Exclusive: Howie Dorough talks about performing with Drake on Backstreet Boys' Christmas album

In July, Christmas? Backstreet Boys are rolling these days after they surprised their legion of fans by announcing their first-ever Christmas album! The Backstreet Boys' Howie Dorough spoke with ET's Lauren Zima about their upcoming Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas. Dorough tells ET that they ultimately settled on 13 songs for this album after narrowing down the number of songs. There was always something preventing the band from releasing a Christmas album. Earlier this year, there was a pandemic. In any case, let's look at it from a glass-half-full perspective.

The gift of time to work on this record was given to us by COVID, Dorough says. Our team started working on it about two years ago. Normally, we're on tour all the time, so now that we have time off, we're working on it again." "The most votes won," Dorough says. There will be three original songs and 10 remakes of Christmas classics on the band's Christmas album. The song "Last Christmas" by Wham, for instance, is a favorite of Nick Carter's. The band's rendition of the song is so good that Dorough says it could be the first single from the Christmas album. Pre-orders for A Very Backstreet Christmas are already available on the band's website.

Fans are still reeling from Drake's surprise appearance at Backstreet Boys' concert in Toronto over the weekend. As part of DNA World Tour's stop in the rapper's hometown, Drizzy performed the band's hit "I Want It That Way." Drake revealed at the concert why the band holds such a special place in his heart, and now Dorough explains how the surprise appearance came about. He had just caught up with Kevin [Richardson] the night before at one of his favorite Italian restaurants," Dorough said. The singer approached Kevin and said: "Dude, I'm a fan of yours. I know you. I'd love to introduce you guys, but I'd also like to sing with you guys if it's okay."Dorough continued, "We were like, 'Absolutely!'" During the bridge of 'I Want It That Way,' I sang Drake's 2013 single 'Hold On, We're Going Home,' which I think totally surprised him. He didn't know it was coming at all. I also surprised the fans in Toronto. As an artist and entertainer, it was a great collaboration."