Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way -fuentez -... Page

Brian Littrell once joked in a 2014 interview: “To this day, I don’t know what ‘I want it that way’ means. But when 50,000 people sing it back to you, it means everything.� Director Wayne Isham’s music video—airport security corridor, white suits, choreographed anguish—cemented the song’s legacy. The image of Nick Carter leaning against a baggage carousel, mouthing “You are my fire,� became a generation’s shorthand for longing.

A more romantic theory: “Fuentez� was a pseudonym for , the co-writer of “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart).� Crichlow is of Trinidadian descent—not Spanish—so unlikely. Or perhaps “Fuentez� refers to Martin Fuentes , a sound engineer at Cheiron who allegedly added the reverse reverb on the final chorus. Backstreet Boys - I want it that way -Fuentez -...

But its true power emerged later: in memes. The “I Want It That Way� lyric mishearing (“I want it that way / I want it that gay�) became a running joke. The song’s use in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Captain Holt’s “Oh my god, I’ve been saying it wrong for years!�) introduced it to Gen Z. And in 2023, a slowed-down reverbed version went viral on TikTok as the “sad realization� sound. If Carlos Fuentez (or whoever) existed, he never saw a royalty statement. Max Martin’s production team was famously insular; session musicians were paid flat fees and rarely credited. But the persistent rumor of Fuentez’s guitar part has taken on a life of its own. Brian Littrell once joked in a 2014 interview:

The truth, likely, is that “Fuentez� is a ghost—a fan myth born from a misprinted liner note in a Philippine bootleg CD (1999’s Backstreet’s Back Asia Tour Edition listed “Guitars: C. Fuentez�). No major archive confirms it. But the mystery persists because the song itself thrives on ambiguity. Let’s examine the most confusing couplet in pop history: “You are my fire / The one desire / Believe when I say / I want it that way.� If you are my fire and my desire, why would I want it that way —the “way� presumably being apart? The second verse doubles down: “Ain’t nothing but a heartache / Ain’t nothing but a mistake.� Wait—so “that way� means heartache and mistake? Then why the soaring, romantic melody? A more romantic theory: “Fuentez� was a pseudonym