I Want IT That Way - History

History

"I Want It That Way" was written in October 1998, by frequent collaborators Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson. When the members of the Backstreet Boys came to Stockholm in November 1998 for a two week recording engagement, they were eventually presented the demo, which at the time only consisted of the main chorus. Upon leaving Sweden on November 16, vocals for the song had been completed in two days.

This was originally not intended to be the first single, as Larger Than Life held that position because it was completed before I Want It That Way. This was due to the album up until early 1999 planning to be titled "Larger Than Life" and follow the similar formula of their previous studio album "Backstreet's Back" having an upbeat lead single that included the album's title in its own titling. This was changed due to hearing the final version of the "I Want It That Way" and the group's desire to move in a more mature direction, by utilizing a mid-tempo track as the lead single. Zomba Recording executives had to be convinced to approve of the song as the first single, due to them citing that the group could "alienate fans" with a mid-tempo song that had vague lyrical meaning.

In the end, press information in the form of snippets were authorized for release to radio stations in March 1999, to precede the song's release to radio in April. An alternate version of lyrics were written and recorded by the band in January 1999. This version was included in some early demo presses of the album. In this alternate version, the song has the opposite message ("I love it when I hear you say, I want it that way"). Some of the lyrics are common among both versions, and other lines are changed but end on the same rhyming words ("My heart is on fire/Such a strong desire"). The alternative lyrics were written by Martin and Carlsson in collaboration with Mutt Lange.

The alternate version was leaked on the internet via Napster and other methods in the early 2000s, and was also played infrequently on some radio stations. According to then-member of the Boys' backing band, Tommy Smith, the album version is the "original version"; the alternate version was recorded because the chorus of the album version did not make sense.