After sources told PerezHilton.com that the Backstreet Boys were “thisclose” to being dropped by their record label, TMZ spoke with a Jive Records spokesperson, who denied the claim. “Reports about Jive Records dropping Backstreet Boys are completely untrue,” the spokesperson insisted. “The group is about to embark on a worldwide tour in support of their album, ‘Unbreakable’, starting February 16th in Toyko, as well as some high profile television appearances.” Sales of the group’s sixth album ‘Unbreakable’, released late October, have been poor, especially in the U.S., where the disc sold only 110,000 copies in its first four weeks out.

The Backstreet Boys are featured in an interview with Yahoo! Music, where the group talked about the story behind the new album title ‘Unbreakable’, its first single ‘Inconsolable’, being considered the most successful boy band of all time, places they’d like to tour they haven’t had the chance to yet, what’s next for the group, how the sound has changed since the departure of Kevin Richardson, and their belief that pop music is coming back. Another clip features a day in the life of the group, following BSB in London on October 15th as they meet with fans, do a couple television appearances - hosting the top 50 boy band moments of all time, and perform at a Calvin Klein party before ending up in their hotel room to wrap up the day.

Yahoo! Music UK & Ireland has since removed the video.

‘RTL Boulevard’ profiled the Backstreet Boys on October 24th, where the guys talked about what to expect from their live shows, how Kevin Richardson broke the news he wanted to exit the veteran boy band, and seeing faces of their teen fans now grown up and sometimes introducing their kids to the music, and AJ McLean’s battle with addiction.

The video clip at RTL.nl has since been removed.

Billboard magazine caught up with the Backstreet Boys ahead of the October 30th release of ‘Unbreakable’, where AJ McLean remains hopeful that departed member Kevin Richardson will return to the veteran boy band. “I really think he’s going miss it. I really do,” AJ said. “Some of the guys you could ask and they’d probably tell you the total opposite. Me, I really believe he may come back.” As for the group’s reduced profile from their heyday in the late ’90s, Nick Carter insisted that’s not such a bad thing. “We don’t have these huge, massive releases anymore,” Carter said. “Some people ask us, ‘You guys have another album?’ That’s kind of a cool place to be for the Backstreet Boys. In a sense, we’re very underground.”