Maps of Music

Millennium (1999)

Where the lyrics of Millennium take you, and where it was really made.

The album was first titled Larger Than Life before it came out as Millennium.

Key places

Battery in New York City (1999)

Recording site Battery Studios — Battery in New York City is listed as a place where Millennium was recorded. The source names the city but gives no further detail on the studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Cheiron Studios in Stockholm (1999)

Recording site Cheiron Studios — Cheiron Studios in Stockholm is listed as a recording place for Millennium. The source names it together with Polar for Stockholm. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Polar Studios in Stockholm (1999)

Recording site Polar Studios — Polar Studios in Stockholm is listed as a recording place for Millennium. The source names it together with Cheiron for Stockholm. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Parc in Orlando (1999)

Recording site Parc Studios — Parc in Orlando is listed as a recording place for Millennium. Only the city-center location is known, so the point marks Orlando rather than a studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Millennium: third studio album by American vocal group Backstreet Boys (second in the United States)
• First worldwide album by the group
• Released May 18, 1999 by Jive Records
• Highly anticipated follow-up to the 1997 self-titled US album and Backstreet's Back (1997)
• Held the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipments sold in the United States in 1999
• Nominated for five Grammy Awards
• About 24 million copies sold worldwide

Background

• Backstreet's Back and Backstreet Boys together sold 27 million copies worldwide in 1997
• Critics accused the group of being a 'flash in the pan'
• From 1997 to 1998, the band filed a lawsuit against manager Lou Pearlman, saying they received only $300,000 from recording and touring while he kept over $10 million
• Pearlman claimed to be the 'sixth Backstreet Boy' and managed rival boy band NSYNC
• The band left their management company Wright Stuff on September 18, 1998
• In the same period, Kevin Richardson suffered two family deaths and Brian Littrell needed open heart surgery
• Howie Dorough lost his sister to lupus, and producer Denniz Pop died of stomach cancer
• The album was initially titled Larger Than Life
• Supporting tour: Into the Millennium Tour, 123 shows in 84 cities, from June 2, 1999 to March 15, 2000

Recording

• Credited members: Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean
• Recording places named in the source: Battery (New York City), Parc (Orlando), Cheiron and Polar Studios (Stockholm)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida, as an American vocal group and pop boy band.
• Members Howie Dorough and AJ McLean met through a vocal coach; Nick Carter was found through auditions.
• Cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson, both from Lexington, Kentucky, joined; Littrell formally joined on April 20, 1993, which became the group's anniversary.
• Manager Lou Pearlman named them after Orlando's Backstreet Market flea market.

Members

• AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Brian Littrell (1993–present).
• Kevin Richardson (1993–2006, 2012–present); he left in 2006 and rejoined in 2012.

Career

• Debut album Backstreet Boys (1996) was a hit in Europe; the US self-titled album followed in 1997.
• Millennium (1999), led by the global hit "I Want It That Way", made them superstars; the album sold over 12 million copies in the US.
• Black & Blue (2000) and The Hits – Chapter One (2001) followed; a two-year hiatus came after.
• Comeback album Never Gone (2005) and later albums Unbreakable (2007), This Is Us (2009), In a World Like This (2013), and DNA (2019, debuting at number one).
• Sold over 150 million records worldwide, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
• Held Las Vegas residencies Larger Than Life (2017–2019) and Into the Millennium at Sphere (2025).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album had no pretense of being anything other than an album for the moment, with more of what made Backstreet's Back a blockbuster
• Robert Christgau: gave a two-star honorable mention, praising 'I Want It That Way' and 'Larger than Life'
• Entertainment Weekly: Jim Farber gave a B−, saying the group took risks in its lyrics about teen romantic power
• Rolling Stone: Arion Berger called the album prefabricated, too pretty, and suspiciously well-choreographed
• Rolling Stone: Berger criticized Nick Carter's straining vocals on 'I Need You Tonight' and called 'It's Gotta Be You' a rehash of 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)'
• Rolling Stone: Berger praised 'Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely' as the swooniest blend of the five vocalists' timbres to date
• Spin: Joshua Clover criticized the opening track 'Larger than Life' but praised uptempo songs such as 'I Want It That Way', 'Don't Want You Back', 'It's Gotta Be You', and 'Spanish Eyes'
• Spin: Clover compared the band more to Alanis Morissette than to NSYNC

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for 10 non-consecutive weeks
• First-week sales of 1,134,000 copies broke the Nielsen SoundScan record of 1.09 million held by Garth Brooks' Double Live
• NSYNC overtook that single-week record in 2000 with No Strings Attached
• Nearly 500,000 copies sold in the US on the first day, a first-day sales record
• Best-selling album of 1999 with 9,445,732 copies
• Spent 93 weeks on the Billboard chart
• Over 13 million copies sold in the United States, certified 13 times platinum
• As of 2023, sixth best-selling album in the United States in the SoundScan era with 12.3 million units
• In 2003, fourth biggest seller for Music Club sales in the US over the past 14 years with 1.59 million (not included in SoundScan's total)
• In Canada, seventh biggest seller since 1995 in the Canadian SoundScan era up to the end of December 2007
• Japan: sales reached 1 million according to Billboard
• Topped the European Albums Chart for four consecutive weeks
• Reached 24 million copies sold worldwide by 2015

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album released on the same day the band appeared on Saturday Night Live and Total Request Live, and they filmed a Disney Channel concert special, Backstreet Boys in Concert, that day.
• The lead single 'I Want It That Way' came out on April 12, 1999, before the album, and is often regarded as the group's signature song.
• 'Don't Want You Back' was originally going to be the fourth single based on a TRL fan vote, but when Nick Carter called in to vote for 'The One,' fans followed him, and 'The One' became the fourth and final single on May 1, 2000.
• Pearlman claimed to be the 'sixth Backstreet Boy' while he managed rival NSYNC.
• Howie Dorough described the original title Larger Than Life as almost like a thank-you song for all they've done, because the group's fans had always supported the band.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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