The Backstreet Boys welcomed “sixth member” Drake to the stage to perform “I Want It That Way” during the boy band’s concert Saturday in the rapper’s hometown of Toronto.
Closing out their main set on the Budweiser Stage, the quintet brought out Drake, who told the crowd a story about why the 1999 hit single means so much to him.
“I had a bar mitzvah when I was 13 and at my bar mitzvah for the first time in my life this girl I had a crush on came up to me and one of the greatest songs in the world was playing and she asked me if I would dance with her” , he said. “And it was the first time I felt recognized, and it was the first time I felt like I had a chance to be cool.”
“I Want It That Way” — “one of the greatest songs of all time,” Drake added — soundtracked that momentous moment for the rapper, and on Friday he performed the song as an honorary Backstreet Boy, even integrating his own hit “Hold On, We ‘re Going Home” in the show. “If he can see me now,” Drake added.
What’s better than I Want It That Way?
I want it this way…. f/ @Drake #BSBTO #DNAWORLDTOUR pic.twitter.com/pKVQK2XtDN
— Backstreet Boys (@backstreetboys) July 3, 2022
The surprise appearance continued Drake’s fine dance-pop onslaught, as the rapper recently strayed from hip-hop on his latest full-length album, Honestly, Nevermind , a largely rap-free collection of house music.
“Drake takes a leap further into uncharted realms than anyone else, offering a refreshing sign of what’s to come,” wrote Rolling Stone of the album. “Officially announced as a dance album, Honestly, it doesn’t matter brings the melodic flourishes that Drake introduced to hip-hop into the steely atmosphere of club music. The dance floor has already proven to be a fascinating landscape for the emotional gradients that Drake likes to paint with.”
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