Stop Saying The End Is Near, When The Existence Of Fans Will Ensure It’ll Never Be Here

I’ve been a fan for a long time. Because of this, I’ve seen a lot of things go in circles.

I remember when before it even got released, fans were convinced that Never Gone was going to be the final BSB album. It was constantly discussed on the message boards in fact. After Kevin announced his break this theory gained more traction and okay, that part made sense. Many fans didn’t think they would continue without him. That I understood. I didn’t agree with it. The fan base was split down the middle on that one. Some out of hope it wasn’t over, others that knew deep down it wasn’t.

After Unbreakable was announced. people liked to say that this was to be a last hurrah. How could they keep going without Kevin? This was a question that a lot of people asked. They figured it was to fulfill the once infamous Jive contract where they had to put out a set number of albums. Or maybe it was to prove that they weren’t done until it was on their terms. Personally, while yes the foursome was different than the quintet we all knew and loved, I felt their bond tightened during that time. Mainly out of determination to prove the world wrong.

I’m not sure why the theory continued to stick after that for This Is Us. Some thought maybe the number of albums on the contract was wrong. Others said they just “knew”. There were always people who claimed to be in the know. There’s still people like that now who like to gain a sense of importance within the fanbase by doing some clever guesswork and using the right guesses to “prove” they know. Saw a lot of that in 2017, in fact. But I’m going off track. Either way, with this album and the change in style musically, once again the rumors flourished that this was the end of it.

It was not.

It took another four years for In A World Like This to come around. It was almost a repeat of Never Gone when it came to the excuses. The idea was brought up that Kevin’s return was, yes you guessed it – a last hurrah before the group called it quits. They were independent now, without a major label backing them on this project. A lot of fans were “convinced” that the album was never going to be released. The thing is, not only was it released but it was ushered in on the year of their twentieth anniversary as a group and was a shining beacon of the group still going strong.

With the residency, again attracted naysayers. I watched people try to tell me, someone who lives in this city that residency artists don’t put out albums and that this was proof that In A World Like This was the final one. What a giant load of crap. As we know, that ended up not being true in the slightest. In fact Vegas managed to not only inspire but get the attention of songwriters and producers, that happened to give us their biggest hit this past decade, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.

Now, I’m seeing people on Twitter saying that the reason why the DNA World Tour is so long and ongoing is because they plan for this to be their final bow. Are you kidding me right now? How many times do people have to say the sky is falling? How many times do they have to see it’s not? How many times do the Boys have to prove themselves over and over again to the doubters?

The point of all this, is simple. Stop worrying about when the Boys will stop making music together. Just stop! Why worry about it? The thing is, when or if that day comes, there’s not a thing fans will be able to do about it. The decision is and should be theirs and theirs alone. What we fans need to remember is that we’ve been so damn blessed okay? We’ve had our group going strong for over twenty-six years. They have outlasted every other group that came out in the era that they did, and others that came later. This is rare. They care about their fans, and they care about the music they make. They do so much for us. We owe them the right to whatever decisions they will or won’t make about the future of the group.

And the other thing is? It’s that in a way, BSB will never end. They might stop doing live shows someday. Or they might eventually not make new music. Or they’ll be like the Rolling Stones (God Willing) and go on for ever and ever. But that doesn’t matter. As long as the music and the Boys have fans, the legacy they leave behind never ends. That’s just how it works when you’re a worldwide sensation. Their music has left it’s mark on the world. I guarantee you that when those of us who grew up in the nineties are in our sixties, they’ll be playing BSB’s songs on oldies radio. They’ll talk about it in music classes.

And not to mention look at it this way, this is the music we’ll play for our kids if you have any. I don’t have any but damned if I didn’t make sure to influence my nieces and nephew, much to the chagrin of my siblings. I’ve seen many fans bring their kids along, having raised them on the love of Backstreet. We’ve already seen that Backstreet Boys span generations. Why are we so worried about it ending? It won’t. We will be why it will continue to live on.

So BSB will never end. Period.