Never Gone is the fifth studio album by American vocal group Backstreet Boys. It was released by Jive Records on June 14, 2005, as the successor to their fourth studio album Black & Blue (2000), after a short hiatus. The album differs musically from their previous albums, shifting from teen pop into pop rock tendencies. Unlike previous albums, it featured only live instruments. The album's title track is inspired by the death of Kevin Richardson's father, Jerald, who was also Brian Littrell's uncle.
Originally due for release in 2004, Never Gone received mixed to negative reviews, with critics noting the band's shift to a more mature sound but finding the album safe and lacking the energy of their earlier hits. It opened number one in Germany and Greece and charted within the top ten in the majority of countries where it appeared. The album was certified gold and platinum in multiple countries and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide by 2007, including 1.8 million copies in the United States.
The album's singles, led by "Incomplete," achieved strong international success, topping the Australian charts and reaching the top ten in several European countries, while later singles performed moderately in the United States and Europe. To further promote Never Gone, Backstreet Boys embarked on a 2005 club tour and the nearly 80-date Never Gone Tour across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, receiving generally positive reviews.
Background
In November 2000, Backstreet Boys released their fourth studio album Black & Blue, which achieved record-breaking commercial success by selling over five million copies worldwide in its first week.[6] The album went on to sell more than 15 million copies globally,[7][8] and spawned the singles "Shape of My Heart", "The Call" and "More than That." To promote the album, the band embarked on the Black & Blue World Tour, which spanned five continents. The tour was suspended in July 2001, when member AJ McLean entered rehabilitation for alcoholism and depression,[9] leading the group to take a sabbatical.[9] During the break, Howie Dorough explored real estate and an English/Spanish album;[10]Brian Littrell had a son and signed a deal for a Christian album;[10]Kevin Richardson performed in London and on Broadway in the musical Chicago;[10]Nick Carter released his solo album Now or Never (2002), which underperformed commercially and contributed to legal disputes with Jive Records and tensions within the group.[9] Following management changes, Backstreet Boys reunited publicly in late 2003 on The Oprah Winfrey Show, with the rest of the band surprising McLean, sparking the reunion.[10] Shortly after, they resumed working with longtime collaborator Johnny Wright.[9]
Production
Never Gone was created following a nearly five-year hiatus, during which the Backstreet Boys pursued individual projects, leading to uncertainty about the viability of their return as former teen-pop stars.[11] Recording began in early 2004 with initial sessions alongside R&B producers The Underdogs, though early experiments, including attempts at trend-driven and rap-oriented material, failed to resonate with the group.[9] Seeking a more natural direction, the band ultimately reconnected with longtime collaborator Max Martin,[11] despite initial mutual hesitation due to the perceived overexposure of their earlier pop sound.[9] The partnership was renewed after BMG chairman Clive Davis identified Martin's demo "Climbing the Walls" as a strong fit for the group, leading Martin to contribute to four of the album's twelve tracks.[9] Overall, production shifted toward a more adult pop-rock and adult contemporary style, emphasizing melody, vocal harmony, and guitar-driven arrangements,[11] with additional work from producers such as John Shanks, John Fields, John Ondrasik, Mark Taylor and Gregg Wattenberg.[11] In an interview with Billboard, Howie Dorough elaborated: "It's not all five-part harmony like everything used to be. It's like Backstreet Boys meets Matchbox Twenty meets Maroon5 meets Coldplay."[10]
Promotion
Singles
"Incomplete," produced by Dan Muckala, was released as the album's first single to US radios on March 28, 2005.[12] Released to a strong start in its first week at radio outlets, the song debuted at number 55 on Billboard US Hot 100.[13] It eventually peaked at number 13, earning a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over half a million copies in the US, and also reached the top 10 in several European countries. In Australia, it debuted at number one, giving the group their only number-one hit there, and received a double-platinum sales certification. A video for "Incomplete" was shot with director Joseph Kahn and premiered on AOL Music's First View program on April 25, 2005.[14]
Never Gone's second single "Just Want You to Know," co-produced by Dr. Luke, was released in July 2005. While it was less successful in the United States, the song reached the top ten in the United Kingdom and Spain and peaked within the top 20 in Germany, Ireland, and Italy.[13] Directed by Marc Klasfeld and released worldwide on September 3, 2005, two music videos were produced for "Just Want You to Know." Conceptually, they pay tribute to the 1986 documentary Heavy Metal Parking Lot, with Backstreet Boys portraying fans of the fictional heavy metal band Sphynkter.[15]
A third and final US single, "Crawling Back to You," produced by John Fields, was released in October 2005, in support of Music For Hurricane Relief, a organization founded to support the families affected by the catastrophic tropical Hurricane Katrina that had caused extreme damage in late August 2005. The song peaked at number 30 on the US BillboardAdult Contemporary chart.[13] Outside the United States, "I Still...," co-produced by Rami Yacoub, served as the third and final single from Never Gone. Released in November 2005, the song reached the top ten in the Netherlands and top 20 in Australia, while also reaching the top 40 in Hungary, Greece, and Sweden.
To give fans a preview of the new album, the group embarked on an 18-date "warm up club tour" ahead of the album's release.[12] Most shows sold out within just 20 minutes.[10] The tour began on March 21, 2005 in New York City and ended on April 18 in Norfolk, Virginia,[10] and was followed by a summer tour, the Never Gone Tour, which spanned close to 80 dates.[10] Presented by AOL Music, the North American leg of the tour began on July 22 at the Sound Advice Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, and ran through September 13 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.[16] From September 28, 2005, to February 2, 2006, the tour continued internationally, covering Europe, Asia, and Australia.[10] The Never Gone Tour received generally positive reviews, with critics noting the band's harmonies, stage presence, and ability to engage both longtime fans and new listeners.[17] To further promote the album, the group made appearances on NBC's morning show Today and talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ABC's daytime talk show The View and CBS' morning show The Early Show.[10]
Critical response to Never Gone was generally mixed to negative, with most critics ambivalent about changing the band's traditional pop style to a more mature adult contemporary sound. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 40, based on seven reviews.[18]
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album a "well-made record." He argued that Never Gone was marking a shift from the group's late-1990s teen pop sound to a more adult contemporary style, drawing comparisons to early-1990s Bryan Adams, also critics describing it as a modest but effective evolution rather than a full reinvention.[19]USA Today critic Elysa Gardner described the album as "smartly produced [and] cannily sung," noting that it "should strengthen the adult-contemporary audience that has always been a solid part of this now-grown-up boy band's base. Whether crooning the swooning "Safest Place to Hide" or digging into more rhythmic tracks such as "Poster Girl" and the sinuous "My Beautiful Woman," the group sounds as comfortable and accessible as ever."[26] Less impressed, Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly called the album a "corny comeback" and found that "while instantly catchy," Never Gone was "quite different from Backstreet's late-'90s synthesized pop."[9]Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times, described Never Gone as "a very careful rebranding —perhaps that should be reblanding—of an act that wants to resume selling in the millions. It has decided to bet on wholesomeness and predictability."[27]
E! Online found that Never Gone "mostly sounds like a band going through growing pains of its own. The Boys don't really sound like their old, 70-million-album selling selves, but they don't really sound like they're doing anything different either. Even if they aren't Never Gone, their inspiration certainly is."[20] Writing for People, Chuck Taylor found that Bubblegum-flavored cuts like "Poster Girl," a fetching guitar-pop ditty, and "Weird World," with its buoyant "hey hey heys," would be better suited for, say, Jesse McCartney. And rock-tinged tracks like "My Beautiful Woman" fail to bring the desired edge. Backstreet Boys are still smooth crooners on sweet if sappy ballads such as "Safest Place to Hide" and the first single "Incomplete."[21]Rolling Stone's Barry Walters wrote that Never Gone "never attains the dizzy heights of previous hits and never reaches far enough toward new territory [...] Backstreet men rarely accelerate beyond a midtempo thud."[24] Maura McAndrew from PopMatters arngued arthat the Backstreet Boys' overly serious, irony-free image and unchanged sound made them feel stale and joyless, especially as they age without acknowledging their own pop absurdity. She felt that Never Gone "has not offered anyone a reason to like boy bands, and the Backstreet Boys seem content to fade into top forty hell with so many others. But they could at least have the decency to show us their strings."[22]
Commercial performance
Prior to its release, Never Gone was predicted to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, with first-day sales estimates suggesting it could reach around 300,000 copies in its first week.[28] Despite these projections, the album did not achieve the top position, eventually opening at number three, falling short of becoming the group's third number-one album.[13] Selling 293,000 copies in its first week of release, it amarked band's fifth consecutive top ten album however, following The Hits – Chapter One in 2001.[13] On July 14, 2005, Never Gone was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[29] It has since sold close to 1.8 million copies domestically.[30]
In Japan, Never Gone was the second biggest Western album in 2005 and had sold more than 750,000 copies by January 2006,[31][32] reaching double platinum status.[33] The album also earned platinum certifications in Australia and Canada,[34][35] and was awarded gold in Germany,[36] Ireland,[37] Mexico,[38] Portugal,[39] Russia,[40] Spain,[41] Switzerland,[42] and the United Kingdom.[43] By July 2007, the album had sold over 3 million copies worldwide.[7][8]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
References
↑Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Backstreet Boys". AllMusic. Retrieved August 15, 2021. In the 2000s, they took steps away from the Max Martin hitmaking sound that shot them to stardom, maturing with their fan base via adult contemporary pop on the reinventive Never Gone (2005), Unbreakable (2007), and This Is Us (2009)
↑"Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No.1601. April 8, 2005. p.21.
↑"Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No.1615. July 15, 2005. p.19.
↑"Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No.1629. October 21, 2005. p.22.
↑"2005年年間洋楽チャート"[2005 Annual Western Music Sales Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 21, 2005. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
↑"バックストリート・ボーイズ『貴重映像も大公開！2年ぶりの来日公演を最速レポート！』"[Breaking report of Backstreet Boys' first public performance in Japan in 2 years, including valuable footage] (in Japanese). Oricon. January 11, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
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