“The sober curious thing that’s happening in our culture right now is a beautiful thing,” says AJ McLean. “There’s a lot of people out there that might’ve been partying for a long time that now are like, ‘I kind of want to try something else and remember what I did the night before.’”
The American singer—and member of the Backstreet Boys—is in Toronto for an event with Atypique, a ready-to-drink mocktail brand. McLean, who has been sober for almost three years, met and quickly bonded with co-founder Étienne Boulay in Montreal last year, and is now an ambassador for the brand’s summer campaign.
“We’re both sober; we both understand,” says McLean. “But what I love about the mocktail thing is that this is an alternative, you know what I mean? If you want to go out and still feel like you’re the life of the party and you’re having fun, you don’t have to necessarily drink to do that. And this gives you an awesome alternative.”
Soon, he’ll be headed off to host a dance party with Atypique, complete with a sing-a-long of “As Long as You Love Me” and McLean teaching Boulay part of the now-iconic choreography for “Everybody.” But first, we talk about touring with NSync’s Joey Fatone, the Backstreet Boys songs he still loves to perform, and how he expresses himself through fashion now. —Truc Nguyen
You’ve been touring with Joey and you’ve been touring with the Boys. Is there a song that you’re a little sick of performing?
I think it’s probably a different song for each of us that we’re like, oh God, this one again? But for me, it’s probably “Quit Playing Games”…but again, we do what we do because a) we love it, b) we do it for the fans. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether we still love doing a certain song or not, we want to give the fans what they want.
The way we keep it fresh is we might remix the music, freshen it up, do a little medley or something to keep it fresh for us, but we’ll keep the bare bones of the song, the melody the same so that the whole crowd can sing along. I’m not a big fan of when artists remix it so much that you can’t sing along. But yeah, Quit’s probably the one I would be like, I can take it or leave it now.
What is your favourite one to perform?
For me, it’s either “Backstreet’s Back” or “Get Another Boyfriend.” I just love those live. I love the dance numbers, the uptempos. Those are fun because you just feel the energy from the crowd. I do like doing the ballads, you get a moment to breathe and it’s about singing and whatnot. But I do love — I’m a ham, so I like to be jumping around and dancing and having a good time.
How has your tour been with Joey?
It’s been a blast. It started as just a one-off last October in Tampa, we put up a show just for the fans. They were like, “When are you taking this on tour?” And we’re like, “Well, we weren’t planning on it.” So we did nine shows in March. They sold out and we added 22 more dates. We’re currently in the middle of that.
Do you find that there’s a big overlap between NSync fans and Backstreet fans? Because I remember the rivalry days.
There was, but that was the press kind of doing that. There was some true diehards on both sides that did not like the other group. But when you look in the audience now, they’re all co-existing…and a lot of fans are now becoming friends with each other that never knew each other, that are meeting each other at these shows for the first time. So it’s awesome. We make music, and they make music, for everybody.
Well, I was definitely a fan of both groups, so no complaints here.
So was I.
I wanted to talk a little bit about your fashion and your style. How would you describe your style?
I love fashion. I would say kind of urban couture. I am a huge sneakerhead. I love baseball caps. I would live in hoodies all year round if I could, even if it’s a thousand degrees. I just love to be comfortable but also look presentable. I was never a sweatpants guy or hoodies guy but now I live in that. But you’ll never not see me in Nikes or Jordans or sneakers of some sort. I live in my sneakers.
You wear a lot of beautiful prints and patterns. Is that how you showcase your personality?
Yeah. I mean fashion is a way to obviously express yourself personally. I wear makeup every day. I have no shame in saying that. I paint my nails. I haven’t dyed my hair in 20 years and now the blonde seems to be working, so I’m going to keep it for a little while longer. But yeah, I just love to express myself for me, and it seems to work and people seem to like it.
I love your pearl necklace.
Oh yeah. This started in Poland two years ago when we were on tour. We had a day off and I went to this amazing antique shop and I was looking just at whatever was in the shop and they had this whole wall of pearl necklaces and I was like, “I wonder.” And I put it on and I was like, oh my God, this is a thing now. And now you’re seeing a lot of guys wearing pearl necklaces. But I’m like, I was the first. I’m going to claim that.
As an elder millennial, it’s horrifying for me to see trends that I wore in high school come back. Is there anything that you won’t wear again?
The baggy stuff is a little too baggy. There’s baggy and then there’s this whole oversized thing…it’s too much. But I love that the Gen Zs think this is a new thing. It’s like, “No, we were rocking that in the Nineties, even early-two-thousands.” We were cool before that.
Do you feel more confident in your style and pushing the boundaries now?
I do. I am one of those guys that, I am very comfortable in my own skin. Even more so now. I’ll rock a skirt. I wore heels at my wedding. I just did drag race and I won drag race.
I’ve been comfortable in my own skin for a while now. And so for me, again, it’s a form of personal expression. So there’s really nothing I won’t wear.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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