Which is different than the original lyrics (at least my interpretation of them), where they have different “that” goals.īut the alternate version was never formally released. Their “that” in “I want it that way” is the same: They want to fix their struggling relationship and rebuild the fire/desire. In this Fringe Earth-2 version of the song, now the Backstreet Boy and his special lady are seeing more eye-to-eye on what they want. And then we changed it to ‘am I your fire, your one desire’, which made absolutely no sense in combination with the chorus - but everybody loved it!īut apparently they got gun-shy about putting unbridled gibberish into the marketplace, so they had the Backstreet Boys record alternate lyrics.

We tried a million different variations on the second verse, and finally we had to go back to what was sounding so great, ‘you are my fire, the one desire’. When Max came up with the original idea for the song, it already had the line ‘you are my fire, the one desire’. She’s saying the relationship is heartache and a mistake, he doesn’t understand why, and until she can clarify and articulate as such, he doesn’t want to hear her say it’s over. But there is distance between them (literal or metaphorical, it’s unclear), so she wants to end things - she wants it that way. The Backstreet Boy says his special lady is his fire and desire and he wants it that way - a passionate relationship. I’ve never thought too much about it before, so on my first pass just now of actually trying to interpret it, I’m pretty sure it’s about a couple going through a breakup.

First, a quick refresher on the first few verses and chorus…Īin’t nothin’ but a mistake (don’t wanna hear you say). So I thought I’d tackle it and see what all the madness is about. But what is it actually about? That’s ambiguous, and the subject of some rampant speculation.

Tell me why ain't nothin but