Backstreet Boys Say Justin Timberlake Inspired One Of Their Christmas Songs

Fans were ecstatic when the Backstreet Boys announced they would be releasing their first-ever Christmas album this year. Now, the band is revealing how one of their boy band peers, Justin Timberlake, inspired one of the tracks on their upcoming album A Very Backstreet Christmas.

"Nick would be the first to tell you he really wanted 'Can't Stop the Feeling!' to be the inspiration for one song," AJ McLean told Variety. "He wanted that really happy, funky vibe." Nick Carter jumped in adding, "It's funny because there's all this stuff about Backstreet versus *NSYNC, but we're all about good songs and good movies and Trolls was a movie we watched a lot with our kids," referring to the 2016 animated musical comedy Timberlake's hit song was featured in.

"Justin wrote a really great song and we wanted to write a happy, uplifting song that had the same feel," Carter continued. "Especially with the way the world is right now. It was like, 'Let's put some positive stuff out there,' so we wrote 'Happy Days.'" The holiday album will also feature classic songs like "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland," in addition to original music. The first single from the album arrived on Tuesday, September 6th, and is a cover of Wham!'s classic "Last Christmas."

"This is Backstreet in its truest form," McLean said of the album. "It's very mature and the vocals sound incredible. It's the best we've sounded as a group in years. My wife's like, 'This will be on repeat in our house.' She starts playing Christmas music in July."

A Very Backstreet Christmas will be available on October 14th.