One Direction Ripped Off the Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’

One Direction garnered comparisons to the Backstreet Boys simply for being the most popular boy band to debut since the 1990s. Furthermore, One Direction ripped off the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” without shame. Harry Styles and company made a fun tune, but it’s nothing compared to the Backstreet Boys’ teen pop masterpiece. 

One Direction stole a melody from the Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’

Even if you don’t like boy bands, you know the melody to “I Want It That Way.” It’s one of the most perfect sequences of notes in all of pop music. The song’s heartfelt but oblique lyrics make it one of the only boy band songs everyone seems to enjoy.

One Direction reused part of the chorus melody of “I Want It That Way” in their single “One Thing.” It’s a blatant rip that sounds much more chipper than the original. While the Backstreet Boys made a song that transcends their subgenre, One Direction made stereotypical boy band bubblegum pop.

During a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, songwriter Savan Kotecha said he and Simon Cowell looked to boy bands for inspiration for One Direction’s music. Kotecha didn’t cite the Backstreet Boys as an influence. “Me and Simon would talk about how [One Direction] was Beatlesque, Monkees-esque,” Kotecha said. “They had such big personalities. I felt like a kid again when I was around them. And I felt like the only music you could really do that with is fun, poppy guitar songs. It would come out of left field and become something owned by the fans.”

A One Direction songwriter said the band’s appeal was not their music

Songwriter Carl Falk explained what he was thinking when he wrote “One Thing.” “The guitar riff had to be so simple that my friend’s 15-year-old daughter could play it and put a cover to YouTube,” Falk said. “If you listen to ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ or ‘One Thing,’ they have two-finger guitar riffs that everyone who can play a bit of guitar can learn. That was all on purpose.”

Kotecha seemed to say that One Direction’s appeal wasn’t ultimately their music. “They instinctively had this — and it might just be a generational thing — they just knew how to speak to their fans,” Kotecha said. “And they did that by being themselves. That was a unique thing about these boys: When the cameras turned on, they didn’t change who they were.” 

How ‘I Want It That Way’ performed compared to ‘One Thing’

“I Want It That Way” reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 31 weeks. Notably, the Backstreet Boys never had a No. 1 single. “I Want It That Way” appeared on the album Millennium. That record peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks, lasting on the chart for 93 weeks in total. 

“One Thing” was a much more modest hit. The pop-rock track climbed to No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 20 weeks. Maybe the song was a little too derivative for the public’s taste. One Direction included “One Thing” on the album Up All Night, which hit No. 1 for one of its 105 weeks on the Billboard 200.

“One Thing” might be fun but it doesn’t reach the heights of “I Want It That Way.”