AJ McLean Spills Backstreet Boys’ Hopeful 2021 Plans After Epic Britney Spears Duet Drops

The Backstreet Boys & Britney Spears surprised fans with a new single on Dec. 11, and now, the band is promising they’ll drop even more new music in 2021.

The Backstreet Boys‘ shocked fans on Dec. 11, when they released a hot new song, titled “Matches”, with Britney Spears, 39. And now, AJ McLean, 42, has news that should excite boy band fanatics even more as he promises this is just the beginning when it comes to new music from BSB in 2021. “The next thing on our list is to finally have a Christmas album, which we’ve never done to this day,” AJ told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY while promoting his Pretty Messed Up podcast through iHeart Radio with recent DWTS partner Cheryl Burke, 36 , on Dec. 10. “We’re still talking about it, trying to find out how we’re going to make it happen for next year, but we’re talking about songs now. Next year, the next thing you’ll hear as a group will be a Christmas album.”

It’s been a minute since BSB released new music. The boys dropped “No Place” and an entire album, DNA, which led to a world tour in 2019, but fans have been aching for more ever since.

New music was supposed to come sooner for BSB, but the coronavirus pandemic had other plans for the band as he remains hopeful for the future. “We are obviously still in the middle of our DNA World Tour,” AJ explained. “Hopefully, if things go the way we want them to, concerts are going to be the very last thing to come back after the pandemic is kind of hopefully subdued to a certain degree. We still have our second US leg run, we’ve got our second run in Europe. We have to go back to Latin America as well and the rest of the world.”

While AJ plans to rejoin his bandmates in the studio when the time is right, he is focusing on his solo career for the time being while teasing another residency for the band. “There is going to be some AJ solo music in 2021,” AJ added of their Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. “And then eventually, hopefully, God willing, going back to Vegas and having a nice residency there down the road would be nice as well. We all have our own individual endeavors as well as the group. You’ll be seeing a lot from me very soon.”

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For the time being, AJ is busy with Cheryl recording episodes of their new podcast which is a blast for the duo. And with upcoming guests like Leah Remini, Nelly, Steve-O and Kris Jenner, the best is yet to come. “The 3 of us met back in March on Zoom and instantly we all felt like, ‘OK, wow, this is going to workout really well,” AJ said of the podcast which also features their friend Rene Elizondo Jr. “I have no filter. Cheryl definitely has no filter. Renee’ is the almighty Renee’ and I love it. It’s just a great combination of 3 people who are pretty messed up.” “And to show everyone that it’s OK to talk about it. It’s OK to feel the feelings that you are feeling and not label it or judge it as being shameful or feel that you’re the only person going through whatever it is that you are going through,” Cheryl added. “Because a lot of our stories are similar, not the same, but similar. I also feel it’s because of your failures, if you want to call it, or your downfalls, that make you you and I think that that is something that we all need to stick true to and stand by that because there’s only one you.”