NEW MUSIC: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK | BRING BACK THE TIME (FT. EN VOGUE, RICK ASHLEY & SALT-N-PEPPER)

The once-dominant and now-reunited boy band New Kids On The Block are the kings of the nostalgia circuit. This summer, the New Kids will hit arenas across America on their second Mixtape Tour, and the bill will also feature the late-’80s and early-’90s stars Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue, and Rick Astley. Today, the New Kids have rounded up all those Mixtape Tour acts for their new single "Bring Back The Time," along with a new music video. New Kid Donnie Wahlberg co-wrote and co-produced the new single “Bring Back The Time,” an uptempo dance-pop track that’s all about nostalgia. The song primarily serves as an excuse for the video to exist. In the John Asher-directed clip, all of those artists re-create scenes from a bunch of classic early-MTV videos: “Separate Ways,” “Whip It,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “Rebel Yell,” “Addicted To Love,” “Mickey,” “Vogue,” etc. The humour here is low-hanging fruit, but, I mean, it’s definitely fun to see the circa-2022 New Kids On The Block wearing Devo flowerpots and Twisted Sister wigs. These guys know that their audience wants a specific thing, and they will supply that thing. The band’s new song comes about two months after the singers performed a sold-out set for the first time in two years at Boston’s Fenway Park. In 2019, NKOTB embarked on its first MixTape tour — featuring Salt-N-Pepa, Tiffany, Naughty by Nature and Debbie Gibson — which raked in $53.2 million and sold more than 650,000 tickets.