One we could handle. Shrug off. Say, well, it happens to the best of ’em. But two? Two?!? Ah, but this is a cruel world.
Yea, verily.
Or as Erica from Ohio wrote on the MTV Web site: “I think that it really sucks big time.”
The root of said suckage? Why, word that Backstreet Boys Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell have popped the will-you-marry-me question to their respective galpals. The Littrell party reportedly already has a wedding date set; no word on the Richardson party’s plans.
Richardson and Littrell revealed their marriage intentions Tuesday on MTV, a cable network we’re told sometimes features videos by the Backstreet Boys — a best-selling boy band not to be confused with ‘N Sync, a best-selling boy band not to be confused with 98 Degrees, a best-selling boy-band group not to be confused with, say, Britney Spears, the best-selling popster who sings stuff that could be sung by, yes, best-selling boy bands.
“I’m engaged now,” Richardson told MTV News’ John Norris during a concert tour stop in Albany, N.Y.
The scoop-minded Norris additionally scored this sound bite from Littrell: “There’s a right time for everything, I guess. It’s kind of like the jump-start on getting on with life, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Because being a Backstreet Boy means being an original, it should come as little surprise that Richardson says he got engaged over the weekend leading up to that manufactured holiday of love known as Valentine’s Day.
We don’t know the name of Richardson’s fiancée, or Littrell’s fiancée for that matter. All we know is that it’s love — the kind of true love that sometimes can only be found at amusement parks.
“I met her in the cafeteria at Walt Disney World,” Richardson said of his intended. “We were both working there.” He added that they have been together for seven years and that “she knew me when I was a Ninja Turtle.” (He’s a former Disney World tour guide.)
Richardson is 27. Littrell is 24, going on 25 this weekend. The two are cousins. Together with Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean and Nick Carter, the five have been rocking the world with their special brand of music as the boys called Backstreet since the early 1990s. The singing group’s self-titled debut album — featuring that hit song with the line, “Backstreet’s back … All right!” — was released here in 1996. Last year’s “Millennium” sold a (rough estimate) ungodly number of CDs and earned the group four Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.
We didn’t call doctors on how to advise teens to deal with their conflicted emotions regarding this news, but we’re pretty sure that they’d advise folks not to do anything harsh ’cause there are still all those other guys in all those other groups, plus, you know, Howie.
