hey my name is nick carter and family to me is my three kids and my lovely wife
hello and welcome to we are family i'm your host julia dennison and i'm here with musician nick
carter who you will of course know from the backstreet boys his new single easy
featuring country singer jimmy allen is out now and the backstreet boys dna world tour 2022 kicks
off this summer he's also just become a dad again for the third time with his wife lauren
nick welcome to the show thank you so much for having me so as everyone's gonna be listening to
this you are single easy we'll we'll have been out um what's it been like being in the studio again
it must feel like a home away from home it it's absolutely incredible i'm getting ready to start
touring with the boys again very soon on june i think is our first show at the hollywood bowl out
in los angeles so really excited about that but uh to kind of get things kind of going again um
i i was writing and recording music with my producer vic martin and um the song easy uh
came from that writing session uh this was about three or four months ago um and we had this idea
of doing kind of like a pop crossover country kind of thing we had done that before with a
group called florida georgia line uh we had a number one hit with them called gadget mom on me
i was a really big fan of jimmy allen who is an up-and-coming country star out there who i love
his music and asked him to do to join me on the record and so he wrote a second verse on it and
we just pretty much started writing and talking about our lives as is right now raising kids
being husbands and you know entertainers all at the same time but so it was it was pretty easy and
a lot of fun to to work with him that's awesome the raising kids part is what's interesting
to us over here at parents because obviously this is a family podcast all about um family
and um what do your kids think about your music do you bring them into the recording studio yeah it's
interesting because uh i've had two years off um i can't remember when we we stopped with the tour
with the boys um my daughter pearl was not even born yet uh and my other daughter circa though
both of them are the youngest um they really don't know uh that daddy is a battery boy uh
my son i brought him to our vegas residency when we had first moved to vegas about five years ago
and he came to one of the shows and he saw me but he's like ah whatever so but you know my daughter
sirsha actually um she's the one that loves to sing and you know in the morning when i'm waking
up preparing uh breakfast for the kids and getting them ready for school you know i i'll be watching
the baby monitor and she'll be the one just in the crib singing to herself twinkle twinkle
little star you know old macdonald had a farm all of them and she can actually carry a tune she's
you know two years old and i'm getting ready to go on the road and uh i'm kind of getting this like
not necessarily fear but anxiety because i'm like i'm gonna miss them so much and you know they're
in school you know are they gonna be able to come on the road is she gonna see you know who daddy is
and and and is she gonna get jealous of the the girls and the fans watching us on stage you know
all those things and um i'm really excited to to to perform and have her be in the audience
for the first time because she really loves music she loves to sing her and i actually we do like a
back and forth thing sometimes you know and she actually i think can harmonize which is pretty
impressive oh my god that is so cute she is going to love it just i'm just yeah that moment when she
really sees dad on stage i think it's probably gonna be like oh my goodness um that is so cool
so now obviously pop star life is not always easy um and fame etc if your kids turn around and say
that they want to join a boy or a girl band or you know they want to get into music what would you
say i've had this discussion with um my friends and my wife and you know it's important school
is more important than anything um and you know i said well because i started at the age of like 12
uh started basically touring the world at you know 13 14. really really young and looking back and
you know i i'm you know i'm grateful for you know how it it turned out um you know but uh
we were talking about i think you're gonna go through the school choir you're gonna go through
the school programs first you know and then once you turn 18 if you want to do what you want to do
you can you know those types of things i just you know school is so important to me uh for for my
children to have structure to be able to have that foundation uh first and foremost so but listen
if they want to talk about it they want to listen to it all those things it's great but i want them
to be able to be kids first and you know and and really enjoy that part of their lives fair enough
so now pearl is what 10 months old uh yes so i i'm always in awe of my friends who have three kids
um they you know outnumber the parents it's a it can feel like a lot what's that been like
now that you're you have three kids in that family for me it's it's about the delegation of time um
that you you ha you know you have three different personalities three different
needs three different human beings that want affection and intention um and you know how do you
because it's like one hand you got a you know a 10 a 10 month old you know over there crying and
then you have your daughter on the other hand like wanting your attention then your son you know all
happening all at the same time and then you got to just basically you're learning on the job you're
you're figuring it figuring it all out and and experiencing i love the challenge i think it's
great um i think but thankfully i have you know my wife um who's able to help you know right now odin
he's uh five five years old and he's all about mommy right now everything is mommy mommy
mommy i'm like that's good you go to your mommy i'll take care of those cute girls
so i'll take care of your two girls right now like you know yeah you know so it's it's a challenge
um and by the end of the day i'm exhausted and i'm going to sleep and waking up early
but i i absolutely love it and you know the beauty is that hopefully when they get a little bit older
that they'll start to entertain each other right that's the dream right there right exactly um i
love the names that you picked out sorsha is so beautiful odin i love that and pearl where did you
how did you what was your process when i came up came to uh naming them yeah so um odin was i don't
know if we were watching this show vikings or not and if that was the inspiration or not or maybe it
was a marvel movie i don't know uh but um my wife wanted to to that was her choice of uh the name
for our son um it's unique it's different there's strength in it i i think that's we we like that
um and but that was obviously something that she she wanted she chose and i'm i'm like hey you're
you're the mom that's what you want it's your choice right uh but then we were on the so we
were on the road um we were over in in italy on tour with the backstreet boys and we were in milan
and at that time we were watching so i have a little bit of like irish blood in me and so is um
my wife as well um and we love irish culture and um we love all sorts of cultures so it's not just
one particular thing we were watching this movie called uh song of the sea which is just adorable
i like to call it was so great and it was it was odin was on the road with us while we were over
on tour in europe and we were playing it for him all the time and um we unfortunately my wife had
uh some miscarriages and we lost a um so that happened prior to that and so sir turned out
to be a rainbow baby but the lead character in the film song of the sea her name was searsha
so and the little boy he was like this little blonde older brother you know who was dealing
with like this his younger sister so it was kind of like i like to say in some ways like like odin
you always knew that you had this your sister you knew who your sister sure was because you
you saw her in the movie and so she was a rainbow baby and so we decided to name her after the lead
character in the movie loved it i recommend the movie to anybody it's so great i i know that
i totally recommend i love it too the music is incredible and it was so great uh and then um so
i was the one who got the choice of the rainbow baby with sercia to name and then pearl was
actually something that my wife actually wanted to name one of our children and that was an option
for circa uh as a name and so uh pearl sort of was a another miracle situation i said well i just
think it's fitting just to name her her pearl and so these are baby little pearl baby saresha and
big brother odin that's beautiful so he talked to me a little bit about more about um what happened
there were some complications with pearl and you went through those miscarriages and often we
we talk about you know what the moms go through and that's obviously pivotal and very important
but sometimes we don't talk enough about about the dads so um how did you kind of cope through
all that what was that that time period like for you number one it's recognizing that it's not
about me you know and that's the first thing you know it's this has nothing to do with me this is
this is something that she's going through and i have to just be there to support her being there
in the most the toughest times um and uh watching you know the the this person who you love so much
go through those those things and you really don't have any control over it you know those
those are some of the toughest uh things to go through but just to be there emotionally
um spiritually um and to lift lift them up i mean there's a lot of stuff i'm sure a lot of people
out there know how you know what that feels like but um just to be the rock you know at the time
and to just be you know try not to be opinionated try not to do anything other than just be
there and that is the most important part that's really wonderful um and your instagram is just
so full of pictures of your family and your kids it's so sweet and you have a highlight on there
with family with a red heart next to it um you're clearly a very hands-on dad you know getting on
the floor and playing with lego and things like that um what would you say your parenting style
is and did you always want to be a dad you don't know if you want to be a dad until you are a
dad necessarily i don't it's hard to explain i've always been a a person who just wants to give and
care for people um everyone and anybody who's ever come into my life a lot of a lot of my friends and
and family say you know you were meant to be this and you know sometimes it's surreal to under you
know but but for me you know knowing that um you have these three individuals and human beings
human beings who have a a clean slate and a fresh start is a responsibility that that i i embrace
and and love knowing that you can give them unconditional love you can you give them the
opportunity to have a peaceful and and and healthy household um these are all things that that um are
in me and that i want to do so to say that did i always want to be a dad i've i've always wanted to
take care of people and and take care of the ones that i love the most and now that i that i have
those three little munchkins um uh you know i will never let them down i will always be there
too thick and thin and you know they are they're everything to me that's so sweet i love that
so we talk a lot on this podcast about chosen family family that's not necessarily biological
um who would you say is in your chosen family would you consider the backstreet boys part of
the family absolutely yeah i was going to say that because i met the guys when i was 12 years old um
you know that's literally only six years away from my son's age right now you know and when i met
them um i was introduced to four other individuals who came from families you know different types of
families all walks of life you know some guys were from kentucky some were from orlando some were
from you know so i was able to really uh learn a lot from them and that chosen family that i was
with and at a very young age and um you know so i'm very grateful to to my to my guys going on 30
years of being in this in this group um and when we when we're on the road um when our buses are
all in tandem you know and and together um you know we stop and we we get off we go to a hotel
or we go to a venue all of our families get off together and they're playing together you know and
and they're congregating everyone's like it's just a very big family it's a really big family and
um yeah i'm very i'm very uh grateful to have my brothers my four brothers
that's wonderful so really quick just thinking about your own childhood is there any kind of
anything from your own childhood that you wanted to replicate when you became a parent or is there
anything that you were like i do not want to put my own kids through that well well i mean again
like i say you know i started at such a young age um you know 12 12 years of age you know
started to be a provider for for my family at the time you know i i was the breadwinner
and all those things and you know at a very young age i was working yeah and it's a lot of
pressure yeah it's a lot and without saying saying something without saying it you know it's allowing
going back to what we were talking about before allowing my children to be kids they could just be
kids enjoy their lives grow up go to school um you know have friends take them to karate
you know it's like t-ball here you know whatever it is you know just let them be kids and let me
be the provider for them that's what that's maybe a little old-fashioned or whatever but you know i
i'm i am i'm the dad i'm the provider my wife we we together are there to give them uh to
allow them to have their childhood and to not necessarily have to to work for us fair enough
um so the last question we ask everybody is what are your hopes and dreams for your family for the
future i have so many hopes and dreams that um for my my children and my family um the one thing
yeah it's so silly you know i i want to see them go to college i want to see them go to
college i want to see them i want to be able to take them to college i want to be able to
uh just just a normal life you know a normal life um and if they want to whatever they want to do
as far as their profession goes that's really up to them but what i want i i just want to
finish have school be a priority um and the dreams is that they i remember having this conversation
with one of the staff people at one of the schools that i'm taking my children to and they asked me
that they said that question said what do you want i said um i want them to be better than
me and that that's and that's that's my only dream that's great nick thank you so much for
coming on with your family this has been great to talk thank you so much thank you for having me