Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely

"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"
Single by Backstreet Boys
from the album Millennium
B-side
  • "I'll Be There for You"
  • "You Wrote the Book on Love"
ReleasedDecember 14, 1999 (1999-12-14)
StudioCheiron, Polar (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre
Length3:54
LabelJive
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Max Martin
  • Kristian Lundin
Backstreet Boys singles chronology
"Larger than Life"
(1999)
"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"
(1999)
"The One"
(2000)
Music video
"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" on YouTube

"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" is a pop ballad from the American boy band Backstreet Boys, taken from their third studio album, Millennium. The song is about missing someone you love and asking the meaning of living a lonely life. On the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the song hit #6. It hit #2 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Chart.[1]

The song was released on December 14, 1999 by Jive Records.

Composition

"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" is a pop and R&B ballad,[2] with Latin pop influences. Lyrically, the song deals with heartbreak and how the protagonist is dealing with loneliness. "Show me the meaning of being lonely/Is this the feeling I need to walk with/Tell me why I can't be there where you are/There's something missing in my heart," they sing in the chorus. It is set in the key of F minor[3] and G minor with a tempo of 84 beats per minute. Their vocals span from A2 to B4.

References

  1. "Backstreet Boys". All Music. Retrieved Feb 5, 2015.
  2. "Billboard Magazine - January 8, 2000". Billboard Magazine. January 8, 2000. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
  3. Max, Martin; Herbert, Crichlow; Boys, Backstreet (October 21, 1999). "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved April 20, 2025.