Maps of Music

In a World Like This (2013)

Where the lyrics of In a World Like This take you, and where it was really made.

It is the first album since 2005 to feature Kevin Richardson, who left the group in 2006 and rejoined in 2012.

Key places

The group's London studio (2013)

Recording site Wild Bunch Studios (London) — The group worked on the album in London and held a fan lottery for rough mixes at its London studio. Kensaltown Recording Studios is linked as the recording site, but only city-level coordinates are available. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• In a World Like This: eighth studio album by American group Backstreet Boys (seventh in the United States)
• Released July 30, 2013 on the group's own K-BAHN label, under license to BMG Rights Management, distributed by RED Distribution
• Japan release came earlier, on July 24, 2013
• Follow-up to This Is Us (2009)
• First album since Never Gone (2005) to feature Kevin Richardson
• First independent album since the group left Jive Records in 2010

Background

• Left Jive Records on May 25, 2010, while still a quartet
• Talks with Interscope Records stalled over a one-album or three-album deal
• A 2011 joint tour with New Kids On The Block pushed the album back
• March 2011 press conference in Vietnam: first time with complete creative control
• Nick Carter's sister Leslie died in January 2012, delaying recording to late February 2012
• Richardson rejoined permanently, announced April 29, 2012
• All five members moved into a house in London in July 2012 to work on the album
• Take That's reunion album Progress and its tour were cited as inspiration

Recording

• Group hoped producer Martin Terefe would produce the entire record
• Songwriters in London included Sacha Skarbek and Craig David
• Songwriters in the US included Morgan Taylor Reid, Mika Guillory, GoodWill & MGI, Lucas Hilbert, Geo Slam, and Porcelain Black
• July 27, 2012: fans won a lottery to hear rough mixes at the group's London studio
• Carter said the band avoided a traditional boy band album and did not record songs they had not written
• Richardson wrote a song about his son, making the album autobiographical

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

• Entertainment Weekly (Nick Catucci): a streamlined, more mature sound on the eighth album, with some of the old campy sparkle kept
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): sonically more interesting than the two previous albums, and a surprisingly mature record
• PopMatters (Kevin Catchpole): not as explosive as Millennium, but a step in the right direction
• The Standard (John Aizlewood): less strident than the previous seven albums, efficient and clinical, predictable yet rewarding
• Los Angeles Times (August Brown): unlikely to match 'Everybody' in the catalog, but better records exist
• Boston Globe (Sarah Rodman): a few detours, but the group stays genial, accessible and happy in lush harmony
• The Guardian (Caroline Sullivan, mixed): dropped the beats of the previous record for mid-tempo adult pop
• The A.V. Club (Annie Zaleski): modern production makes the vocal melodies and harmonies sound generic
• Newsday (Glenn Gamboa): too many weak choruses and too much sentimental material
• Now (Julia Leconte): slid into a bland adult contemporary style, with the title track not lifting it out of elevator-music territory
• Rolling Stone (Caryn Ganz): tracks described as dull, with wannabe Ryan Tedder-style beats
• The Observer (Hermione Hoby): music as expected, described as uplifting cheese

Reappraisal

• Metacritic: average score of 60 from 11 reviews, meaning mixed or average reviews

Records

• Japan: number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, 40,000 copies in the first week, RIAJ Gold, 109,077 total
• Japan: best-selling western album in Japan at that time
• United States: Billboard 200 number five in the week of August 17, 2013, 48,000 copies in the first week
• United States: highest-charting US release since Never Gone (2005), 180,100 copies sold, no certification
• Independent Albums (US): number three; Digital Albums (US): number seven
• Number one in the Netherlands, India, Switzerland, and Taiwan
• Canada: number two
• Top five in Germany, Spain, and the UK Independent Albums chart; top ten in Austria and Norway
• UK chart debut at number 16 (week of 4 to 10 August 2013)
• China: number three on the Sino Chart in December 2013
• France: number 144 on the SNEP Albums Chart in March 2014

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• A free download of 'Permanent Stain' was offered with each ticket for the In a World Like This Tour.
• The group announced the free download on Good Morning America, where they first performed 'Permanent Stain' on May 15, 2013.
• The album's title track premiered on Z100 New York on June 18, 2013, a week before its release as the first single.
• Richardson wrote a song about his son, and Carter said the band did not want to record songs they had not written.
• The tour started in China on May 24, 2013 and finished on June 28, 2015, with over 150 shows in 11 legs.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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