The Backstreet Boys Tried To Explain ‘I Want It That Way’ Lyrics To Chrissy Teigen & We’re Confused
Pop anthem ‘I Want It That Way’ by the Backstreet Boys has long caused listeners confusion due to its baffling lyrics. And Chrissy Teigen is on the case.
It contains the fairly contradictive prose of “I never want to hear you say/I want it that way,” then adding “‘Cause I want it that way.” So she/he can’t want it ~ that ~ way, but the BSB can? Bit rude really.
More importantly, what is ‘it’? How can one person want ‘it’, while the other is not allowed to have ‘it’? Same with ‘that way’??? What way?!?!?!?! It’s a bunch of nonsense lyrics, which is really peak late ’90s pop tbh. (Ever listened to Aqua sober?)
Anyway, Chrissy is feeling the struggle of still not understanding the lyrics and tweeted out her frustrations.
“I never wanna hear you say, ‘I want it that way’ cause i want it that way”. He doesn’t wanna hear it because he is the one that wants it that way? He wants to be the one to say it? Also what is “it”?
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) June 1, 2018
It seems they both want it the same way but are fighting over who gets to say they want it that way https://t.co/kd94CBVjlP
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) June 1, 2018
And because everything Chrissy tweets has to become a damn news story (who? us? never!) the Backstreet Boys actually responded.
Here’s their explanation:
Don’t wanna hear you say that you want heartaches and mistakes… or to be 2 worlds apart. We don’t want you to want “it” that way – that’s the way we want it… for you to not want it that way. pic.twitter.com/z7YWFhH8t1
— backstreetboys (@backstreetboys) June 2, 2018
Okay, so BSB reckon that the person they are dating WANTS heartache and mistakes and they don’t want to hear them say they want it that way. Ummm. Who are they dating?!? I dunno, this doesn’t sound right and/or doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
While we’re doing this, can we discuss WTF ‘Larger Than Life’ is about?! What they even talking about? That’s some existential shit, right there.
Have another listen and try and decode this absolute minefield of a song: