Baylee Littrell Reveals The Advice His Dad, Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell, Gave Him About His New Song, ‘Change Your Mind’

Georgia native Baylee Littrell, son of Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell, continues to shine as a country singer-songwriter with his latest single “Change Your Mind.”

Littrell chatted with Country Now about the story behind the song, how his plans for future music have changed, and he revealed what fans can expect from the upcoming Backstreet Boys Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas.

In February 2022, Littrell was coming out of a creative dry spell and decided to see if he could change that. “One day I walked into the living room and I grabbed my guitar and I was like, you know what, no magic has come out of this thing in a couple months” Litrrell recalled. “Let’s just see if today something different happens.”

The 19-year-old wrote “Change Your Mind” that day, but didn’t think much of it until he shared it with his parents about a month later. “I played it for mom and dad and they were like, it’s a really good song,” said Littrell.

But the true seal of approval came from his beloved “Gee,” his maternal grandmother. After recording several songs in the studio, he went to his grandparents’ house to get her opinion. “My grandma was sitting on the porch and I asked her if I could play her some songs and I played her a plethora of songs that I’d recorded. And she said, ‘Well, I like ‘Change Your Mind’ the best.’”

Tragically, his grandmother passed away in June before the song was released. “I give a lot of credit to Gee on this when she picked it… I wish she could have seen it come out, but I’m just glad she picked it. She knew it.”

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In addition to his grandmother’s inspiration, “Change Your Mind” was also influenced by Morgan Wallen. “I heard ‘Quittin’ Time’ and I heard the harmonies and I was like, we need something similar to this song with the harmonies,” said Littrell.

While recording demos of “Change Your Mind,” Littrell would send them to his dad, Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell, who knows a thing or two about harmonies.

“I would send demos to Dad,” said Baylee. “Dad would listen to me and be like, you need more harmonies.” 

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“We just kept adding and adding harmonies and then I would be in my truck listening to the final mixes and Dad would be in the back, like, ‘See, I told you!”

Littrell also shared details about his dad’s upcoming Backstreet Boys project, A Very Backstreet Christmas coming out on October 14. 

“That Christmas record is probably hands-down the best Christmas album,” said Littrell. “I cannot wait for people to hear that. I love Michael Buble’s Christmas record and that’s usually like a top 10 favorite. This for me is like right up there with that.”

He revealed some of his favorite tracks from the album, including an original song and a cover. “I forgot if the title is ‘Christmas in New York’ or what it is, but that one’s gonna be great. And then ‘Last Christmas,’ their new rendition of George Michael’s song. That one is definitely one of my favorites too.”

Will Littrell ever record his own Christmas project? “I never thought I would say I’m looking forward to winter, but definitely a Christmas record one day. I mean, I might even think about doing that next year.” He said that if he had to pick one Christmas song to record, it would be “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

When it comes to other new music, Littrell teased, “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, but definitely new music… I don’t really have a time frame. I’m starting to get creative. My mind has changed quite a bit on the direction to go. I was definitely thinking, album number two by July, but now I’m gonna be looking at, single this July and later this year I’ll probably release some more, but not all of it yet.”