Musician Nick Carter and the shape of his heart

Musician Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys who was in Bengaluru as part of his Who I Am world tour, talks about his life, music and work

Coming in from a Backstreet Boys concert in Saudi Arabia, Nick Carter walks into ZLB23 at the Leela Palace just as the house band is playing a jazzy rendition of Everybody (Backstreet’s Back). “I’ve never heard our music played that way before, but it was really good,” he comments.

Wearing a denim jacket with a T-shirt and jeans, the pop star sits down on the biggest couch in the speakeasy, but not before introducing himself to all the media persons present with a big smile.

Nick performed a solo set at Indiranagar Club on February 9 as part of his Who I Am world tour, which is heading on to South Asia this month. Then in March, the tour brings the Backstreet Boys founder back to India for performances in Kolkata, Siliguri, Shillong and Goa. He says towards the end of the interaction, “I’m here, and I love it here, and there’s going to be more shows. So let this be the beginning of a bigger, more fruitful career out here.”

The singer says this globe-trotting tour started out soon after Backstreet Boys completed their DNA tour which had, incidentally, also stopped by India in mid-2023. He says, “We’ve done over 100 shows worldwide on the Who I Am tour. I’ve gone everywhere — I started in North America, and then went to Europe, and South America, finishing up in Southeast Asia, and India. The Who I am tour is a story of my life in a lot of ways.”

A performer right from his adolescent years, Nick now 45, says the setlist on these shows starts off by paying tribute to the music he loves — 1980s hit songs including ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ by Simple Minds (made famous in the coming-of-age film The Breakfast Club) in 1985.

“After that, we transition into Backstreet Boys music, because that’s when my life changed, and I started making music for our fans. Then we also do a little bit of solo music, but the main part of the show is to tell a story with the music of my life in a lot of ways. It’s almost as if you were watching a movie with a script,” he says.

While fans may clamour for a Backstreet Boys concert in Bengaluru, Nick says it’s “a little harder” to bring the full group down when compared to his solo project. “I have a little more control over where I go as an individual,” he says.