Jelly Roll brings Backstreet Boy (and failed country singer) AJ McLean to Canada for a duet of “I Want It That Way”

Is AJ McLean ready to give country music another chance?

You probably don’t even know about the Backstreet Boys singer’s short-lived country music career. And honestly, that’s probably for the best.

Back in 2018, McLean announced at the ACM Awards that he would “shake up country music” with his next project, following the success of his duet with Florida Georgia Line, “God, Your Mama, and Me.”

The result (I think) was a song called “Back Porch Bottle Service,” which was one of the worst songs of 2018 and was widely criticized as a half-hearted attempt at a country pop song and just all around awful. (Seriously, if you haven’t heard it, there’s no need to look it up. It’s so bad that it’s only been streamed half a million times on Spotify in over 5 years.)

It seems that McLean’s dreams of “shaking up country music” were dashed not only when his song sucked, but also when country music actually got better and left the FGLs of the world behind.

So much for that.

But McLean has apparently not left the country world completely behind, even though he now releases pop music under his full name, Alexander James, and is also co-headlining a tour with former NSYNC member Joey Fatone.

jellyroll is currently in Canada for his first-ever headlining shows outside the US and surprised the crowd with a performance by McLean. And the two performed a duet of one of the Backstreet Boys’ biggest hits, “I Want It That Way.”

@sarahmaycurd The collab we didn’t know we needed @Jelly Roll #jellyroll #jellyrolltoronto #backstreetboys ♬ Original sound – Sarah May✨Your concert bestie

I’m not going to lie, that song is still my secret favorite. I wasn’t expecting Jelly Roll to sing it, but I’m not mad about it.