“AJ McLean is officially making his mark in the country music world!”
– People Country
Nashville, TN – AJ McLean has released another stunning focus track, “Give You Away” from his upcoming LP, Long Road. The song is a stunning and emotional ode to the beautiful inevitability parents face of one day watching their children start their own lives. Listen to “Give You Away” HERE. This focus track comes hot on the heels of the release of his first single, “Boy And A Man” currently getting ads at country radio nationwide. Hard at work in Nashville on his first solo LP, AJ has spent the past year immersing himself in the sound he loves with the likes of acclaimed songwriters Clint Lagerberg (Keith Urban/Blake Shelton/Rascal Flatts) and Brett Tyler (Maren Morris/Chris Young/Joe Nichols).
First single “Boy And A Man” is a perfect intro into “Long Road”, and “Give You Away” a natural follow up. Both of these tracks tell a story that’s innately personal and important to AJ. The single, written by Rob Crosby (Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride) and Dave Fenley (NBC’s The Voice) and produced by Jason Massey (Kelsea Ballerini) is a perfect showcase of heart and soul, an invite into AJ McLean’s world, a story of longing and love wrapped in his signature throaty vocals and a melody that’s all twang and warmth. “Give You Away”, written and produced by The Jam invites the listener into the world that’s most important to AJ, his family. His daughters, featured in the single art, are his entire universe and this song is him acknowledging that they’ll grow up, start their own lives, and that he won’t be able to protect them forever.
No stranger to the country world, AJ and the Backstreet Boys teamed up with multi-platinum selling Florida Georgia Line in 2017 for the hit single “God, Your Mama, and Me,” off their Dig Your Roots album. The much buzzed about collaboration included a performance of the #1 single (as well as the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody”) at the 2017 ACM Awards and a joint CMT Crossroads showcasing both of the groups biggest songs, as well as a stadium tour that saw them performing to sold out crowds across the country. The Backstreet Boys and Florida Georgia Line won the 2018 CMT Award for Performance of the Year and the Backstreet Boys performed their hit single, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” live at the awards show.
There’s the AJ McLean you think you know: the member of one of the most successful groups of all time, the multi-platinum selling Backstreet Boys. A group that has become the best selling boy band in history, having sold over 140 million records, and have earned themselves a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Then there’s solo AJ McLean, the ultimate trendsetter and a raw singer/songwriter, an artist dripping with soul and bare emotion. A legend of the 90s boyband era, AJ has always been a cultural vanguard. You’ve seen him in the front row at New York Fashion Week, you’ve seen him on stage, on the small screen and even on the big screen and now you’re going to see him at his best…
“I’m kind of a chameleon,” he states. It’s true: AJ has his hand in everything from fashion to acting, but it’s making his solo music that really sets him apart, and we’re so excited to finally be sharing his foray into this exciting new body of work.