AJ McLean will always be a Backstreet Boy and he wants it that way. As he has matured into a Backstreet man, however, he also wants to prove that he is more than just a singer.
That he is hosting a new reality show isn’t a surprise for the group member who typically marches to the beat of his own drum. The bad boy of the boy band has always had a rough-around-the-edges demeanour, but that’s what made him the only choice for his new gig.
“The Fashion Hero: A New Kind of Beautiful” is a competition series on Paramount Plus that sees 22 contestants from around the world challenge the perception of what makes someone “good-looking.” As the coaches whittle down their teams, the last one standing is awarded the chance to front a major brand marketing campaign.
McLean admitted that when he first heard about the show, he almost turned it down.
“When I heard the name, the first thing I associated it with was ‘America’s Next Top Model’ or one of those kinds of shows, so I was a little put off,” he said in an interview.
A conversation with the show’s creator, Montreal’s Caroline Bernier, quickly changed his mind and McLean believes that viewer perceptions about beauty will also be transformed when they tune in. He said the powerful stories of the 22 contestants shed light on other issues as well.
“(Some) of these people have PTSD, body dysmorphia, gender confusion, conflict within themselves and their own sexuality, abuse of alcohol or drugs … being bullied or being judged their entire lives, and being told how to feel, how to look, how to dress and how to think. Everybody is perfectly imperfect in my mind, including myself. Nobody’s perfect. Perfect is boring.”
A self-described goofball, McLean thrived on the opportunity to host the fun challenges featured on the show that was filmed entirely in South Africa. He cited his own fear of heights as being one of the ways he was able to connect with the contestants, something any successful reality host will tell you is key.
“I grew up in acting and musical theatre so being in front of a camera is nothing new for me … but hosting is new for me,” the singer said. “Any time the Backstreet Boys have done TV shows with any hosts, there’s a teleprompter and there’s cue cards. It’s all cookie cutter, methodical and very thought out.”
That wasn’t the case in “The Fashion Hero.”
“I just got to be myself,” he said.
There is a lot of Canadian representation on the series. Three of the contestants are Canadian including Farah (Pickering, Ont.), Niki (Calgary) and Susie (Montreal).
“They were all very sweet, very friendly, very introverted. As the show progressed, they opened up and they are just beautiful humans,” McLean said about the northern representatives.
The contestants aren’t the only Canadians featured on the series. Toronto’s Jordyn Sugar wrote the show’s theme song and Montreal’s Simple Plan serve as mentors in the sixth episode of the series. McLean said the Backstreet Boys met the Montreal rockers at an award show years ago.
“They were being interviewed next to us and we didn’t know who it was. Then all of a sudden we heard them singing ‘Quit Playing Games’ and I was like ‘Who is singing our song?’”
The cute interaction led to a continued friendship between the groups.
Just as that story highlights, the Backstreet Boys continue to be recognized almost everywhere they go. That’s what happens when you have been together for 30 years. While each of the group’s five members have worked on different projects during that time, none have ever really left the group behind, finding an enduring appeal that many bands can’t.
McLean attributed the success to the great albums the band continues to create.
“It’s music first. We could be five ‘eh’ looking guys, but if the music is what you are falling in love with first that’s why we do what we do. Us is second. Music is first.”
Despite his modesty, the Backstreet Boys have achieved heartthrob status that, coupled with their catchy lyrics, popularized the boy band phenomenon. Who can forget the Coke or Pepsi-esque choice between BSB and NSYNC that dominated conversations in the early ’90s? It’s something McLean recalls, but he said the term is now changing.
“The word ‘boy band’ has definitely been morphed. If you look at groups like One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer, they’re not your typical boy band in the sense of dancing. It’s five guys harmonizing that sing together. That’s what a boy band essentially is.”
The Backstreet Boys always knew they were a “vocal harmony” group, he added, while the “boy band” term was coined in Europe.
“That’s what they called groups of guys but, in that time, if there’s five guys only two of them could really sing and the rest were just pretty faces.”
It’s the pretty faces and the traditional definitions of beauty that McLean wants to challenge with his latest project.
“Beauty starts on the inside. The world we live in today is a world based on external validation and instant gratification,” he said. “Social media has definitely put a stigma on what beauty is or what it should be. Beauty is not a six-pack of abs, perfectly airbrushed skin or a perfect hairline. It starts on the inside.”
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