Photo: Courtesy of Jive Records

If you have an older sister, or if your boy-band obsession had a late onset, then Howie D should be no stranger to you, and if he is, he won’t be for long. The Backstreet Boy is releasing his first-ever solo record Back To Me on November 15 and opens for Britney Spears in South America this month (not bad!). Fans have been waiting for this moment for the past five years, and we can’t wait to see where this hotly-anticipated album takes him. The charming singer-songwriter lets us in on the process of stepping out on his own two feet and explains why people say he’s the “romantic guy you want to take home to meet your mother.” Check it out!

ELLEgirl (EG): What’s it like going solo after being a part of one of the world’s best-selling boy bands for so long?

Howie Dorough (HD): It’s exciting, but it’s definitely a challenge because being in a group, you have a comfort zone where you feel like, “OK, I got my partners around me,” and at the same time it’s like, sometimes you do want to answer a question in an interview and someone’s jumped in before you, so this is all me. I’m doing all the interviews, answering all the questions. I’m an open canvas.

EG: Break down the components of ‘Back to Me’ for us.

HD: Sixty percent of it is probably this pop, dance, euro-feel, very similar to Taio Cruz, Usher, Black Eyed Peas, and David Guetta. That’s because in my life right now I’ve got a lot of positive energy, a lot of fast stuff happening between the New Kids tour, working on the new Backstreet Boys record and my own solo stuff, managing other artists, and also being a father. I have a lot of great positive stuff, so that reflects a lot on my record. I’d say 30% is the mid-tempo ballads—the signature sound of the Backstreet Boys. I just felt that I didn’t want to stray too far away. At one point I was going to go in a Latin direction five years ago. I’ve seen artists that have gone off in a completely different direction and it’s like, well are they not happy with their group? Are they not happy with the sound they made? And I’m very proud of being a Backstreet Boy. The last 10%  is miscellaneous little things that you wouldn’t expect.

EG: Did you do any of the song writing on this album?

HD: I did about ¾ of the writing for this album, which I’m very proud of. I feel like when you’re able to do the writing, you have even more of the personal touch because it comes straight from the heart. At the same time, I was very open to accepting songs, because I’m a firm believer that there are people out there who can write circles around me, and if they are able to say it better than I could then more power to them. My first single ‘100’ was written by somebody else; I loved it so much and felt like it was the right representation of me as a first-time solo artist. Also ‘Lie to Me,’ my second single, is my favorite song on the record, and that was written by some people who do the production on Glee.

EG: To say BSB was huge in its heyday is a gross understatement. Did you ever imagine you’d release your own records?

HD: Definitely. Each of us came from solo backgrounds before we started BSB, and we’ve always known that Backstreet Boys would, hopefully, help each of us launch our solo careers, so there’s never been any weirdness and like, “Oh wow, you’re all of a sudden trying to go solo,” or “oh wow, how dare you” kind of thing. We always said that we want to give each other space to work on individual projects and spread our wings. We really do believe that the stronger we are individually, the more we bring to the table for the group, like bringing in more fans that we haven’t had before. And the fact that our fans right now—given the fact that we’ve been together over 19 years—they’re at the point where they want to hear more individual stuff from us. Each of us have individual personalities and in doing the solo stuff, we have a chance to express a little bit more than maybe we would have been able to do within our mold of the Backstreet Boys.

EG: So why is now, after all these years, the time to spread your wings?

HD: I believe timing is everything. Like I said, I started off originally working on this five years ago, and if I would have came out with it, I would have been the second one to release a solo record, but I just didn’t really feel like it was the right timing for me. I felt like there was a lot going on, and I still wanted to be the glue between the Backstreet Boys and keep our records happening. I never wanted the Backstreet Boys to have to wait on my stuff to start our own stuff; I always wanted both of them to be able to exist, so it was just a matter of playing the cards correctly. In between those five years and now, we’ve had a couple albums and tours, so by the time I finally got around to it, the fans were like, “OK Howie, when’s it coming?” I finally put the pressure on myself the last year and a half to really sit down and zone in, and it just felt natural, like songs started coming out, everything started making sense, the stars started to align. We were getting ready to go off on this big NKOTB tour, so I was ready to talk a lot about it to the press. It just felt right.

EG: How collaborative are BSB’s solo efforts?

HD: We definitely are very collaborative. On A.J.’s last record, I co-wrote a song with him, and then on this record, Nick and I wrote a song together—actually we were shooting it for the last Backstreet Boys record but it didn’t really fit, and I loved the song so much I was like, “Dude, I want to keep this for my record,” and he was very supportive. He just recently launched a solo record, and we were both good sound boards for each other; we’re always supporting each other and helping each other out.

EG: Any surprising feedback?

HD: Nick really loved the album—he said to me one of his favorite songs is ‘Going, Going, Gone,’ but there was even one song I wrote, called ‘Stay,’ that I played for the guys, and Nick was like, “Dude, we gotta put this on the next Backstreet Boys record. This song is the bomb. If you don’t use it for your record, we should use it for Backstreet Boys, and if Backstreet Boys don’t use it, I want to put it on my record!” That was really flattering to hear that from him, the fact that I was able to inspire the other guys with my own writing.

EG: Any traditions before you release a new record?

HD: Pray? Take the rosary beads out? [laughs] You know, when I make a record, I just try to live with it and see what songs really grow on me, and not just myself but I have a sound board of friends: my wife, friends, and family that I play my stuff to and ask their thoughts. I’m a firm believer that the cream will rise to the top, and with me, with Backstreet, we always record more songs then necessary because you just never know what’s going to be the best ones. So I really try to make sure we put out a good, quality album that every song could potentially be singles. Nowadays with iTunes, people have the choice to buy the whole record or just buy the singles, and I want to make sure that they want to buy the whole record.

EG: How is it different getting the word out in this part of your career with social media? In the Backstreet Boys’ day, there was no Twitter!

HD: I think social media has played a huge key part in our success as artists, it’s definitely the quickest way to get something out there that you want to be talking about. It’s great. I’ve noticed that if I have something to share, instead of going through the whole grassroots approach and going all around the world to different countries, you can literally just put something on Twitter and it’s out there within a matter of seconds. And fans want to have that personal touch to artists so that’s why I’m heavily on my Twitter (@howie_D) and Facebook and howied.com, where I’m constantly updating materials, putting up videos from YouTube, and even creating different packages. These fans, they want that personal touch.

EG: Any memorable encounters with fans that have stuck out to you through social media?

HD: I just had a 40-minute conversation with this girl a couple days ago on Skype, a fan…we did a contest on 100 reasons why you love Howie, apropos of my ‘100’ song, and I had to go through all these different videos. My wife said my head just got bigger and bigger and bigger watching those videos. Anyway, I had to pick one, and this person won, so I did a Skype call with her. It was only supposed to be 15 minutes, but I enjoyed talking with her so much, it was like 40 minutes on Skype. It’s really flattering to see how much passion these fans have for us, it’s almost the least we can do to give back.

EG: Describe the quintessential BSB fan and how she (or he) is similar to or different than the Howie D fan.

HD: Well, there are probably a bit more Backstreet fans than there are Howie D fans, I wish I could have the amount [laughs], but each of us do have our core fan bases. For me, a lot of times, I bring a lot of the Latin section to the group, that’s why I was almost going to go in a Latin direction and decided later on to make it more worldly. But I can say, they’re both very similar, very passionate, very caring; they just want to be a part of our lives, and they’re so supportive in whatever we do.

EG: What’s the most exciting thing you’re looking forward to touring with Britney?

HD: We both came out of the same camp, and she’s a real sweetheart. Besides being a great person, she’s unbelievably talented, and I think that her shows are up on the same caliber as Michael Jackson, Madonna—she really takes the effort to make it a spectacular show, and it’s not just a show, it’s an event you’re coming. And I think she’s been really great at reinventing herself and coming back. I heard that she does this dance at the end with the artist that opens up for her, so I’m looking forward to that the most, if that really happens.

EG: What’s your personal style like?

HD: I consider myself a sophisticated, romantic-type guy. I love jackets, nice shirts, vests, ties, jeans, mixing trendy with class. Somehow I get labeled as the romantic guy you want to take home to meet your mother.

EG: Any plans for Thanksgiving?

HD: I’m going to be in South America during Thanksgiving, so hopefully we’re going to find a turkey. I don’t care if it even has some Spanish seasoning all over it, as long as we can get some kind of American tradition together. One time in I believe it was Germany with the Backstreet Boys, we were trying so hard to find turkey and we actually ended up at a Hard Rock, and they made us a Thanksgiving dinner there.