Every year, in December, I am stunned to be reminded that Taylor Swift was not the first to sing this song. Instead, Last Christmas started as a Wham song and apparently, every group has to cover it in December. This year, the Backstreet Boys took a swing at it. So, let’s get in the holiday spirit, shall we?
Today’s music video day is not just a Backstreet Boys video. It’s also the very first video that the Backstreet Boys ever made and it’s for their very first single! Just look at how young everyone used to be.
The main theme of this video seems to be that the Backstreet Boys are terrible boyfriends but it doesn’t matter because they have got it going on! Their real girlfriends play their video girlfriends in this video and Lou Pearlman, the shady puppet master who never understood that just because we liked his band didn’t mean that we wanted to know about him, is in the video too. My favorite Backstreet Boy was Brian.
Every January, I list my favorite songs of the previous year and, every January, I include the same disclaimer. My favorite songs are not necessarily the favorite songs of any of the other writers here at the Shattered Lens. We are a large and diverse group of people and, as such, we all have our own individual tastes.
If you ever visited the TSL Bunker, you would be shocked by the different music coming out of each office. You would hear everything from opera to death metal to the best of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. And then, of course, you would reach my office and you would discover that my taste in music pretty much runs the gamut from EDM to More EDM.
Now, usually, I do try to listen to a variety of music. You can go to my Song of the Day site — Lisa Marie’s Song of the Day — and see that I do occasionally listen to other types of music. But, I have to be honest. 2020 was not a year that inspired me to really leave me comfort zone. If anything, music provided me with some much needed consistency in an otherwise chaotic year. 2020 was a year that made me want to dance until it was all over and, for the most part, my favorite songs of the year reflect that fact.
Before I list my songs, I should make something else very clear. These are my favorite songs of 2020. I’m not saying that they’re necessarily the best songs of 2020. I’ll leave that debate for others. Instead, there are the songs that I found myself listening to over and over again. These are the songs made me dance. These are the songs that made me sing. A few of these songs relaxed me when I needed to be relaxed. These are songs that I liked.
You might like them.
Or you might not.
That’s the beautiful thing about art. Everyone experiences it in their own individual way. For instance, if you want to see an example of the different tastes of music that you’ll find here at TSL, be sure to check out Necromoonyeti’s top albums of 2020. And also go to Days Without Incident and check out some of the songs that Leonard has posted. To quote my friend Shirley Loh, “we all like different things.”
Here are my favorite songs of 2020:
20) No Sleep by Jessie Frye
19) Ghost In These Streets by Kate Vogel
18) Matches by Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys
17) You Do you by Dillon Francis and BabyJake
16) Into the Abyss by Zeds Dead x REZZ
15) Teacher by Chromatics
14) Stardew by Purity Ring
13) Everybody Here Hates You by Courtney Barnett
12) Swimming in the Stars by Britney Spears
11) Don’t Wanna by Haim
10) Preach by Saint Motel
9) Famous Monsters by Chromatics
8) Break my Heart by Dua Lipa
7) Feel Something by Armin van Buuren feat. Duncan Laurence
6) Dance Again by Selena Gomez
5) Phobos by Space 92
4) Pomegranate by deadmau5 & The Neptunes
3) Castles In The Sky by i_o
2) The Steps by Haim
1) A Good Song Never Dies by Saint Motel
Finally, allow me to offer up two honorable mentions to my favorite cinematic musical moments of the year. From Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga:
In this video, a man cheats on his girlfriend after he meets another girl at the club. He gives his girlfriend a call where he lies about why he’s going to be late getting home. Each Backstreet Boy takes a turn playing the cheater.
What the Hell, Backstreet Boys? You’re all cheating on the same girl? That’s not cool!
Check out that phone that AJ’s using at the start of the video. Feel old, yet? According to AJ, it was during the filming of this video that he tried cocaine for the first time. Don’t worry, though, AJ’s been sober for a year now.
Ok, I never thought I’d say this but it looks like Backstreet Boys has finally been part of something that’s been fun to watch and quite enjoyable. It’s this very one thing which is the latest entry in our recurring blog feature: “AMV of the Day”.
The video makes a play on the Backstreet Boys’ party song title, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, by taking out the band’s name and putting in Fullmetal. Yes, this is an anime music video where creator Rider4ZMusicVideos has combined the very popular shonen anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist, with the aforementioned Backstreet Boys song. To say that it was a surprise to see the two work well hand-in-hand would be an understatement.
Rider really plays up some of the comedy in the series with scenes chosen, but also does a great job of picking particular scenes to help lip-synch the lyrics of the song. Once again, I was thoroughly surprised just how enjoyable this video was and for the first time in my life I actually enjoyed listening to a Backstreet Boys song.
Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Song: “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by Backstreet Boys