Backstreet Boys tone down re-entry

Backstreet’s back, all right, but the mega-selling boy band plans to re-enter the pop world in low-key fashion — with lower expectations.

The Backstreet Boys, who have sold an industry-wowing 68 million albums, say they will put out their first album in three years either late this year or early next year. It will be more diverse, with more rock and more hip-hop/urban sounds than on albums past.

And the arena-packing Boys will introduce the album and reintroduce themselves to U.S. audiences with a series of intimate shows at 1,000-seat venues.

“That way you can really see them sing, but there’ll be some choreography like The Temptations or the Four Tops. The idea is to reconnect with fans without the flashes and the booms,” says band manager Johnny Wright, back with the band after being dumped along with famed boy band creator Lou Pearlman several years ago.

Band members say the new album will be far more eclectic than the straight pop diet they’ve been feeding their mostly teen fans since hitting the scene in 1996. Among the collaborators: R&B group Boyz II Men and Nashville faith-based a cappella group Take 6.

In addition to those R&B and gospel sounds, Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell says the group’s upcoming single, “Climbing the Walls,” is “rock-tinged.”

“I call it ‘I Want It That Way’ on steroids,” he says.

None of the Boys expect the 1.6 million in sales their last album, “Black & Blue,” generated in its first week in 2000. That made them the first act to sell more than a million albums in the first week of sales for back-to-back albums, following “Millennium” (1.1 million copies) in 1999.

“It’s not about how many we sell in the first week anymore,” says A.J. McLean. “It’s about longevity.”

Tentative plans call for the Boys to tour 3,000-seat venues in England in the fall before hitting stadiums in China and arenas in Japan. Then they’ll return to the states to play smaller venues before hitting U.S. arenas again in either February or March.

Meanwhile, despite swirling rumors about the band breaking up, co-founder Kevin Richardson says that was never even considered.

“We were very burned out,” he says. “We weren’t enjoying it.

“We needed time to get perspective, to be thankful, be grateful. But once Brian called last year, and he said he talked to the other boys and they’re ready, that’s when we hooked up and went on Oprah (Winfrey’s show). We were all hungry again.”