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Backstreet Boys on today’s music fans: “You gotta grab their attention quick”

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ABC/Paula Lobo

There aren’t that many pop acts still scoring hits 25 years after they first formed, but The Backstreet Boys are one — and their single “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” is their biggest in years.  The group says they’re lucky to have a tune that’s gotten such a great response, given the fact that music fans don’t seem to have as much patience as they did back in the group’s heyday.

“Music consumption has a quicker turnover because there’s so much content,” Backstreet’s Kevin Richardson tells ABC Radio. “Everybody’s just consuming…’OK, I’m done with that’…it’s just a little bit of a shorter attention span so you gotta be aware of that.”

“You gotta make sure you’re making great music, you gotta grab their attention quick,” he adds. “It’s been awesome for us to have a song out there that’s resonating with the fans.”

Another big change the group has noticed since they started 25 years ago?  Who those fans are.  Back in the day, the group would regularly perform for thousands of screaming young girls.  But now, says Kevin, those girls have grown up.

“They have their kids at the shows now,” he says. “Sometimes we have three generations at the shows. So we got mom, who was originally a teenager when we came out, with her mom, and then the granddaughter or the grandson. So it’s pretty cool.” 

Backstreet Boys will return to the site of some of their biggest triumphs — the MTV Video Music Awards — on August 20.  According to Entertainment Weekly, the group will serve as presenters at the ceremony, along with the likes of Bebe Rexha, Blake Lively, Lenny Kravitz, Keegan-Michael Key and more.

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