Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean Reveals Why His New Solo EP Is Titled ‘Hi, My Name Is Alex

For most of the world, he will forever be AJ McLean, the edgy, heavily-inked, sunglass-wearing backbone of the Backstreet Boys. But for the man behind the fame, there’s another name—one that tells the story of pain, rebirth, and identity. That is why his new solo EP carries an unexpected title: “Hi, My Name Is Alex.”

Alex is his real name—Alexander James McLean—the name he had before arenas, before fame, before the world learned to scream for AJ. In an emotionally unfiltered reveal, McLean explains that the title is not just a stylistic choice. It is a reclamation. “AJ” was the performer, the armor, the survival mechanism built to withstand the wild ride of 90s pop superstardom. But “Alex”? Alex is the man rewriting his life off-stage.

In recent years, McLean has been publicly open about his battles with addiction, mental health, and identity. Sobriety forced him to meet himself again without the costume. Without AJ’s eyeliner and stage swagger, what remains is Alex—vulnerable, reflective, raw. The EP, according to McLean, lives in that space. It is music by a man who has walked through fire and chosen to keep going.

The tracks reportedly dig into confession, regret, fatherhood, learning to love without numbing, and the quiet loneliness of being known by millions but not necessarily seen by anyone. This is not nostalgia content. This is not a BSB-fan-service side project. This is a man telling the truth using his first name like a signature on a sealed envelope.

Fans who grew up dancing to “Everybody” and “As Long As You Love Me” are now adults themselves, living through marriages, losses, addictions, therapy, reinventions. For them, “Hi, My Name Is Alex” lands not as a rebrand—but as a mirror. McLean isn’t trying to escape his identity as a Backstreet Boy; he is daring to add a chapter after it.

And perhaps that is why the title hits so hard. In four simple words, he is essentially saying: I was AJ. I survived being AJ. But here is the person who carried him.

“Hi, My Name Is Alex” isn’t a music release—it’s an introduction that took 30 years to speak out loud.