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Backstreet Boys

Latest setlist, backstreet boys on april 21, 2024.

Moon Palace Hotel, Cancún, Mexico

Note: Backstreet Boys "30 for 30" setlist, picked by fans

Backstreet Boys Are Back with DNA World Tour

Pop pioneers Backstreet Boys announced their massive DNA World Tour and a brand new album in 2019.

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Backstreet Boys  

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Formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida, U.S., the Backstreet Boys became a teen pop sensation in the late ‘90s for their brand of harmony-rich pop music, and continued into the new millennium later selling over 130 million records worldwide.

After undertaking auditions held by ’90’s boyband mogul Lou Pearlman in 1992, Backstreet Boys, consisting of Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean, and Nick Carter, officially formed on April 20 1993. The group’s debut live performance was at SeaWorld Orlando and was followed by a string of shows in Florida from shopping malls to high schools. After signing with Zomba/Jive Records in 1994, Backstreet Boys released their 1995 debut album “Backstreet Boys” in Europe and Canada to considerable success. Despite the popular international singles “We’ve Got It Goin’ On” and “I’ll Never Break Your Heart”, the Backstreet Boys didn’t find success in the U.S. until the year after.

The band’s sophomore international release “Backstreet’s Back” coincided with their U.S. debut “Backstreet Boys”, both of which earned considerable chart and sales success. Spawning the hits “Quit Playin’ (With My Heart)”, “As Long as You Love Me”, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), and “I’ll Never Break Your Heart”, the U.S. album propelled the group to teen pop stardom, later selling over 14 million copies.

“Millennium” was released in 1999 after a heated debacle with manager Pearlman regarding royalties. The album topped the U.S. album charts with sales of over one million in its first week of release, aided by the singles “I Want It That Way”, “Larger Than Life”, and “Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely”. After “Christmas Album” was released at the tail end of 1999, and the album “Black & Blue” was issued in 2000 to similar success as its predecessors, the band took a break which lasted until 2004.

Backstreet Boys’ comeback album “Never Gone” arrived in 2005 and marked a change in style for the band however still sold over 10 million copies worldwide. After a subsequent tour and the departure of Richardson, Backstreet Boys returned to the studio. The result of which was “Unbreakable”, released in October 2007, the album debuted at No. seven on the Billboard 200 and was supported by a worldwide tour including Australia, Japan, Asia and Mexico. The band’s seventh studio album “This is Us” arrived two years later in 2009, spawning the hits “Straight Through My Heart” and “Bigger”. “In a World Like This” was issued in 2013 and marked the group’s first self-released album, followed by the documentary movie “Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of” in 2015.

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Backstreet Boys, the American vocal group were a household name during their heyday in the mid-90's and now celebrating their 20th anniversary the band continues to play live to their devoted fan base. There are few bands who can boast the same amount of nostalgia as Back Street Boys, and the cheers that lift the roof at their appearance is proof there is still a huge demand to see this iconic group perform their plethora of hits.

Their shows are no longer about the complex dance routines synonymous with the boy band, but moreover the brilliant vocal harmonies on fan favourites such as 'As Long As You Love Me'. The crowd erupts in cheers for classics such as 'I Want It That Way' and 'The One' as they proudly sing along as the boys command the stage and maintain the party anthem.

The finale of 'Backstreet's Back' is an energetic party anthem and the group even breaks out one of the classic dance routines for the special occasion. A concert filled with nostalgic unashamed power pop leaves the audience thrilled.

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The Backstreet Boys are the boy band of my generation, so obviously I was going to LOVE LOVE LOVE every moment of their Las Vegas residency. What I did not expect was to be blown away by the sheer talent of it all. BSB can really sing, dance, chit chat, and the songs? the songs are still amazing.

Despite the fact that they're playing in a huge theater, to 7000 people the show felt intimate. They even came into the stands, I was in section 205 and when they came down and I got Nick Carter. I started shrieking because that's my favorite BSB member. So it was wonderful and fun.

Logistically, they played for 90 solid minutes, and had a 2 song encore. They started promptly at 9:30. First song was Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely and last song (encore) was Eveybody (Backstreet's Back).

I absolutely and totally loved the show and with this I can finally say all my 5th grade dreams have come true.

Oh my good. The Backstreet boys were awesome. They are definitly like a fine wine, they get better with age. They brought out all their hits. It'll definitly have you feeling 13 again. They sing a few songs from their new album (I mean it is the In a world like this tour) If you dont have it go get it. It's a mature album but it definitly has that b ackstreet sound. Watching the guys interact on stage is fun and the crowds energy is crazy. They do a set with instruments, it's impressive. They don't get enough credit for their talent. Oh and don't get me started on the VIP meet and greet. They are so sweet. They do a great job of making each and every fan feel special while moving it along quickly. I can't wait for their next tour.

The backstreet boys were awesome!!! This was my second time seeing them, I went to their concert last year as well. They played a lot of old awesome songs like: Show me the meaning of being lonely, don't want you back, all I have to give, I want it that way and a lot more! But they did play songs from their new album as well. They were also very entertaining to watch. If you're a backstreet boys fan I totally recommend seeing them in concert because I'm a fan and I absolutely loved it and had a great time!

Dear, BSB I want to say Please Come back Wichita,Ks ride on party bus have dinner pizza and soda have cakes on my birthday on April 10th RSVP backstage pass To join you and concert with them we’re my biggest fan of you

Take pictures together all BSB and family I will let you know contact information meshell boydston

Keep posted updates (316)347-5414 or email [email protected] I will in invited you come my pageant

From,Koren shafer

Best night ever !!

Best party ever !!

Best concert ever !!

Best song list ever !!

Best audience ever !!

Best light & stage ever !!

Best choreography ever !!

They got everything..... voice, dance, move,

cute, sexy, nostalgia, classic, passion, young energy(no kidding)....

So thankful for the 22 years dedication and 130 million record that makes the best of all time artist.

This is the night i 'll remember forever and ever.

I’ve never screamed so much in my LIFE! They were absolutely incredible and they also did their best to connect with the audience. Amazing showmen and great dancers as well! They dance just like they did in the 90s ❤️ All in all it was a treat and I can’t wait for next time! Last night my childhood dream came true, except it was much better than I ever could have imagined ❤️ BSB for life!!

Amazing show from start to finish. The show felt really intimate even though it was at a big venue. The guys sounded great and showed they can still hit those notes while dancing. They worked hard for this tour and you can tell. All of the dance moves and videos , included with the shows was a surprise and add to the already awesome show, I can’t wait to see them again!!!

This was an absolutely amazing show! BSB did not fail to disappoint. I saw them several years ago when they came to Hershey with NKOTB, and as fantastic as that show was, this one was even better. I already can not wait for them to come back to Philly, and I am definitely purchasing their new album to add to my collection.

the back street boys was a grate show you

should have seen theam ny thear grate love

theam just like ilove my oter frands

iwas vear happy and pround of my bac street boys

who made a wondeful profurminsslass on the last nite as you guys had mionns of gust

congrats love you all joelle

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Backstreet Boys Announce New Dates for DNA World Tour

The boy band has also announced a European leg of the tour.

By Fred Sahai

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The Backstreet Boys have just added new dates to their DNA World Tour.

The new stops include Austin, Cincinnati, Nashville and Portland, Ore., in the U.S., as well as several Canadian cities. The boy band has also announced a European leg for their tour, which will see them playing in cities like Madrid, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, London and more.

The tour is set to kick off April 8 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, with a string of four shows in the city. The band previously had to cancel their holiday-themed residency in Vegas. The shows will be their first return to the city since their 2019 Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood.

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The tour announcement comes with the release of the first episode of their new docuseries, Making of the DNA Tour . The series will give fans an insider glimpse at the preparation for the tour. More episodes will become available on the Backstreet Boys’ YouTube channel . The band will also appear on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Wednesday (April 6) to talk about the tour.

Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter Talks Bonding With Jimmie Allen Over Fatherhood While Making 'Easy'

Tickets for the newly added North American dates will go on sale this April 8 at 10 a.m. local time.

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Check out the full list of DNA World Tour dates below. The new dates have been bolded.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:

4/8 – Las Vegas, NV – The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 4/9 – Las Vegas, NV – The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 4/15 – Las Vegas, NV – The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 4/16 – Las Vegas, NV – The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 6/4 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre 6/5 – Irvine, CA – FivePoint Amphitheater 6/7 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl 6/9 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion 6/11 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater 6/13 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater 6/14 – The Woodlands, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman 6/15 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory 6/17 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP 6/20 – Jacksonville, FL – VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena 6/21 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre at the FL State Fairgrounds 6/22 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre 6/24 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion 6/25 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek 6/28 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre 7/1 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage 7/2 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage 7/3 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater 7/5 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake 7/6 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center 7/8 – Milwaukee, WI – SummerFest (American Family Insurance Amp) 7/10 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center 7/12 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live 7/13 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach 7/14 – Camden, NJ – Waterfront Music Pavilion 7/16 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater 7/17 – Hartford, CT – XFINITY Theatre 7/19 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center 7/20 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center 7/21 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheater 7/23 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center 7/24 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts 7/26 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center 7/28 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre 7/29 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre 7/30 – Maryland Heights, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre 8/2 – Englewood, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre 8/4 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre 8/6 – Wheatland, CA – Toyota Amphitheatre 8/7 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre 8/9 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion 8/12 – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre 8/19 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Arena 8/21 – Spokane, WA – Spokane Arena 8/22 – Portland, OR – Moda Center 8/24 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena 8/26 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place 8/27 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre 8/29 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre 9/1 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre 9/2 – Quebec City, QC – Centre Videotron 9/3 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre 9/6 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena 9/8 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena 9/9 – Memphis, TN – FedExForum 9/11 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center 9/13 – Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena 9/14 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES:

10/3 – Lisbon, Portugal – Altice Arena 10/4 – Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center 10/6 – Barcelona, Spain – Palau Sant Jordi 10/9 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome 10/12 – Berlin, Germany – Mercedes-Benz Arena 10/15 – Hannover, Germany – Zag Arena 10/18 – Mannheim, Germany – SAP Arena 10/20 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle 10/22 – Bologna, Italy – Unipol Arena 10/25 – Hamburg, Germany – Barclaycard Arena 10/27 – Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion 10/29 – Krakow, Poland – Tauron Arena 10/30 – Leipzig, Germany – QUARTERBACK Immobilien ARENA 10/31 – Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena 11/2 – Budapest, Hungary – Sports Arena 11/4 – Dortmund, Germany – Westfalenhallen 11/6 – London, UK – The 02

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Backstreet Boys' New Docuseries Gives Fans an Inside Look at the Preparation for Their DNA World Tour

The DNA World Tour will kick off in Las Vegas on April 8

For the past 27 years, the Backstreet Boys have traveled the world performing their top hits for millions. Now, pop's most influential performers are giving fans an inside look at what it takes to pull off the perfect tour.

In the first episode of their new docuseries Making of the DNA Tour — which launched on Tuesday and will feature AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, and Kevin Richardson, McLean sat down with creative director Rich Taluega to break down some of his favorite moments of the tour — and reveal the secrets behind the iconic band's continued success throughout the years.

When asked how the boys make the choreography so seamless, McLean said it all comes down to their passion to perform.

"It goes back to us being performers," said McLean, 44. "We've always said there's going to come a point when we stop dancing. If we go for 20 more years, we're not going to be dancing anymore. We've always talked about that Eagles moment or that Rat Pack, where it's just, you look classy, you're singing the songs, there's cool props or dancers or whatever, but we are limited as to what we're doing. But that's down the road, because we're still killing it!"

"There's a formula that works," he added. "If you look at the boy bands today, they're more vocal-based or they're musicians. That's the boybands of 2017 and on. We've always been showmen. I think that combination of being able to sing live, not lip-syncing, and dance at the same time, that's a huge upswing for us."

"At the end of the day ... we're a vocal harmony group," he concluded. "The dancing is a little sprinkled sweet sauce. It's that Cholula on top of the taco. It just fits. It just makes sense. We could just stand up there and sing and we may have half the success that we have, but I think it's a true, intricate cog in the machine that is Backstreet Boys is to be able to do both."

In February, the iconic boy band announced their return to Las Vegas for four shows, officially kicking off their DNA World Tour.

The shows, produced by Live Nation, will take place at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 8, 9, 15, and 16 — which follows their last appearance in Las Vegas — their 2017-2018 residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

On Tuesday, the band announced additional tour stops in major US cities including Nashville, Portland and Memphis, as well as the addition of a European leg of the tour kicking off in Portugal on October 3rd.

For McLean, the additional shows just means more time with the fans — which he can't get enough of while on stage.

"When it's a big number or it's after a number and we're still on stage, I pull an ear [monitor] out just to feel that moment, to hear the crowd," he said. "You can see them singing and screaming but if you can't hear it and you can't feel it right here [points to heart], then what's the f---ing point? To be able to still get that level of love and screams 27 years later, it's pretty freaking unremarkable."

"We have the most amazing fans in the world," he concluded. "They are loyal to the core. They're loving, forgiving, passionate, and compassionate. They are truly the rock that has solidified us in this business ... we were able to last almost 30 years so far. That's a huge testament to the fans, the music and to each other. All of us — family, man."

Subscribe to the Backstreet Boy's YouTube channel to catch the next four episodes of the series. New episodes will premiere weekly.

Tickets for the DNA World Tour are available now, and the newly added North American dates go on sale this Friday, April 8th at 10 a.m. local time.

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Backstreet Boy, *NSYNC member on tour together, bringing 'legendary' show to Columbus

By the time fans leave Mershon Auditorium on Friday night, AJ McLean hopes their faces hurt.

Whether it's from smiling, laughing, singing or screaming, McLean said he hopes fans who come to see him and Joey Fatone perform have two hours where they can forget the world.

"I want their bodies to be just reinvigorated. I want them to leave on a paved cloud," McLean said.

McLean, 46, and Fatone, 47, members of the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, respectively, are touring together, stopping at the Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St., on Friday night for their "A Legendary Night" tour .

The show includes songs from both iconic bands' discographies , as well as several solo songs from McLean's upcoming debut solo album.

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"This is a great launching platform to establish myself as an individual," McLean said. "I’m doing this under my real name, Alexander James . AJ is a persona and a Backstreet Boy, but I want the world to get to meet Alex."

McLean has been vocal about his struggles with sobriety and mental health, particularly in the early days of the band's success. His song "Arizona," which is featured in the show, addresses those issues head-on in a "pull at the heartstrings."

Each show on the tour also provides for plenty of comedy, crowd interaction and, of course, the hits.

"This is literally for the fans, by the fans and we keep adding more dates because the fans want it. We hope we can keep doing this as long as we possibly can until both guys get busy again," he said.

McLean said it still feels surreal after more than 30 years of the Backstreet Boys to have fans singing the words back at him — and to have fans of both *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys — singing along, making new memories and friends in the process.

More music: What shows are coming to Columbus this summer?

"To be able to have music that transcends generations is huge. I have lots of friends who have a 5-year-old or a 25-year-old and they’re both fans. They're either starting them out young or the Gen Zers are looking at us like we’re vintage. That’s just really cool," he said.

"I still pinch myself when I hear us on the radio or you look out in the audience and you’re seeing both bands' fans singing the other bands' songs and coexisting and making new friendships, that's really, really cool."

While *NSYNC recently reunited and released new music earlier this year, the Backstreet Boys are taking a break after wrapping up their "DNA World Tour." However, McLean teased a "massive" announcement from the band toward the end of 2024 that has been "seven years in the making" for who else but the fans.

"We truly do love to do what we do. We’re five hams, we’re in our element and even we forget about what we’re dealing with in our lives five minutes before the show. And we really, really do love each other. We’re the closest now we’ve ever been," McLean said.

But for now, McLean and Fatone are enjoying each other's company (McLean said the rivalry cooked up by the music industry as both bands hit stardom was largely a façade) as fellow girl dads and with shared life experiences.

Photos: Justin Timberlake in Columbus: From NSYNC to Man of the Woods, a look back at past performances

"You never know what you’re going to get at the show," he said. "We'll take you down memory lane. It’s for the ladies, you can have a nice ladies night and leave your man at home or you can bring your man and he’ll have a damn good night too."

At a glance

Fans are advised to come early to the show, with doors opening at 6:30 for a 7:30 p.m. start. Tickets are still available, starting at $55, through Ticketmaster .

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WNBA: Angel Reese drops career-high display as Chicago Sky lose to Connecticut Sun - 'She has what it takes'

Published 13/06/2024 at 10:01 GMT

Connecticut Sun are second in the Eastern Conference Commissioner's Cup Leaderboard and have now raised $13,000 for their charity after an 83-75 victory over Chicago Sky - who are fifth with $7000 raised. Alyssa Thomas top scored for the Sun and despite defeat, Angel Reese put in another star performance for the Sky after missing out on a place in the United States team for the Paris Olympics.

Angel Reese

Image credit: Getty Images

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The Tao of ‘Smooth,’ Rock’s Enduring, Inescapable Earworm

Santana’s track featuring Rob Thomas turns 25 this week. Why is it still a rock blockbuster?

By Rob Tannenbaum

“To really appreciate ‘Smooth,’ you have to embrace how cheesy ‘Smooth’ is,” Rob Thomas said. “It’s right in your face.”

The singer’s voice dropped into a silky baritone, as if he were channeling an infomercial announcer, or a late-night radio D.J. “Man, it’s a hot one,” he crooned, dramatically reciting the song’s opening lyric.

“Smooth” was a centerpiece of “Supernatural ,” the 1999 comeback album by Santana and its leader, Carlos Santana. The Mexico-born guitarist’s band had been revered as an innovative force in music since its 1969 debut and had several rock radio standards in its repertoire, including “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va.” But Santana hadn’t placed a single in the Top 40 since 1982, and with Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera dominating the charts, there didn’t seem to be much demand for a 51-year-old guitar hero.

The Arista Records head Clive Davis plotted “Supernatural” for maximum commercial effect, and paired the band with younger artists, including Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews and Thomas, whose pop-rock band, Matchbox Twenty, had just scored a remarkable four smash singles on its first album, “Yourself or Someone Like You .”

Davis’s machinations worked: “Smooth” hit No. 1 in October and held the position for 12 weeks, into 2000. But the track’s zombie afterlife is what most distinguishes “Smooth.” It spawned an inexplicably funny meme via T-shirts that read, in full, “I’d Rather Be Listening to the Grammy Award-Winning 1999 Hit Smooth by Santana Feat. Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty off the Multi-platinum Album Supernatural . ” Through the end of last month, it had been played 1.8 million times on U.S. radio, translating to an audience reach of 13.2 billion, according to data from Luminate. On a recent week alone, it was heard on the airwaves by 5.2 million people.

You can buy Thomas and Santana action figures on Etsy or find a video of “Smooth” sung in the style of the B-52’s. When the sun explodes and human life expires, only cockroaches will remain, and those roaches will build a radio station and keep “Smooth” in heavy rotation.

“We recorded it in one take,” Santana remembered, “and in the middle of the take, time stopped and I entered into a vortex. I was like, ‘Uh-oh. This is big.’”

Billboard has named it the third most popular song since 1958, as measured by weighted chart positions. It trails “Blinding Lights,” a pop-R&B track by the Weeknd, and Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” which (sorry, Mr. Checker) is a novelty song. In other words, “Smooth” is the most successful rock song. Of. All. Time.

“The subject forever hangs outside of time — it’s the lover and the beloved,” Santana said in a phone interview from Las Vegas, where he has a long-running residency at House of Blues. “Love is something we need a lot on the radio. Everywhere you turn, there’s more Exorcist movies, more Satan, more Lucifer.”

The bioengineered song was written by a onetime acid jazz musician named Itaal Shur, but Santana didn’t like the lyrics, so Thomas “got a little high,” he said, and wrote new words and melodies. Then he and Shur reworked it, layering hook upon hook. Thomas has always said he wrote “Smooth” about Marisol Maldonado, a Queens-born model of Puerto Rican descent to whom he’s been married since 1999.

“There’s something magical about our relationship,” Thomas said of his wife during a lively video interview from his home in Westchester County. “We think of ourselves as a great love story.”

But, Thomas revealed, he began the lyrics by writing not about Maldonado, but about Carlos Santana. Much of the chorus — “You’re so smooth,” and “It’s just like the ocean under the moon” — were inspired by how he viewed the guitarist. “That was all about Carlos. But I didn’t want a song where I’m singing to him, so I reframed it. ‘Smooth’ was written to put up a banner saying, ‘This is the love that I have.’”

Nearly every song on “Supernatural” was a guajira, an Afro-Cuban rhythm “put together to make lovers get it on,” Santana said. “There’s nothing more sensuous or delicious than a guajira. It drives women crazy.”

The arrangement of “Smooth” includes congas, timbales, a cowbell and a guiro, instruments widely associated with Latin music. But Santana scoffed at the suggestion that the song has a Latin feel: “‘Latin’ is a word that came from Hollywood, for Latin lovers like Fernando Lamas and Cesar Romero. It’s just African rhythms. My music is 90 percent African.”

While “Smooth” benefited from a tailwind created by the success of stars like Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, one of the reasons it’s been so durable is its centerpiece: the guitar.

The track almost immediately jumps into a snaking, distorted lick from Santana that sits high in the mix. “It’s structured around the star of the song, which is Carlos,” Thomas said. “The guitar is the main event.” Among other things, “Smooth” is one of the final vestiges of how songs were written in the rock era. “Twenty five years ago, song structure was so different than pop radio is now,” he added. “Songs are shorter, there aren’t a lot of bridges and there aren’t really any guitar solos.”

Thomas’s phrasing in the pre-chorus (“And if you said, ‘This life ain’t good enough’”) is slyly compelling because it’s nearly a run-on sentence. His unusual syncopation, which Thomas said is more like a horn line than a vocal, makes him sound breathless with excitement. The effect is ardent and earnest, rather than cool. “I am fueled by uncool,” he confirmed.

Santana and Thomas both benefited tremendously from “Smooth.” “Supernatural” has sold more than 15 million copies in the United States and won a record nine Grammys , surpassing even Michael Jackson’s “Thriller .” And, Thomas has said, people no longer stopped him on the street to ask, with confused looks on their faces, if he was the singer in the Goo Goo Dolls or Third Eye Blind.

The two collaborators, born 25 years apart, have very different personalities. Santana is a transcendentalist who speaks in poetic metaphors and says things like “God is my agent” and “Since I was born, I’ve been ordained and I’ve been anointed.”

“Everything Carlos says feels like a song lyric,” Thomas noted.

On the other hand, Thomas is a sentimentalist with a free spirit and a ready laugh that accompanies stories about singing “Smooth” at karaoke or with a wedding band. As rock stars go, he’s the Mick Jagger of making fun of himself, and he even has an anecdote about the time Jagger suggested he change out of an ugly blue shirt he was wearing, but Thomas didn’t immediately get the hint.

He and Santana stay in touch by phone and have discussed other collaborations. “We talk all the time about doing a tour together. There are at least five or six different albums he wants us to do together,” Thomas said. The next step would be for him to visit Santana in Hawaii and write.

“We can sit on the beach, drink tequila, smoke hashish and come up with mediocre pop songs that will last forever,” he said with a knowing laugh.

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