A Rebel’s Guide to the Nick Carter Galaxy – Part Two: Now Or Never

Welcome to Part Two! Now I’m going to dive into what is probably his most well known solo record.

Mainly because I kept debating between this and Nick and Knight (which will be next) so y’all chose for me. Makes my life easier when I’m indecisive, which happens more than I’d like. If you missed my first post in the “Rebel’s Guide To The Nick Carter Galaxy” make sure you read that one first.

So let’s go back to 2002.

This brings us to Now Or Never. Nick has on multiple occasions called this a “failed solo album” and while it’s not my personal all time favorite of his, I beg to differ. I think this album needed to happen. He needed to experiment. Hell he needed to rebel! And if you can’t tell by the name of this blog and my Twitter screenname, I’m all for rebelling if it’s for the right reasons. It’s how you find yourself. Nick wasn’t perfect then but he was the first Backstreet Boy to strike out on his own and honestly he’s been the one to do so most consistently to do what it is he wants to do. And I feel this record is why.

There’s some songs that got dated really fast. Absolutely. (For giggles please go listen to Is It Saturday Yet and you’ll see what I mean.) But there’s some that are so timeless. One of those is pretty well known as a fandom favorite even though it never got released as a single in the US. But if you’ve been a fan of solo Nick, you’ll know I’m talking about I Got You. Nick doesn’t perform many songs from his first album anymore but this song tends to stick around. And there’s a damn good reason for it. Written by Max Martin, it’s what he does best…write wonderful pop songs with great meanings. We eventually found out that this was written for his kids, and now Nick’s said he relates to it now more than ever.

Beautiful.

It’s a song I’m listening to more and more now. It’s a song of hope and light.

We all need that.

Truthfully I’d say this is one of the best songs he’s ever put out. You can fight me on this one. You’d lose. But you could try and fight me. There’s just this special charm about this song that absolutely continues to resonate with me and I’m sure others.

Now I’m sure people are expecting me to bring up Do I Have To Cry For You or maybe the actual first single Help Me but nope. This is my guide and I love to go more for the deep cuts when possible. My next choice for you guys to listen to is Who Needs The World. This is what Nick does best, which is give a simple ballad filled with meaning. I wish he’d bring this back to sing more. The focus is literally on the voice and melody. Who needs anything more when you’re this brimming with talent?

Honestly there’s no good footage of this song live online, I wish there was.

After you check out that song, I of course need to mention Blow Your Mind. Funnily enough this song had to grow on me. It took me years to appreciate it. But that’s because this is full blown rocker Nick. Admittedly I’m not so sure teenaged me was fully prepared for that.  Sometimes I wonder if this hasn’t come from personal experiences. Who knows? It’s a bit cynical in theme but you can’t deny the truth here. A girl wanting him for fame, but he’s still enjoying it. While it’s not Nick today it’s definitely something all the Boys experienced at one point or another. It feels like a personal song at any rate snd is one he still performs at his solo shows today.

I mean a girl promising to blow your mind as long as you take her fancy places or buy her whatever she wants? Let’s be honest, Nick’s had his fair share of those over the years. Hell he still has people trying to use his name for some sort of gain. Over the years Nick has refined it in his performances, made it harder in the way it was likely originally intended. I’ll get into my theory about what I think Nick might’ve meant this album to be further along in this post.

Oh My Confession. I have to talk about you.

I don’t know to this day why I love this song as much as I do. But I do. Maybe it’s the fact it’s probably the poppiest song on the record besides I Got You? It’s just Nick singing accompanied by guitar at certain points of the song.  He performed this song pretty often in the early days of the promo so I wonder if this song wasn’t intended to be a single at some point? I don’t know but I’d easily name this as my second favorite song on the album, second only to I Got You of course.

The roll out for this album was kind of clunky – something I blame Jive for even now.

Because that’s the thing about this album. This album of course caused controversy. Not the bad kind but this was when BSB were suing their management team at the time, and Nick stayed to go solo. Fans were terrified that the group was never going to come back from their hiatus. So the fandom got split up in sections. You had your Nick girls who were just excited at the idea of a solo album from him as by that point there was no new music since Drowning. You had your fans who were angry and blamed him from delaying the group album. (A point can be made for this and some day I plan to do a post on the TDS blog about the album that never came to be.) And the fans who supported him but still worried. So this record as a result of all the uncertainty didn’t get the support it would today from the fandom.

And then of course you had the Justin Timberlake debacle. Yes I’m calling it a debacle. We all know about the so-called NSYNC versus BSB rivalry. Now, I could go on for days about how Justin Timberlake is…well trash for a lot of his solo career choices. But this post is about Nick, not him. Jive loved all the money they made pitting the groups against each other so why not make sure they do it with the solo boybanders? It still irritates me because the albums aren’t remotely similar. They should’ve never been compared. Not to mention Nick didn’t use a breakup to humilate an ex and try and blow up his career after a weak single.

This album through no fault of it’s own had a lot of strikes against it is essentially my point here. Inner fandom divides, group issues causing a few members to not give open support (Looking at you AJ and Brian.), and then Jive playing games. The album did relatively well, it debuted in the Top 20 on the Billboard charts, and got certified gold. But it got held up to BSB standards and was unfairly considered a flop. Like I said, this album was done several injustices.

I honestly suspect that Nick didn’t get to carry out his true vision either.

So let’s look at the bonus tracks.

Ahh, Forever Rebel, a song I’ve loved and adored for years. I couldn’t ignore this for obvious reasons. The blog title was absolutely inspired by it. As was my long running Twitter handle – @ForeverRebel if you don’t already know. I’ve talked about this song in depth on my other blog but I think songs like this were part of Nick’s original plans for the album. Do I know this for sure? No. Of course not though I’d love Nick to chime in. (Especially since last time I posted a blog he actually read it which I will freak out over till the end of time.) But it’s a hunch. As we’ve learned over the years Jive liked to influence the album directions for BSB a group with a huge established popularity, even when it wasn’t what the group wantred. Who’s to say they didn’t do it to Nick, who was new to going solo?

This song just really speaks to Nick trying to strike out against the group, he’s even said as much in this great video above. Rebelling against the only family he knew like any young adult would. It’s a song that just makes you want to sing it at the top of your lungs all in your feelings that you’re going to be who you are and who gives a damn if people don’t like it.

I didn’t mean for this post to get this long. But when I need an outlet I tend to talk or write and I suppose this counts as both? I’m hoping you guys are still with me on this.

Lastly, I want to talk about Payback. This song has a strange history. It was released in a technical sense on a CD that was promoted by Nickelodeon and came in cereal boxes. Not even kidding. Don’t Walk Away had this promotional release as well though on a separate CD. Y’all don’t want to know how hard I looked to find those cereal boxes. Downloading songs was harder back then. I still have those CDs today actually in a box in my closet. But the reason why this is odd for Payback is that it’s the only song of Nick’s that alluded to cursing. I kind of wish he had cause I definitely sing that lyric in full though I suppose it wouldn’t have been appropriate for a song aimed at kids. But again, it’s weird here.

It’s a payback
Get outta my face
Get outta my pocket
Get off of your free ride
And get right out of my sight
It’s a payback
Get off of my case
Get off of my lady
Get into your fat Mercedes
And right outta my life

Like a lot of songs from this era, Nick had a hand in writing this one. And this one is definitely personal and in the same line that Blow Your Mind comes from but it’s a little more general. Not aimed at girls so much as anyone trying to use him for free rides or fame. Something I’m sure the guy can still relate to. People always try to do that and while I definitely try to see the light and good in others, some just suck to be honest. I can only imagine a twenty two year old Nick feeling jaded by then, especially given that now we know he wasn’t in the best place in his life. I often wonder what might’ve happened had he been in a better place or if Jive hadn’t meddled?

You say you’re sorry now
That you feel bad about it
You make it up to me
There ain’t no doubt about it
You must think I’m a fool
That I was born yesterday
Some kinda simple sucker
There’s nothing you can say
You stupid motherf….(fade out)

One thing we do know for sure is that Nick wouldn’t have pulled a Justin. I’m fully convinced he would’ve stayed being a Backstreet Boy. Even with his rebellion he was still not ashamed of the group that got him where he was. I mean y’all have watched his episode of Making The Video, right? He’s so happy that Howie showed up in support. It’s adorable. It’s the opposite of how Justin tried to distance himself from all things NSYNC. And I think that’s what makes the difference. Nick made the art for the sake of making it, let it try to stand on it’s own, without trying to throw his brothers in the band under the bus.

So while Nick thinks this solo album was a “failed attempt” I think it was what he needed. It helped him try and branch out on his own. It helped him grow and discover who he is, musically. It was a learning experience and althought he didn’t try again until 2011, that’s okay. This was what he needed so that he could look back at his mistakes and give us the gem that was I’m Taking Off. Hell that album wouldn’t be what it was if it hadn’t been for Now Or Never. This album was the soundtrack to many of us that year, it was on repeat for me when I was sixteen.

The album might be flawed, but beautifully so.

And honestly? None of us want perfection.