When the Backstreet Boys Went Country: The Night “I Want It That Way” Got a Florida Georgia Line Makeover
There are certain songs that seem almost impossible to reinvent. “I Want It That Way” is one of them.
Yet when the Backstreet Boys joined forces with Florida Georgia Line for an episode of CMT Crossroads, the 1999 pop classic suddenly sounded right at home in country music. With Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson joined by Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, the familiar five-part vocal blend expanded into a seven-man harmony line.
The result was a surprisingly natural meeting of pop and country, with Kelley and Hubbard adding a distinctly country edge to one of the most recognizable songs of the 1990s.
Seven voices, one unmistakable ’90s classic
The appeal of the performance comes from how little it tries to change the identity of “I Want It That Way.”
The song still has the soaring melody and layered harmonies that made the Backstreet Boys version so memorable. But with Florida Georgia Line stepping into the arrangement, the vocals take on a warmer country character. Kelley and Hubbard bring their own tone to the performance without overpowering the sound that fans already know.
That combination makes the performance feel both familiar and different. The song remains unmistakably Backstreet Boys, but the added country voices give it another dimension.
The chemistry was also helped by the fact that the two acts already had a musical connection. Backstreet Boys had previously appeared on Florida Georgia Line’s “God, Your Mama and Me,” which became a No. 1 country hit. The collaboration eventually led to the two groups sharing the stage for CMT Crossroads.
The Crossroads episode was taped on August 1, 2017, in Franklin, Tennessee, and aired on August 30. Along with “I Want It That Way,” the set included songs such as “As Long As You Love Me,” “Cruise,” “H.O.L.Y.,” “Everybody” and “God, Your Mama and Me.”
A crossover that fans clearly enjoyed
The “I Want It That Way” performance has continued to attract viewers online. The official CMT Crossroads video has passed 2.2 million YouTube views, showing that the pairing still has plenty of appeal years after the original broadcast.
That response makes sense. For longtime Backstreet Boys fans, the performance brings back the sound of the late 1990s. For Florida Georgia Line fans, it offers a chance to hear one of pop’s defining vocal groups through a country-leaning arrangement.
The entire Crossroads collaboration proved that the two groups could move comfortably between genres. The episode even became one of the show’s biggest ratings successes in years, earning its highest CMT Crossroads ratings among adults 18-49 and women 18-49 since the Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood episode in 2012.
There was also a broader sense of nostalgia surrounding the pairing. When the two groups performed together, the familiar Backstreet Boys harmonies were suddenly joined by two country voices that had become major stars in their own right.
For anyone who grew up with ’90s pop, it was an especially effective combination.
Backstreet Boys had gone country before
The Florida Georgia Line performance was not the first time the Backstreet Boys had ventured into country territory.
In 1999, the group joined Shania Twain for a performance of “From This Moment On” during a CBS special filmed in Miami. Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Howie Dorough each had an opportunity to sing alongside Twain, creating another unusual meeting between one of pop’s biggest groups and one of country music’s biggest stars.
The timing made that performance particularly memorable. Both Twain and the Backstreet Boys were at the height of their commercial success, making the collaboration a snapshot of two enormous acts from the late-’90s music scene sharing the same stage.
The Backstreet Boys also performed “All I Have to Give” with Twain during the Miami special.
Years later, the Florida Georgia Line collaboration offered a different version of the same idea: take the Backstreet Boys’ vocal strengths and place them alongside contemporary country performers.
Why “I Want It That Way” works so well in a country setting
Part of the answer lies in the song itself.
“I Want It That Way” was released on April 12, 1999, and was written by Swedish songwriters Andreas Carlsson and Max Martin. It became the lead single from Millennium and ultimately became the signature song of the Backstreet Boys.
Its commercial reach was enormous. The song reached No. 1 in more than 25 countries, including Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. In the UK, it became the Backstreet Boys’ first and only No. 1 single there.
In the United States, “I Want It That Way” peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Top 40 charts.
Its staying power has gone far beyond the original chart run. “I Want It That Way” has been covered by other artists and boy bands, while its music video has inspired numerous parodies. One Direction performed the song in concert, JLS have also covered it, and Blink-182 famously parodied its video in “All the Small Things.”
That history helps explain why the CMT Crossroads version feels so effective. The song is already deeply familiar, but the arrangement leaves enough room for other voices to put their own stamp on it.
A different sound without losing the original magic
The most satisfying part of the Florida Georgia Line collaboration is that it never feels like a novelty for novelty’s sake.
The country influence comes mainly through the voices and arrangement rather than an attempt to completely rebuild the song. Kelley and Hubbard fit naturally into the vocal stack, while the five Backstreet Boys retain the harmonies that made the original so distinctive.
That seven-person lineup gives the performance a fuller vocal texture, and hearing the two Florida Georgia Line singers blend with the Backstreet Boys makes the familiar chorus sound newly refreshed.
It is also a reminder of just how adaptable a great pop song can be. More than two decades after “I Want It That Way” first arrived, the melody remained recognizable enough to trigger instant nostalgia while still leaving room for a completely different musical setting.
For the Backstreet Boys, it was another chapter in a long history of crossing musical boundaries. For Florida Georgia Line, it was a chance to bring their country sound into one of the biggest pop songs of the ’90s.
And for everyone watching, it was seven singers taking on a song millions of people already knew by heart, then finding a new way to make those harmonies work.
Sometimes, that is all a great crossover needs.