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.
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. 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.
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 ". 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."

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.

Music video

The music video was directed by Nigel Dick and filmed on June 15, 1997, in Pasadena, California. 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. 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.
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. As of June 2020, the video has amassed more than 264 million views.

Cover versions

The Netherlands retro rock band The Kik recorded a live version in Dutch in the 3FM studio, using only CASIO keyboards. Radio DJ Giel Beelen subsequently asked the band to release their version as a single.
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", for the CD edited by La Marató de TV3, a telethon devoted to raise funds for the research of incurable diseases.

Track listing

; CD1
  1. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:32
  2. "Quit Playing Games " - 6:48
  3. "Everybody " - 7:13
  4. "Every Time I Close My Eyes" - 3:52
; CD2
  1. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:32
  2. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:32
  3. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:30
; CD3
As Long as You Love Me – The Remixes
  1. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:32
  2. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:32
  3. "As Long as You Love Me" - 3:45
  4. "As Long as You Love Me" - 6:42
  5. "As Long as You Love Me" - 8:02
  6. "Every Time I Close My Eyes" - 3:52
; Vinyl 1
  1. "As Long as You Love Me"
  2. "As Long as You Love Me"
  3. "As Long as You Love Me"
  4. "As Long as You Love Me"
Note: It is unknown if this single was also released in CD format.
; Vinyl 2
  1. "As Long as You Love Me" 8:02
  2. "As Long as You Love Me" 6:11
  3. "As Long as You Love Me" 7:08
  4. "As Long as You Love Me" 6:49
  5. "As Long as You Love Me" 3:32
  6. "As Long as You Love Me" 8:26
  7. "As Long as You Love Me" 8:02
  8. "As Long as You Love Me" 9:06
  9. "As Long as You Love Me" 6:28
  10. "As Long as You Love Me" 5:50

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australia 28
Canada Top Singles 26
Canada Adult Contemporary 16
Canada Dance 97
Europe 78
New Zealand 33

Certifications