Backstreet Boys admit hit song, I Want It That Way makes no sense

As American vocal group, the Backstreet Boys also are known as BSB gear up for their DNA World Tour, running from February 20 through October 9, they are opening up about the not-so-deep meaning behind one of their biggest hit songs.

The pop group, consisting of members Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Howie Dorough, while appearing on Watch What Happens Live Tuesday, explained that their hit track, I Want It That Way, isn’t hiding much behind its lyrics.

A fan, who called in during the episode, had asked, “In your song, I Want It That Way, why do you sing ‘I never want to hear you say/I want it that way’? What way do you not want it to be?”

Host Andy Cohen agreed that the caller’s inquiry was a “good question” as he also wanted to know the answer.

“First of all the song makes no sense,” McLean admitted. “There was a completely different version of the song that actually made sense and thankfully we decided to go back to the one that didn’t make sense. I don’t think it would have been as big as it was, had it made sense,” he said with a laugh.

Reacting to Ryan Gosling, a possible sixth member of the band, another hot topic surrounding the group, which another fan called in to ask, saying, “Is it true that Ryan Gosling was almost a Backstreet Boy or was that just a rumor on the internet?”

“It got so blown out of proportion,” McLean said. The 42-year-old band member explained that when the group first got its start, they were living in the same apartment complex as Gosling, who was starring on Mickey Mouse Club with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

“We would play basketball like every other day and I had told him that the group had just started. I told him Backstreet Boys was gonna be huge, and he was like ‘Not gonna happen bro’… He was wrong, it did happen, but he was never gonna audition. Somehow the press misconstrued it and then it became a thing,” McLean stated.

Ahead of their performance with Fallon, the boy band shared a selfie on Twitter, calling themselves “The Ragtime Gals.