two Elder Millennial versions of American Bandstand (the other being BET’s 106 and Park). And if my mom and dad had forgotten to deactivate the parental controls on the TVs in our den and living room, I’d retreat to my bedroom, adjust the antenna on my own set, and try to get The Box to show up.
The Box was a pay per view music video channel. On the bottom of the screen you’d see the artist’s name, the song title, and a 3 digit code. You’d call a 1-800 (or was it 1-900?) number and key in that code, and for $.99, you could watch the video you paid for. If you weren’t there for the era, it seems absolutely absurd. If you were a twelve year old goody-goody like I was, you’d wish you could pay for a video but you’d just sit there, aimlessly waiting for something you liked to show up.
This one day, I was in my room watching The Box, probably waiting for the “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” video to come on, when I heard the opening chords of “Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart)”. This song was the first Backstreet Boys song I’d heard, almost a year earlier, but I’d never seen the music video. I wasinitially confused by the opening shots. The guys looked completely different than they did in “As Long As You Love Me”, which had been the first BSB video I’d seen. I didn’t know at the time that the “Quit Playin’ Games” video had been filmed maybe six months earlier than ALAYLM, explaining Kevin’s Gallagher Brothers hair cut and why AJ was clean shaven. The sepia tones and the abandoned basketball court (with leaves blowing in the wind) felt super cozy to me, all primed for fall and the occasional wistfulness that comes with it.
But at 2:15, when AJ starts singing the bridge, the vibe shifts REAL quick. All of a sudden, the dry, mopey Boys are DRENCHED. It is RAINING. The tones shift to COOL PASTELS. Shirts are OPEN, torsos BARED, bodies WRITHING, hands SWEEPING BACK HAIR. It’s a LOT.
The more obvious Backstreet Boys fall song is “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, with its haunted mansion and the guys in varying degrees of Sexy Monster Gear turning it into a Halloween playlist staple. But “Quit Playin’ Games” reminds me of the duality of autumn, and, due to having first watched it for the first time around September-October, it feels more appropriate.
A few other boy band songs that give me that Autumnal Feeling:
*NSYNC’s “This I Promise You”: It’s time for Sweater Weather, and you absolutely must witness the ones JC, Justin, and Co are sporting in this video. The chunky knit/ribbed turtlenecks were absolutely on trend during the late ‘90s and early 2000s. If Knives Out had been made during this time, Chris Evans (this year’s Sexiest Man Alive) would absolutely be rocking one of those bad boys. Would it be as timeless and/or evocative of new money trying to emulate old money? No. Would it be in line with the styling for the character that he was playing? Yes.
Jonas Brothers’ “Pom Poms”: Released during the summer of 2013, I was disappointed when no album followed the release of this song. It was supposed to be the lead single of the Jonases first album after leaving Disney-owned Hollywood Records, but it instead was included on a compilation called LIVE. I was in my twenties when the JoBros were at their peak and had only heard a handful of their earlier songs, so I was surprised by how much I adored “Pom Poms”. The cheerleader chant and the horn section evoking marching band makes it ideal for American football season. Probably one of their most underrated songs.
PRETTYMUCH’s “Superstition”: Cable network Freeform aired a special in 2018 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the witchy classic Hocus Pocus, and invited the five-piece (now four piece; Nick Mara recently left the group) to do their version of the Stevie Wonder song. One of the things that drew me to PRETTYMUCH was the fact that while they’re obviously very much of their time, instead of turning away from choreography like One Direction did, they embraced it. If you’re going to be a boy band performing during spooky season, you better pay a little bit of homage to “Thriller”, just saying.
Boyz II Men’s “Thank You”: Thanksgiving is, for me, a holiday that is just kind of… there. In my family, you essentially get a repeat of the main meal less than a month later, and it’s better at Christmas because at least there’s decorations and gifts involved. No one needs that much turkey in the span of a month, you know? But the first track from II is an incredible harmonic show of gratitude. There’s some percussion in the background, so it’s technically not truly acapella, but it still shows off that Nate, Mike, Shawn, and Wanya together were vocal powerhouses that could not be stopped (and still are, even without Michael McCray). If you want a deeper dive into their influence, you should check out the first episode of the This is Pop series on Netflix.
How about you, friends, readers, and gentlefolks? Which boy band songs scream “fall” to you?
In the meantime, I’ll see you all in two weeks! Please feel free to tell your friends about me, and, as always, keep the boy band pride alive.