As Long as You Love Me (Backstreet Boys song)

"As Long as You Love Me" is a song by American boy band Backstreet Boys. It was released as the second single from their debut album Backstreet Boys in the United States and Backstreet's Back internationally. It was released in September 1997 internationally and in October 1997 in the United States. It is one of the band's biggest hits and considered one of their signature songs.

"As Long as You Love Me"
Single by Backstreet Boys
from the album Backstreet's Back (int'l), Backstreet Boys (US)
B-side"Every Time I Close My Eyes"
ReleasedSeptember 29, 1997
RecordedMay 1997
Studio
  • Parc (Orlando, Florida, U.S.)
  • Cheiron (Stockholm, Sweden)
GenrePop
Length
  • 3:40 (Album Version)
  • 3:32 (Radio Version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Max Martin
Producer(s)
Backstreet Boys singles chronology
"Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"
(1997)		 "As Long as You Love Me"
(1997)		 "All I Have to Give"
(1998)
Backstreet Boys US singles chronology
"Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)"
(1997)		 "As Long as You Love Me"
(1997)		 "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"
(1998)
Music video
"As Long as You Love Me" on YouTube

It peaked at number one in New Zealand and the Philippines, number two in Australia and Austria, number three in the United Kingdom, number four in Switzerland and Sweden, and number five in the Netherlands and Norway.

Background

In an interview with Billboard, AJ McLean noted that he was initially meant to sing the song's bridge, while Brian Littrell and Nick Carter would both sing the verses. However, he had been infected with strep throat, and was subsequently replaced with Littrell, whose vocals were featured on the album and single.[1] The song was a last minute addition to the album, as Clive Calder, then-chairman of Zomba, heard the song and called Jive Records president Barry Weiss, who then contacted the band's manager, Johnny Wright.[2]

Due to an error on the part of someone in the production chain, an early mix of "As Long As You Love Me" was included on Backstreet's Back and the 1997 US Backstreet Boys album. The mistake was corrected in the second pressing of the US debut album released in 1998. This allegedly annoyed writer and producer Max Martin. This early version subsequently became the version released as a single to radio and video. It has different instrumentation and mixing, as well as a slightly different structure, very similar to their previous US single, "Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)". The final version is usually listed as the "Radio" or "Video Version".

Critical reception

CantStopThePop described it as "a throwback to the gentle halcyon days of our youth, where the boys next door crooning sincerely about ‘feelings’ was all it took to make us go weak at the knees." They added that "it’s yet another example of Max Martin’s ability to compose a song that sounds distinctly ‘90s and yet has a timeless, nursery rhyme-like simplicity to it. Moreover, he manages to make it look like the easiest thing in the world, when it most certainly is not."[3]

Commercial performance

The song is their biggest selling single in the UK and the 13th biggest selling boyband single of the 1990s in the UK, selling 430,000 copies. It was never released as a commercial single in the US, but became an MTV staple and a radio airplay hit. It spent 56 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, peaking at #4. Due to the Billboard Hot 100 being off-limits to non-commercial singles at the time, including “As Long As You Love Me”, it did not chart on the main chart.

The single has sold over 530,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[4]

Music video
Filming took place at the Royal Laundry Complex (pictured in 2013)

The music video was directed by Nigel Dick and filmed on June 15, 1997, in Pasadena, California.[1] It shows the band auditioning before six ladies. The number was chosen so that the ladies would not appear to be matched up with the band members.[5] The ladies named Donna, Jana, Linda, Fatima, Gina and Nina video tape the performances and take notes. The band members primarily sing and dance, but each member also has a short "screen test" vignette in which he dresses up in a costume and performs various unusual activities. At the bridge, the members switch places with the ladies and have them perform screen tests. The positions reverse again near the end of the song. AJ McLean learnt the lyrics of the song on the day of the shoot, as he was initially meant to sing the song's bridge.[1]

The dance for this song, as featured in the video, includes a dance that uses folding chairs as part of the choreography; for many years after the song's release, the band ended most performances of the song with the same "chair dance" routine. There are special effects utilized in the video, most notably morphing sequences, where the face of one member morphs into another's. There are also quick dissolves or straight cuts between footage of the members each doing the chair routine in the same exact position of the set. The cuts cause a working fan in the background to appear to stutter in its spin. One of the models featured, Donna, was played by Leighanne Wallace, whom Littrell ultimately married in 2000.[1] As of June 2020, the video has amassed more than 264 million views.[6]

Cover versions

The Netherlands retro rock band The Kik recorded a live version in Dutch ("Als jij maar van mij houdt") in the 3FM studio, using only CASIO keyboards. Radio DJ Giel Beelen subsequently asked the band to release their version as a single.[7]

In 2019, the duo La Folie and singer Jordi Ninus recorded a version in Catalan of this song, under the title "Si em dius que m’estimes" ("If you say you love me"), for the CD edited by La Marató de TV3, a telethon devoted to raise funds for the research of incurable diseases.[8][9]

Track listing

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[60] 3× Platinum 210,000
Belgium (BEA)[61] Gold 25,000*
Netherlands (NVPI)[62] Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[63] Platinum 10,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[64] Platinum 600,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References
  1. Weatherby, Taylor (August 10, 2017). "'It's What America Needed at That Time': Backstreet Boys Look Back on Their U.S. Debut, 20 Years Later". Billboard. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  2. Interview with Backstreet Boys, management, and others from Entertainment Weekly 10th Anniversary Issue.
  3. "Backstreet Boys – As Long As You Love Me". CantStopThePop. September 23, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  4. Myers, Justin. "Official Charts Pop Gem #73: Backstreet Boys". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  5. Backstreet Boys: All Access.
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  8. "El disc de La Marató fa 15 anys picant l'ullet al Nadal". Ara.cat (in Catalan). November 14, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  9. "Si em dius que m'estimes - La Folie & Jordi Ninus (La Marató TV3) Official Video". Youtube. November 15, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
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  62. "Dutch single certifications – Backstreet Boys – As Long As you Love Me" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved February 12, 2020. Enter As Long As you Love Me in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  63. "New Zealand single certifications – Backstreet Boys – As Long as You Love Me". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  64. "British single certifications – Backstreet Boys – As Long as You Love Me". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 15, 2017. Select singles in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type As Long as You Love Me in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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