Backstreet Boys Usher in Sentimental ‘Millennium’

Like the pink cotton candy you get at circuses and amusement parks, the teen-idol vocal quintet’s new collection (due in stores Tuesday) is all spun-sugar melodies and melt-in-your-mouth sentiment, with nary a hint of substance.

Not that the boys don’t give their full attention to harmonizing over true love (“No One Else Comes Close”), true desire (“I Need You Tonight”) and true-blue family values (“The Perfect Fan,” an ode to dear ol’ Mom). And not that it matters to the girls who’ll be swooning over “Millennium” in their bedrooms, but every one of these heartbroken ballads, pumping dance tunes and devotional love songs is packed with cliched sentimentality and buffed to a high gloss that smooths away any hint of personality--or humanity.

Compared with such emotionally predictable numbers as the pale Babyface imitation “I Want It That Way” and the swirling synth-romance “The One,” the Backstreet Boys’ slick, Vegas-revue-style concerts seem positively spontaneous. The group tones down its cushy R&B-pop; vibe in favor of blown-up pop-metal bombast (albeit with a disco beat) in such songs as “It’s Gotta Be You,” which just makes “Millennium” sound less like the turn of the next century than the middle of the last decade.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.