- 2 days ago
It’s a larger than life family affair, as Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys and his son, Baylee Littrell, joined Bru in Los Angeles to talk through their respective career highlights, Baylee’s run on 'American Idol,' and much more during our generational conversation.
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00:02um i don't think i've ever had a father-son duo before in studio which is amazing
00:06check it off the bucket list get mom over here too at some point let's uh the whole family reunion
00:10guys it's so good to uh meet you and have you in studio thanks for being here um how's the
00:15day
00:15ben how's everything going so far it's been fantastic yeah perfect fantastic yeah hey we're
00:20breaking records first father-son duo on the show tell you what plaque you know we'll add it
00:25two little like to start right at the top you know it's like exactly it's all downhill from there
00:30you guys sign the wall somewhere we need that um by the way i need to like clear this up
00:34now before
00:35we get into it when you came on american idol i feel like i it twisted my brain so much
00:39because i had
00:40no idea and i don't know if this was me or an america thing but like literal is yes where
00:46did
00:46that come from where you got it right you got it good congratulations i thought it was latrell
00:51where did that come from is that just pop culture and people just taking it and run with it
00:54you know i have to say in my 20s i tried to correct everybody in my 30s i kind of
01:00stopped
01:01my 40s i didn't give a damn 50s i'm like uh you know now i care again because my son's
01:09you know
01:09my son's lineage so it's very english welsh so it's like literal it's just literally kind of how we
01:16speak it i was trying with people thinking we were french for a while at least when it was
01:21that's fancy you know right i like that well i'm glad i got it right i've been practicing i've
01:25been training um and i'd love to start with that from uh just your american idol journey like what
01:31was it that led you to that moment and also being there uh doing an original song i thought was
01:36so
01:36cool was there any like thought process of doing that song first and foremost oh absolutely um i knew
01:44if i was going to go on the show that was to me that was my uh biggest chance to
01:49gain exposure on
01:51that national level i did not want to do american idol i was afraid but i knew that that was
01:55hopefully
01:56going to you know uh gain attention and two the original song was terrifying though i feel like it
02:03would have been so much more smooth like for the nerves if i went in there and did a cover
02:09but going
02:10in doing the original song i was like not only am i going to be judged on how i sing
02:14or play the
02:14guitar but now the songwriting too is going to be under the microscope um but then i thought okay
02:20this is my audition for the industry honestly not just idol um that was kind of my big you know
02:26first
02:26stab at like well actually my last huge attempt at trying to get out there before i was going to
02:33figure out what i was going to try to do yeah but they urged you not to you know not
02:37to do an
02:37original they were like don't do it yeah yeah if it goes if it goes bad they're like if it
02:41goes good
02:41that's great they're like if it goes bad you're you're done yeah yeah i never thought about that
02:47portion of it where it's like oh my gosh i'm so vulnerable because it's my words too if they don't
02:51like my words my song like me that's an extra shot at it so did you ever battle with like
02:56a song that
02:56you would have done if if you didn't do original i i had a couple takes i you know anything
03:03that's like
03:04john mayer i love you know that's kind of what like got me to start playing the guitar so i
03:08thought
03:08okay maybe you know like daughters john mayer and i was like all right we don't need a lullaby right
03:13now we need to like wake everybody up yeah and so um i think that's what really started getting me
03:19to like push and try to sing and like explore the range and and all that stuff was um waiting
03:25on
03:25myself to die american idol it was just like let's let's try it i was terrified yeah absolutely i don't
03:31remember it at all blacked out i don't yeah i don't remember it at all yeah i feel like absolutely
03:36that'd be such a scary thing and also there's so much about the show that you know that it's like
03:39oh my gosh i don't want to end up on one of those things where it's like yeah make a
03:44meme out of you
03:45and you're like oh not for the right thing um and also just the fact where you have a new
03:49single out
03:49now and you're you know genre genre bending where you you know you're doing country pop be christian
03:56um i feel like where it probably goes through your heads like different ways you could go
04:02about it right like were you thinking about doing the country route on the show as well i mean with
04:07audition i had i had kind of debated but by that time i had been in nashville for then about
04:15like
04:15six or seven years and i hadn't found my place i was finally just kind of tired of like writing
04:23the
04:23way that nashville wanted me to write and so i started kind of uh being the outlaw and so then
04:29i i got to idol and i was like all right well i guess we're going to continue the you
04:32know the
04:33outlaw thing but i'll go back to nashville when this is over that's that's where i'll you know do
04:37music and the further i got on the show the further away that possibility became a reality again it was
04:45more or less everyone was kind of in my ear saying like you're gonna go back to nashville
04:51and i was like well yeah and they're like well you don't sound country to us you know how is
04:56this
04:56going to work like you sound like you could do pop music or r&b you just dabbled with gospel
05:01where's
05:02that going to lead is this going to go to r&b or pop this is where we want you
05:06to go and i was like
05:08push push i don't know about that and finally taking that like almost year off i released hey jesus and
05:14i
05:14was just trying to figure out what to do i finally just i was like all right let's produce let's
05:18let's
05:19write what we want to write let's produce what we want to produce and then just just kind of
05:23naturally developed into pop yeah i didn't think was honestly going to happen i thought i would go
05:28right back to you know nashville and then it just became this so it's funny to hear you say we
05:33because
05:33it was you it was not we it was it was you it's funny how your life you have just
05:38a path you think
05:39you're gonna go down and then it's just a million different things comes at you that way um how is
05:43it
05:43when you go to the studio or you're working on a song and you have these different genres in your
05:48mind
05:48like is it when you'd go someday and be like well i didn't expect to write a country song but
05:52here it
05:52is or i didn't mean to write a pop song but there it is how does that work when you
05:55you know get into
05:56the studio it's uh it's crazy because too like i have the little home setup which is literally in
06:03my kitchen and i have like my little computer and everything and i'll just cut rough demos and that's
06:09how pop started because i was producing and i'm like if i hear another banjo like i'm going to
06:15explode i was like i need to get out of my comfort zone here yeah so i started messing with
06:19you know
06:19dance beats afro beats pop r&b and just kind of going all over the board and then started you
06:26know
06:26producing what is now my you know latest single so be it and that song really kind of capped off
06:33the
06:33the journey because i sent that to them you know they'll tell me in five seconds if they like or
06:37hate
06:38it like that's i'm like all right what do you think and they were like we like it and i
06:41was like i
06:42thought you were gonna say you hated this tough crowd yeah i loved it stuff it's like two votes
06:47and so then we just we kind of like got with uh producers and uh vocal production and everything
06:56and everyone kind of all collectively agreed that they liked so be it the journey that it was going
07:01on and then kind of built the album around that so i mean there's been countless times though we
07:06were in a studio in nashville we sang because you were with me yeah um and you know cut three
07:12or four
07:12songs this is when i knew country wasn't going to work this was three years ago you know we cut
07:16with
07:17a live band we did all this stuff and we just didn't like any of it it was like they
07:21were good
07:22songs but i was like i can't hear myself singing this it doesn't feel right someone else needs to
07:26sing this and so i feel like after that you know when we got back to music i was like
07:30we probably
07:31won't have a banjo in this it's called growing pain yeah it's called growing pains absolutely yeah
07:37so uh i think that experience kind of taught us you know when i get back in what was gonna
07:43be
07:43different and that was i mean this january everything started getting cut and that was the
07:47first time i'd cut a pop song in the studio so i was nervous i was excited but it was
07:53like i was
07:53starting all over again um that was probably my favorite part of this whole thing so far was just
07:59getting back in the studio and like okay this is the new me but this is who i've always been
08:04um yeah you know under the surface yeah so there's a lot of things that that people don't know about
08:10bailey um he's super eclectic just in his musical love and his musical journey so i think that is you
08:19know the question is like oh what are you going to do next it's who knows who knows what he's
08:24going
08:24to do next i mean so be it is is like a straight up pop summer you know great dance
08:30bop they call it
08:32nowadays yeah it's called kids call them out okay i'll probably change that tomorrow but but um but
08:38there's there's a lot of things that people don't know about his journey and just the depth of him as
08:43an artist and that's i think from a father's standpoint is that's the most exciting thing is
08:48like i can't wait till this record comes out because people are really gonna i think they're
08:53gonna embrace him as a as a true artist i call him the american ed sheeran because he comes up
08:59with
08:59songs and ideas every day and it's just like that's pretty good company to be in oh yeah when you
09:04think
09:05about it absolutely it's never been a better time to be like that too where like if you have a
09:08playlist while you're on a road trip like it's all over the place you know you're never listening to
09:12just one genre so to be an artist where you can fluctuate like that i feel like it's it's the
09:16best time to to be like that and how great is it growing up with like i'm sure you guys
09:20listen to
09:20music that was all over the map and it inspires you i think of my parents like just stuff from
09:25the
09:26even 60s or 70s where like i love it so much i'm sure it inspired you as well absolutely i
09:31mean grew
09:32up on everything from the eagles to brian mcknight you know it was just all over the board so it
09:37was uh
09:38i think that's what the biggest growth in music i feel like for an artist is i feel like almost
09:45everyone who does music they actually want to do another genre they actually they don't want to be
09:50doing the genre that they're doing that's so funny um and i i tried country for so long because it's
09:56the idea in my head that i you know wanted to do or that i loved then i had the
10:01hard conversation
10:01with myself where i was like okay well this this isn't working like you have to do what makes sense
10:07and where you're going to be musically free uh yeah did you want like a huge mullet and like a
10:12beard and be like yeah i'm country now well that's what you wanted that's what we got post malone's
10:18trying the same thing you know and i'm like posty please go back to pop
10:22miss the rap album i know we need that bad but you're so right i bet that it's like
10:26almost like you always want what you can't have and a lot of different things but
10:30did you ever have a genre you wanted to try that you were like well wasn't meant for me
10:36um not really polka never interested you polka never never did um huge you know i dabbled in
10:43i came from you know i came from singing in church so it was like gospel music of course you
10:48know
10:48southern baptist like you know it was like oh you know that's just what it was so for me you
10:54know
10:54doing backstreet boys it was like the modern day beach boys was like oh let's put some harmonies
10:59together yeah and have great songs so we were we were blessed with a great catalog great time
11:03you know 90s 90s music was a great thing it's great that it's back absolutely all right sorry
11:10it's like a response it just happened at least once this comes out oh bailey i would love to hear
11:15about your journey in nashville because i think it's such an interesting story where like it's crazy
11:19to even i mean it's kind of a term where it's like almost anti-nepo where you had an issue
11:23where
11:24you know that um just like the family name in that town how did that become such a challenge
11:30do you think for you it was it was rough like psychologically the the ups and downs i started
11:35in nashville eight years ago i got to town and started recording i was mostly recording songs
11:42too that i hadn't written i was you know working with writers that you know they were pretty big in
11:48town and it was like all right well you have to sing their song or do this to really get
11:51noticed
11:52so i started doing that and everyone was great like i loved everybody everyone was accepting it
11:57was it was cool everyone kind of was like all right you know you could be you know a superstar
12:03here like
12:03let's try to push that covid hits and it was like when i got back to nashville everyone just did
12:11not
12:11like me and it was one of those things i was like yes that was one of the side effects
12:14i don't know if
12:14you knew i do not like bailey literally so it was yeah it was it was insane um i got
12:22back to town and
12:22that's when i really started having like label meetings and i mean this was this was still early
12:272020 so tiktok was really just exploding but i wasn't even on tiktok and i was in a record label
12:34meeting they were like so yeah we we wanted to sign you last year but everything happened uh tell us
12:40how your tiktok numbers are and i was like what i was like i've got like 150k on instagram they're
12:45like yeah call us when you have that on tiktok well we'd prefer millions and i was like it's crazy
12:51insane so it was it was every label but then it became the whole nepotism thing like it was never
12:57a conversation so that's what shocked me and then you know all of a sudden it was oh you're brian's
13:02kid
13:02and i was like yeah should i be scared you hate me like so it was a different thing and
13:10then you
13:10know coming into the pop universe like obviously you're always going to have that and it's fair
13:15for people to have assumptions like it's just life but it's been so much more uh reminiscent of when i
13:22started in music and it's more like come on in and uh i'm just appreciative of that because uh i
13:28feel
13:28like especially if you have something to say um if you think you can make an impact like
13:33just give me a chance you know so i uh i'm very grateful very grateful i'm sure it makes you
13:40stronger in the longer right there's like callous you in a way for the industry to like you know
13:45you got through that you know we'll think hopefully no more pandemics and then maybe
13:49they'll like you again after maybe it might be a reverse effect yeah dude this guy's great
13:54we've always loved it yeah oh my gosh so for the new single so be it what would you say
14:00is the thing you're most proud of that song um it's my you know uh intro into pop it's the
14:07new era
14:08so i said like eight years in now we're really one year in and not even six months in whenever
14:13so be
14:14it was it was written in january so like this is the new chapter uh this is really me being
14:19bailey for
14:19the first time uh just having fun in writing it doesn't have to be end of the world sad it
14:25doesn't
14:26have to be inspiration it just came from you know me enjoying music and my craft sitting there and
14:32building a track and and something that i uh had always kind of dreamed of doing that i finally got
14:36to do so from production to vocals and i mean that this is the track that kind of set me
14:42free
14:42so going forward i think people are only going to get more of bailey yeah so i'm excited i'm excited
14:48for you man you got me fired up i can't wait to see what's coming for you in 2026 and
14:52beyond
14:52um speaking of this year what we're playing right now bottle up congrats brian oh appreciate that
14:57big paw patrol guy tell me about this you know uh i kind of missed that yeah i kind of
15:02missed that
15:02movement because bailey's 23 it's a bop as the kids say it's a bop yeah it's a bop um you
15:07know that
15:08that opportunity just kind of fell in our lap which was amazing uh we got an email from our manager
15:13saying hey check this song out you know see what you think uh there's going to be a big
15:17kids movie and kids come kids movie coming out and we're like okay so i'll listen to the uh to
15:24the demo and it's actually ed sheeran oh no way because he he co-wrote it he writes everything
15:29man i don't know how he does it yeah so um so i picked up on his voice right off
15:33the bat i'm like
15:34oh my god this is ed sheeran singing the singing this demo so um so we all got in the
15:39studio we
15:39loved the song and it was just like i mean it was a it was a wonderful blessing from this
15:44guy it
15:44just kind of fell in our laps because the movie comes out in august uh we'll actually be out here
15:49in la for the premiere cool um we're jumping back in vegas we start back up uh july 16th with
15:55our
15:56you know run of another 21 shows so um but yeah the paw patrol thing it's it's funny because you
16:01work
16:02your whole life to be successful for you know people who love you and then you get to the point
16:07where all your your fans are now bringing their kids to the shows so then they love
16:13oh the paw patrol thing so it's like perfect i mean how how perfect is this next 21 shows at
16:18the
16:18sphere is going to be filled with field trips from all the local las vegas schools and you give it
16:23another the kids are always six months behind with the sayings and then they get it oh so i'm still
16:27kind of dreading it but i promise you in vegas a kid's going to walk up to you and be
16:31like
16:32yeah my name's david i'm in third grade he's like your new song is it's fire man
16:36fire is what they say it's not a bop it's fire it's fire that's what it was uh you know
16:41about six
16:41seven yet you know you gotta learn it kids are coming i know i hear it all the time
16:52no about six and a half right no it's amazing though because i like even looking at the comments
16:57it's so nice how everyone is like man it is so cool to see that all the og members are
17:02still like
17:02after 33 years making music and songs that are still on the radio in their favorite movies and
17:07again like you said bringing their families to these shows yeah it's just a testament to you know
17:11your guys's talent and togetherness as a group um i mean it's a testament to the fans too i mean
17:18the
17:18fans just keep you alive and um you know we've always talked about always preach like this is a
17:24marathon it's not a sprint you know uh like with the social medias and the tiktoks and the all the
17:30stuff that's out there you know everybody's sprinting to the finish line you know record
17:34labels are chasing artists that that have the number just like just like bailey was talking about
17:39and it's like there's no genuineness anymore there's no radio love there's like you guys have
17:45like such a role in success of building artists and that's what people just kind of negate the fact
17:52anymore it's just like what are your numbers on socials are you 300 500 000 and and i i just
17:57feel
17:58like that you know that movement is is missing us like this is why it's so important for bailey to
18:04to know how to do this because you guys are the are the gatekeepers that play the records and that's
18:10just important for the fans so i yeah we thank you guys for that but i think that's also the
18:14journey
18:14that the backstreet boys have been on we're still on it i was in new york two weeks ago doing
18:19a radio run
18:19four bottle up it's like people are looking at us like i can't believe you're here in the studio
18:24it's like but this is just what we do i mean this is part of the business and that's why
18:29it's so
18:29important for him to learn from the ground up yeah no it's awesome to you know get to like firsthand
18:33and i'm sure you saw so much of it growing up but to like be in it now it's so
18:36nice to have that
18:37guidance and um and everything so it's really cool my favorite comment by the way from that was um
18:42the backstreet boys still being together after 33 years it's the most consistent thing in my life
18:45which is great this is so funny that's that's crazy what do you think has been the most crucial
18:50thing of you know in your opinion making as a group for that long um like basically how if we
18:57kept it going yeah or just in your mind like oh man that was such a a crucial thing of
19:01of why that
19:02longevity has been a thing well i think it's something that we always wanted that's the thing
19:06it was um you know when we became a boy group so to say that's actually a european term that
19:12started
19:12in the mid 90s uh the u.s took on to it like oh there's boy bands and boy bands
19:18and boy bands i
19:19mean the beatles were boy bands motown were boy bands jackson five were a boy band but they didn't
19:24talk about that back then so for us it was just like i said it was that marathon it was
19:29something
19:29that we wanted to continue to do to actually have a career out of and that's the thing you gotta
19:34gotta keep your wheels in motion you gotta keep thinking ahead you gotta keep designing shows you
19:39gotta stay on the road you gotta do radio interviews these are things that sustain a long
19:45career and that's what we wanted and that's what we work for yeah that's why we're still here i love
19:49that that's amazing the uh i have not gotten out to the sphere you gotta come man it's like the
19:55best
19:55show i feel like you're one of the only people that could like testify and talk about what that is
19:59like um what it was like performing i've been there for i took my parents to u2 they were so
20:03thrilled
20:04you know the older parents so they were like those are my guys um but they would love to see
20:09you
20:09guys as well what is it like doing it at the venue like that you know i can't tell you
20:13because i
20:13haven't seen it oh it's so true it's always it's always in the back of me trippy being up there
20:17like
20:17oh my gosh no it's it's like well it took eight it took eight to nine months to literally build
20:23and
20:24put together so we talked about this uh in september of 2024 then we launched in july of 2025 so
20:31i'm about
20:31to head back be in there a year off and on uh it's been nothing but a blessing you know
20:36we ask the fans to
20:37wear white this it's the most tech technologically sound venue that's built on the planet uh yeah i
20:47mean the screen's 360 feet long and about 288 feet tall um you know i just don't like to look
20:53at my
20:54bald spot in the back when i turn around oh yeah i never thought about that that's a big sphere
20:57yeah
20:57that's a big sphere we could probably do like the snapchat filter thing we could fill it in
21:03no but it's a it's an amazing experience i'm telling you any artist like you know there's
21:08been some comments about backstreet boys going back to vegas we always wanted to go back to vegas
21:12yeah when we went back at that level it was daunting it was scary to think about like 17 000
21:18people a
21:19night and crazy and you can't get a ticket i mean this is a testament to our fans it's a
21:24testament to
21:25the music the just the loyalty of i run into people all the time and they're like you guys are
21:30the
21:30soundtrack of my life like that's one of the best compliments that you could give so i would just
21:35urge you if you haven't seen the show it's something that you really don't want to miss
21:39because it will take you back to a worry free time in your life i need that whether whether you
21:45like
21:45this or not yeah i think you're going to hear some bops that you might remember fire you know
22:00that's what people just are craving as well like it's just a time where i mean for me even like
22:05hillary duff is going nuts right now she's back doing her thing that jonas brothers like i don't
22:08know if you grew up with that where absolutely you know it's just feel good stuff and and i just
22:12feel
22:12like we need that so it's amazing and i can't wait to see it you've seen the show right absolutely
22:16unreal huh so many i can't wait i gotta get out there's so many bops hey we know some people
22:20so we
22:20might be able to hook you up i need to get there i'm due need a vegas trip um before
22:24we wrap uh brian i want
22:26to know what is like the best advice you think you've given bailey before the best advice um
22:32probably just be himself um there's a lot of you know a lot of talk about father son like oh
22:39you want
22:39to do what your dad does i mean i think there's a lot of kids out there millions of kids
22:43that want
22:43to grow up and do what their dad does um i didn't really want to grow up and work at
22:47ibm for 35 years
22:48but my dad did you know retired there um couldn't give me any advice on music business so i think
22:54that's one
22:54of the best things about our relationship is that there's all these things that bailey has yet to go
23:00through that i will be right there by his side to help him navigate and uh it's just the experience
23:07you know but he has to be his own man and you know people are gonna hate on it they're
23:12not gonna like
23:12it they're gonna think he's you know got a better opportunity than somebody else but i'm gonna tell you
23:18right now preaching to the choir he's got to go do the work and that's the best part about it
23:24i think it's just dedicating to his craft and being his own man yeah i think it shows through
23:29his music to the gen z people out there you know i have to grind yeah here we go a
23:34lot more a lot
23:35more sometimes maybe six seven years honestly six or seven years is at least the amount of grind
23:40time yeah what about what about for real for real for real what if you had to give a piece
23:45of advice
23:45to your dad what do you think you could offer up i would tell him to keep enjoying what he's
23:50doing he
23:51just now allowed himself to enjoy and step back and uh he's gonna actually take in everything that's
23:58happening to him uh they didn't really get to experience uh the joy of millennium when millennium
24:03dropped because the label was like all right black and blue let's go another record um they didn't get
24:08to stop so now all the boys are actually having time to reflect enjoy i mean nick came into your
24:16dressing room it was one of the first like i think the second week maybe this fear and he he
24:20grabbed
24:20him he's like dude we did it like we made it this is this is real and i was like
24:25i mean millennium is
24:27just now processing for you guys i'd like to see how 27 years later yeah 27 years think about life
24:34goes so fast and sometimes you're right if you don't process it you just like that hits you later and
24:38i'm so glad you're getting to experience that in in such a cool way where like you said the fans
24:43are
24:43still showing up and probably more passionate than ever because it just it has a new meaning for
24:47their lives with their families and everything so totally yes it's a new joy on everybody's faces
24:52i love that well good luck on the tour i can't wait to follow your journey and see what all
24:56you do
24:57this year and beyond
24:58you