I Want It That Way by The Backstreet Boys

The lyrics of “I Want It That Way” make no sense.

Ok, let’s take a quick look:

[1st verse]
You are my fire,
The one desire
Believe when I say
I want it that way

But we are two worlds apart
Can’t reach to your heart
When You Say
That I want it that way.

Really this first verse is fantastic. With a great opening line, our protagonist talks about how he wants to be with his lady. The second stanza introduces some conflict and that there is something between them that is keeping them apart. There’s a surprising level of depth in these simple words and the ambiguity of what “that way” is intriguing.

The chorus is where things get a little confusing.

Tell me why
Ain’t nothing but a heartache
Tell me why
Ain’t nothing but a mistake
Tell me why
I never want to hear you say
I want it that way.

So our guy is wondering why this relationship is hard, and why this feels like a mistake. Then he talks about why he never wants to her “I want it that way” when he spent the first verse trying to convince her to believe him when he says “I want it that way.” And when she says it, she's saying that she wants it to work, so why would he not want to hear her say it.

Before releasing releasing "I Want It That Way," the record company realized that the song made no sense so they asked the Backstreet Boys to record the song with different lyrics and here’s what they came up with:

I'm yours, completely
I feel, so deeply
You're my thought for everyday
And I want it that way

My life, is for you
And I, adore you
I love you more everyday
And I want it that way

Chorus:
No goodbyes
Ain't nothing but a heartache
No more lies
Ain’t nothing but a mistake
That is why
I love it when I hear you say
I want it that way

The record company after hearing both versions decided that the original sounded better regardless of the nonsensical lyrics and “I Want It That Way” became one of the biggest hits of the 1990s.

I agree that the original lyrics sound smoother and “tell my why” sounds a lot more natural than “no goodbyes.” But couldn’t they have simply changed the last line of the chorus to “I love it when I hear you say” to tie it all together?

People often criticize pop music especially boy band music for having nonsensical lyrics. And it’s really hard for me to ignore lyrics in a song, but sometimes we have to take a step back and think about the purpose of this song. It’s not like “I Want It That Way” is in the middle of an opera and has to move the plot along. It’s a pop song, and one of the most well-crated pop songs of our time and other musical factors more than make up for the words.

The fact that the song starts on a minor chord opening up to a glorious call and response chorus borrows from Motown harmonies and the great boy band songs like “I Want You Back.” The emotional sweep and drama is this song in infectious and the song sounds downright glorious when it comes out of the bridge into the chorus.

The last three repetitions are a revelation. The first chorus after the bridge features the response part of the chorus while Nick sings ad libs over the rest of the group. The next chorus adds two more layers with the “tell me why” response as well as a sustained voice that anticipates the response holding out “ain’t” right before the rest of the voices enter. In the final chorus, the vocals lines up taking out the sustained anticipation leaving the two vocal parts coming together one final time, before winding down to a single voice.

The ending of this song is beautiful. I’m not saying that its great “for a boy band” song, no it’s simply awesome for any kind of song. There’s a reason why EVERYBODY knows this song and whether or not they pretend to hate it, I bet most of you get a kick out of this song.

Sometimes the lyrics are necessary to make a song come to life and other times there’s something about a melody and how its arranged that makes the words seems less important. “I Want It That Way” is a perfect example of this and as much as bad lyrics annoy me, I wouldn’t want this song any other way.