Just over one year since Big Time Rush announced their reunion, the TV-made boy band have proven that they weren't just made for a show. With 18 million followers across social media and a 44-date North American trek — including a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden — the group has certainly made a comeback.
The foursome — Carlos PenaVega, James Maslow, Kendall Schmidt, and Logan Henderson — were initially put together for Big Time Rush, a 'Monkees'-style Nickelodeon series that had a four-season run from 2009 to 2013. Big Time Rush released three albums that only spawned a couple of charting hits (2011's "Boyfriend," which featured a remix with Snoop Dogg, and 2012's Blur-sampling "Windows Down"), but built a dedicated fan base that couldn't wait for their return.
This time around, the band is free from the obligations of their contracts with Nickelodeon and former label Columbia Records, officially taking ownership of the Big Time Rush name and music thanks to their cheekily titled LLC, Bought The Rights. And as Henderson hints, Big Time Rush is only getting (re)started.
"We have so much music we're about to release," Henderson tells GRAMMY.com. "We're still excited and hungry to keep on finding Big Time Rush — what the sound is, what it means to us, and records that really make us tick."
They kicked off their reunion with the single "Call It Like I See It" in December 2021, which marked the first time all four members contributed to a single since their formation. They've since released four more new tracks, most recently their first Spanglish single "Dale Pa' Ya," an homage to their Latin American fans. On Aug. 25, they revealed five shows in South America for 2023 — further confirming that they're not slowing down any time soon.
As Big Time Rush wraps their U.S. tour, the guys share standout memories from some of their biggest hits, a couple of new songs, and one that, as they put it, has "taken on a life of its own."
"Till I Forget About You"
Schmidt: I remember a rented mansion for the music video. We were joking about it because the way the video turned out, it seemed like only the guys in the video liked us — like, the way it was edited in the end, we were like "Wow, it seems like every girl in this music video hates us."
Maslow: We play that currently on our tour and it's one of the crowd's favorite songs every single night. When we put together this little section with a bunch of classic songs, including that one, we really didn't know what to expect or how much we'd even enjoy it compared to the new songs. But it's one of my favorite times in the show, because everybody's just rocking out, they know every single word, and they scream that song at the top of their lungs.
"Boyfriend"
PenaVega: We made a couple of music videos for "Boyfriend," the first one was on the TV show. That one stands out to me because we were on the Paramount lot in the parking lot. They blocked off the parking lot for like two or three days and we literally brought in a carnival — ferris wheels and the spinny machines, just a full-blown carnival that they rented. They brought it on, they set it up and we shot a music video. James rode a ferris wheel with a plant.
Maslow: Highlight of my BTR journey right there.
PenaVega: That was probably the start of the epic music videos for the TV show. We hadn't done one that elaborate, and Nick really put some money behind it. That was a lot of fun. Then the second music video was obviously with Snoop Dogg.
Schmidt: Do remember, in that video, the little green man in the cup? Now that I look back on that, I'm thinking, "What is that about?"
Henderson: We had this huge dance breakdown at the very end, and we were sweating bullets because there were so many people in there and the air conditioner wasn't working. And Snoop has this huge, like, trench coat on, and I was like, "How are you not sweating? It is so hot in here." And he goes, "It's all in your mind."
PenaVega: He said, "Being cool is a state of mind."
Henderson: I was like, "Okay, well, I'm about to pass out."
"Worldwide"
Schmidt: We did the music video at the airport, obviously. That was pretty wild.
Maslow: To rent out an entire airport just for a music video, that was another step in terms of "Wow, things are growing."
Henderson: That is still our biggest song today. Even when we go to other countries, some of our fans speak very little English and that's the one song they know every word to. It really is such a special song to have with fans all over the world.
Maslow: And when it comes to live performance, it's one of our favorite moments, because we always pick one — usually four, these days — "Worldwide" girls. It's a cool opportunity to bring somebody up on stage and sing directly to a fan.
The song has aged well. Not so sure that those dance moves have.
"Music Sounds Better With U" (feat. Mann)
Henderson: That song was a little complicated, because there's a lot of things going on. You have a guitar sample from Chaka Khan, Ryan Tedder is the one who produced that one.
PenaVega: That song cost us a lot of money.
Ryan has since sold this house, I heard, but it was out in Colorado. His basement was turned into a ginormous studio. It was the most beautiful studio I've ever been to, still.
Henderson: We got to see the place where Adele recorded all of those massive songs. You could feel it in the air.
"Windows Down"
PenaVega: I was actually hanging out with Justin Bieber back in the day, and I played him this record, and he was like, "Yo, they pitched that to me, and I passed on it." I was like, "Oh, really? Well, we're taking it!"
Henderson: Honestly, it works with four voices really, really well.
Schmidt: And again, getting a Blur sample, that's huge.
Henderson: I don't know what happened behind the scenes for that. Probably something we don't want to discuss.
PenaVega: Again, it cost us a lot of money.
That music video is probably my favorite music video that we did. The boys and I took a trip to Maui and literally spent five days there, had the best time ever. We went cliff jumping, did all this stuff, we had all this footage, and when we got back to shooting the TV show, I made a quick little 25-second trailer like, "Oh, here's us in Maui, what happens next?" I pitched it as an idea for a music video, and they said "Let's go." That next month, we went to Maui for a week, and they paid for everything.
Henderson: We were like, "Haha suckers!" and then it was billed back to us and we were like "Aww."
Maslow: It was way before the technology we have now, [where] we can have a GoPro that shoots 4k or 8k. We had to actually custom build a waterproof casing for a huge RED camera. So you had this six-figure camera with some kind of janky plexiglass thing and our cameraman would go jumping off cliffs with this huge thing splashing in water, and we just kept praying, please don't get water in it.
PenaVega: The best scenes [were when] they mounted the cameras on the front of these jeeps and we drove around, just us and our, like, "video girls," hands up, going crazy.
Henderson: Why can we not do a music video like that anymore?
Schmidt: We can, actually!
Maslow: I'm thinkin' Turks & Caicos for the next one, boys, what do you say?
"Call It Like I See It"
Henderson: That was the first one [we wrote together upon reuniting] that felt like a real Big Time Rush song.
Schmidt: There were a lot of Zoom sessions early on in the pandemic, and it just was really hard to make the connection. I know people wrote great songs during the pandemic over Zoom, but it certainly is way better to be in the room going back and forth. The same trajectory happened [as it did in] the beginning [of writing songs together], where it took a while to get to something [good]
I feel like, in the funnest way possible — and I'm joking about this — but it feels like writing a song is a bit like a battle. You know? You're waging war against a brain fart. And everyone's got an opinion, and they all matter, so it's trying to weave together something to become a beautiful tapestry. That's a couple of metaphors.
Maslow: You can pick whatever cherries out of there you want to. [All laugh.]
Schmidt: ["Call It Like I See It"] was basically just a party at James's house.
Maslow: The record sounds like we were having a good time.
Schmidt: We felt like people needed a party, so we brought them the feeling of a party.
"Dale Pa' Ya" (feat. Maffio)
PenaVega: Our Latin American and South American fans have always been incredible to us. I mean, we put 30,000 tickets on sale for Mexico for this tour, and they sold out in six hours. It's seriously unreal. We always wanted to do something to give back.
Maslow: And the amount of fans said they did learn to speak English because of our songs, to your point, we always felt — ever since we first went down to Mexico and Latin America, we felt such a love for those fans. Just such a welcoming appreciation. We've always wanted to give back and show our appreciation and our effort the other way around. [Motioning to Schmidt and Henderson] Us three have learned a little bit of Spanish touring down there so much.
Schmidt: Carlos had a good head start.
PenaVega: The day we got in the studio with Maffio, he was just like, "Let's make a song that we can make the world dance." I feel like that song, even though it's Spanglish, it's such a universal song. I feel like the world is gonna hear it, and want to get up with us to dance.
"The Turd Song"
Schmidt: "The Turd Song" has developed a life of its own. It actually wasn't that big of a thing for us back in the day.
Maslow: Until this tour, we never played that song.
PenaVega: We did it at one show, and I was just like, "Oh my god." I stopped singing, and everybody is just shouting, and I'm like, "There's freaking 10,000 people singing 'The Turd Song,' oh my god!"
Henderson: It's a little cringey, but I've just had to let Jesus take the wheel on this one.
PenaVega: We didn't do it at one show, and the next show there was a sign that said, "Justice for 'The Turd Song.'"
Schmidt: It was written in the script [for the TV show], and [when] we did the table read, none of us knew how to sing it.
Henderson: The creator of the show [Scott Fellows] is literally 12 years old.
Schmidt: He is probably just loving that his creation is taking on a turd of its own.
Henderson: You know, we actually have legitimate music that's coming out.
PenaVega: A "Turd Song" remix! With Dua Lipa!
Maslow: Probably called Doo Doo Lipa.
Schmidt: Maybe we can get another one from Pooplo!