In an article with the Toronto Star, Lowell, who co-wrote and worked on the Backstreet Boys’ 2013 release “In A World Like This” talked about working with the boys.
For instant insight into the curious position Lowell occupies at the intersection of pop-as-art and pop-for-pop’s sake, one need only bring up the Backstreet Boys.
Lowell knows the Boys reasonably well, having put in a fair bit of time behind the scenes as a co-writer on the greying boy band’s 2013 album, In a World Like This. As often happens in for-hire songwriting situations, however, the Calgary-bred, Toronto-based electro-pop wunderkind’s efforts on Backstreet’s behalf wound up represented by one of only eight possible collaborations on the finished record, the “bonus” track “Take Care.”
Lowell maintains that her credit on the Backstreet album is “the one I’m most proud of,” which might seem surprising, considering her fruitful past co-writes with artists as varied as Malaysian neo-trip-hop songstress Yuna, Shane Filan of Westlife, Vancouver pop tart Paige Morgan and Coldplay/A-Ha/Mew-affiliated Euro-“supergroup” Apparatjik.
So she doesn’t view this turn of events as a defeat, merely as just another opportunity.
“This could actually work to my advantage because I think the Backstreet Boys are super-cool, so I could technically call up the Backstreet Boys and go: ‘That song you didn’t use? I’m gonna put that on my record.’ And then, all of a sudden, I have a co-write on my record with the Backstreet Boys,” she laughs over an afternoon drink at Ossington Ave. watering hole Sweaty Betty’s, before adding with no small amount of confidence that the benefits of the association could cut both ways.
“I was there during the mixing of a lot of the latest Backstreet Boys record, and what’s amazing is that they are so good at harmonizing with each other. They’re actually incredible.
For the full story on Lowell, click here.