Given the fact that A.J. McLean have always been the Backstreet Boy who wears eyeliner and occasionally dons shirts that sparkle in the sun (like in the "I'll Never Break Your Heart" music video), it seems pretty unsurprising that the dude loves himself some "Twilight."
His bandmate, Brian Littrell, has been going around revealing to everyone that A.J. adores the vampire-centric teen movie, so when MTV News got our grubby little hands on him, we had to hear it straight from A.J. himself about how much he adores the story of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. And in case anybody was wondering: A.J. is Team Edward.
"'New Moon' looks amazing," he told us. "I'm glad they're actually upping it and making it like more real vampire, no so much a love story. It's gonna be great. There's more werewolves in this one! It's gonna be good," he said. But despite his excitement for the werewolves, he added, "I'm Team Edward. Jacob's gotta sneak it in there."
That admission got him so good-natured ribbing, especially from Nick Carter and Littrell. But A.J., being the perfectly cool guy that he is, completely ignored them. Plus, he can always get Johnny No Name to beat them up. That guy was pretty tough.
The Jonas Brothers and the Backstreet Boys brought their equally hot brand of boy band magic to the MTV Europe Music Awards yesterday (November 5). And things got really awesome when the guys all met up on the red carpet.

Believe it or not, the two generations of boy bands have a history with one another. That's probably why they all looked pretty excited to run into one another, catch up and share some laughs at the big show. The Jonas Brothers opened for BSB a few years back (2005 to be exact, for BSB's "Never Gone" tour) and we have to say this was the most exciting reunion in ages. (Except for that one time Kevin Richardson joined the rest of the band for one show and gave us all false hope for one moment.)
Last year, Brian Littrell sang the JoBros praises in an MTV News interview. "They're a talented bunch of kids. They're growing up fast," he said. "I don't feel reluctant to give them advice. I'll never forget: We were doing a show in Florida with the Temptations, and one of those guys stood up and said, 'This is show business, and as you're doing your show, your business could be running out on you.' I'll never forget that."
We'll certainly never forget what will go down as a classic red carpet encounter.
Click here for more photos of Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Green Day, Tokio Hotel, Jay-Z and U2 at the 2009 Europe Music Awards!

The Killers went to Japan for their "Read My Mind" music video. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson got "Lost in Translation" for Sophia Coppola. And now the Backstreet Boys have headed to the Far East for the video for their new single, "Bigger."
The video is chock full of things that Westerners equate with Japan: Harajuku girls, karaoke, sushi, lots of flashing lights, arcades and boy bands (Japan still loves boy bands, and by definition BSB is still a boy band). The video is incredibly endearing, showing the guys laughing and goofing around with fans and each other on the streets of Japan, as well as in various restaurants and, of course, karaoke rooms.
The song is certainly a return to BSB form. The first single off This Is Us was the band's take on an R&B club banger, complete with a vampire-themed music video. "Bigger" is quite the opposite: a mid-tempo romp about being in love with a woman who might be too good for you.
But we do admit that seeing A.J. get fed Japanese cuisine by one of the aforementioned Harajuku girls was a bit odd. Then again, it is A.J. we're talking about. Plus, he makes it up by meditating later in a Japanese garden. And seeing the guys sing karaoke all while hugging their fans gives us a good idea of what it would be like to hang out with them. Plus, we wouldn't mind Nick sprawled across our lap while he sings us this tune. Wait, was that an overshare?

Last week, the Backstreet Boys released their seventh album, This is Us. After speaking with Brian Littrell on the phone earlier this week, I've grown quite obsessed with several of the tracks on the album, including the Brian-approved track "Undone."
Anyway, after repeated (and repeated and repeated) listenings of the song, I remembered there's that other equally fantastic song of the same name (with the parenthetical "The Sweater Song," of course) by Weezer. So, here we take a second to discuss the two songs, which at first seem quite different (one's rock, the other is pop), but at their core they're more alike that you think.
Backstreet's "Undone" is a haunting, mid-tempo breakup ballad, and it might be one of the best tunes the Backstreet Boys have produced in the last few years (if not ever). The track uses each of their voices to maximum advantage and the song's tone is mature. And the lyrical content? Truly heartbreaking. (If this is what happens when Ryan Tedder gets together with BSB, then they should do this all the time.)
Weezer's "Undone" is also kind of haunting, with lyrics that are equally kind of sad. Although the tempo is a bit swifter than BSB's "Undone" and mixes Rivers Cuomo's aggressive vocals with dialogue and Matt Sharp's always amusing backup singing, it's essentially about heartbreak and loss.
On a final note, at some point BSB's "Undone" needs to be a single (take a cue from Weezer on that one, guys!), as it's too good not to be one. If you don't release it, I just might become undone myself.

The chill in the air is enough to convince us that fall is actually here. So rather than hitting the backyard barbecue, it's time for leaf peeping, pumpkin carving and watching college football. But before you wrap up the last of your work for the week and hit the nearest hay ride, be sure to check out everything you might have missed this week on the MTV Newsroom blog, from the deep dirt on Lady Gaga to some pre-emptively rejected Kris Allen album titles.
» Before Lady Gaga was a fashion-forward hit machine, she was just a New York University student desperately trying to eat a salad without hurting anybody.
» Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell forced the group to bow out of a bunch of promotional dates because he caught swine flu, but that didn't stop us from celbrating the release of the group's new album This Is Us.
» On "Dancing with the Stars," Debi Mazar and Tom DeLay both did the loser shuffle. Meanwhile, Chuck Liddell is gaining some serious skills, but the competition is still Mya's to lose.
» Kris Allen's debut album doesn't have a title yet, and MTV News' Jim Cantiello wants him to know what not to do.
» In other correspondent news, James Montgomery wrote some lovely things about Pink — so lovely, in fact, that she tweeted her gratitude.
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"The Backstreet Boys had a great event set up this afternoon, an autograph signing at the Hard Rock, where we were going to get the chance to mingle with some of our fans as well as raise money for breast cancer awareness. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with the swine flu yesterday, and my job right now is to stay away from as many people as I can. On another note, the guys have been looked at by a doctor, and they're also on preventative medicine that will help them not show any signs nor get the swine flu, I hope. I hope that the next time you see me, I will feel better, but for right now, for the next three or four days, I've got to be out of the loop."
-Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell, addressing his fans in a video posted online about his recent swine flu diagnosis. Littrell's illness forced the Backstreet Boys to cancel a handful of promotional events for the release of their new album This Is Us (which hit stores today). The group is still scheduled to appear on "The Tonight Show" this Thursday, but it's still unclear whether or not Littrell will be able to travel. But just because Littrell can't be out promoting his group's new album doesn't mean you can't enjoy it (or enjoy the Backstreet Boys deep cuts we offered up earlier today).

As a way to prepare yourself for the Backstreet Boys' latest release This Is Us (which hits stores today), we here at MTV News want to help you discover those BSB tracks that you may have forgotten about or that you may not have been obsessed enough to know. Luckily, we were obsessed enough to know them.
And although we approve of their latest single, "Straight Through My Heart," and its vampire-centric music video (a spiritual sequel to their creepy-crawly clip for "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)," we'd like for you to take a few moments and remember their other amazing (and underrated) songs before you hit up your local record store.
(Fortunately for them, "If You Want It to Be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy)" didn't make the cut.)
"10,000 Promises"
Okay, so I might be partial because my friend and I may have sung this for a high school talent show. Or, this song may also be truly amazing. About a decade ago, I promised to love and I still do — unlike the girl in this song.
"That's What She Said"
This song seems to be the kind only Michael Scott could love, but the fact of the matter is Brian Littrell poured his heart out to the thankless woman in this song and in the process made us all love him even more.
"Spanish Eyes"
Finally, someone decided to throw Howie a bone and allow him to write a song as an ode to his Latino roots. And we looked into his Spanish eyes and knew the reason why we were alive.
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Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with staff members. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.
The Backstreet Boys brought their comeback parade to Spain yesterday, as they hosted a party for their forthcoming new album This Is Us at Madrid's Melia Fenix Hotel. The quartet's upcoming record will be released on October 6, with a long tour (which focuses mostly on Europe in the fall) to follow. The two-time Video Music Award winners got assists from Ne-Yo, T-Pain, Pitbull, Ryan Tedder, Max Martin and RedOne, and they just revealed the video for their new single "Straight Through My Heart."
They weren't the only jet-setters yesterday, as Lady Gaga continues to sweep her way across the European continent (she was in London yesterday, wearing some sort of lime green wetsuit) and Hollywood actress Eva Mendes made her way to the English capital for the GQ magazine "Man of the Year" party. Click here for these photos plus the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features over 200 candid shots of Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Lady Gaga and the casts of "New Moon," "Gossip Girl" and "Sex and the City 2."
It's official: The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (which air live from New York City's Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, September 13) will be just a little darker (and sexier) than usual, as Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner will officially be present at the ceremony. What's more, the trio will debut a longer version of the trailer to the upcoming "New Moon," which is certain to contain more exposed abs, sad-eyed longing and wolf teeth. Just in case you can't wait 11 days before seeing the latter, there are plenty of excellent music videos that feature wild canines, both of the normal and were variety.
There's a long history of wolves in popular music, as they are a good shorthand for power, savagery and transformation. Michael Jackson morphed into a wolf (or a werecat, depending on your perspective) in "Thriller," the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne gets chased by a beast in the clip for "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" and Every Time I Die's "We'rewolf" pays tribute to "Teen Wolf." In the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)," Brian Littrell plays the werewolf role, while turning into a hairy beast helps a bullied kid exact vengeance in the spot for Bullet for My Valentine's "Waking the Demon." Check out the full lineup of wolf-centric videos below, including the recently-released clip for Shakira's latest single "She Wolf," which only contains a handful of shots of wolves but does feature the singer writhing like a four-legged prowler and plenty of Auto-Tune-assisted howling at the moon.
Tags backstreet boys, kristen-stewart, New Moon, robert-pattinson, Shakira, Taylor Lautner, the-flaming-lips, TV-On-The-Radio, twilight, video, video-music-awards, Wolves

Believe it or not, I have never seen Britney Spears in concert. Sure, I have seen the Backstreet Boys and even begrudgingly saw 'NSYNC, but I have never, ever seen the pop princess herself live on stage dancing and singing her way through some of her most classic and choice tunes.
So in order to prepare myself for the show tonight at Madison Square Garden, I asked some of my work colleagues here at MTV News who had the chance to see her on her "Circus" tour the first time around what they think I should expect from the show. Each of them gave me some interesting tidbits of information.
Ashley Mastronardi, who attended the show in Pittsburgh in March, told me, "Britney looks great, but she is not at her 'Slave 4 U' peak (she doesn't dance as much as she has in the past). But this show proves what a star she is because although her dancers pick her up a lot and wheel her across the stage, the audience still went crazy for her. Her star power really shines through."
James Montgomery, who loves to keep his advice short and sweet (which is ironic because in real life he is neither short nor sweet) had the lucky chance to see her on her opening night in March in New Orleans: "Three words: "Expect the gays."
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