It’s been ages since I did a post like this.
But here’s the thing, I’ve always been the fanpage that does deep dives into the music and honestly, that’s never going to change. And with their thirtieth anniversary coming up, I feel like diving back into their music history in multiple ways is honestly the best way to celebrate them. The Kevin-less eras get glossed over so much by the Boys themselves and when I think of songs that got sort of shoved aside and deserve better? Everything But Mine is one of the first that comes to mind. And to be honest, it’s got a cool history to it.
Now this was never fully confirmed but I always suspected that at one point they planned to release Everything But Mine as a single for Unbreakable. And the reason why I think this is because of the treatment it was getting. AJ once described a song on the album as “I Want It That Way on crack“, which if you play the album, I’d say this was the only song that hit that. I can see it, in retrospect due to the ‘tell me why, why, tell me why…you’re everything, everything but mine’ part of the lyrics. They were performing it over on a promotional tour in Asia. People have likely long forgotten and the videos of it are hard to find (trust me, I looked) but it was at one point, on the set list. What changed? Why did it change?
I have no idea.
The one video I did find is something I’m linking here more as proof because honestly the quality is terrible. Even for 2007 standards. God we’ve been spoiled by technology.
We got Inconsolable as a single instead and while I do enjoy the song, I do think it’s a missed opportunity. For awhile the group had this bad habit of releasing slow songs or mid tempos as lead singles. Not to mention this was fresh off Never Gone so there were jokes about the name similarity to Incomplete. This was definitely a weird era as a whole so I can’t say Everything But Mine would’ve changed the game, since they were adjusting to being without Kevin and Jive Records were being trash. But I do think it mightve helped them out more, done more for them.
In fact them busting out with an upbeat song in a similar vein (Don’t Go Breaking My Heart) for DNA I think went a long way into helping their resurgence. I could be optimistic here, but if they’d done so here, could it have helped more? I want to say yes. But really it’s hard to say. Straight Through My Heart didn’t when it came to This Is Us but, I think was because by that point people were unfortunately and wrongfully writing them off since Kevin was still gone, and Unbreakable flew so under the radar.
It’s to say what any what if would’ve turned out like.
Fans do love and appreciate this songm generally speaking. It got requested pretty frequently at the soundcheck parties. Thankfully. So we do have real video of them singing it. (Though Brian is kind of messing around so it’s not a true performance.)
I just wish we knew what caused them to suddenly start more or less ignoring the song despite it coming up during album promo. Was it Jive who made the call about the single changing? I mean why did they have Everything But Mine on the setlist but then take it away? Why was AJ seemingly hyping up that song in particular only to never release it as a single, you know? I mean this was 2007 and man, I think they had a lot of opportunity with this song and the music video it could’ve produced. This and Any Other Way though that’s another post.
Honestly I’ll push the idea of a deep cuts tour forever if it means we get to finally hear songs like this live. Because Boys, I know you’ve had an incredible career with so many songs but why not stop ignoring the Unbreakable album and let songs like this get the love they deserve? I mean the harmonies on the chorus alone… Like I know some feel this song is a little too heavy on the production but I disagree. Given the genre it is, I actually think it really leans into what they could do as a foursome.
Now imagine that live today with Kevin’s vocals adding a final touch.
Justice for Everything But Mine.
The Dark Side 
Here is more of it Rose
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