Aaron Carter: The Little Prince of Pop

Hey, everybody, how you doing?

Aaron Carter. What's up?

I just wanna thank all of you guys

that have been real with me.

I finally got to this point in my life where I can say,

"You know what?"

"You're-you're-you're doing good, bro."

"Like, you're doing good, Aaron."

And nobody can take that away from me.

Aw.

You can see how kind

and how warm and how sweet he was.

You can just see it in his eyes and his smile.

Say hi, little Prince.

Whoa. Wow.

Who's that, Princey?

Mommy.

Daddy.

-Okay, that's your daddy. -Ooh.

Before Aaron, I didn't really have,

like, a purpose in life yet

and I feel like he gave me a purpose.

And then now he's not here to raise our son.

What's Aaron Carter's life story in one sentence?

Aaron Carter's life story in one sentence.

Attention, Lancaster units, code three.

Response is needed.

Aaron Carter has died.

Sudden death of Aaron Carter.

What's it like to be 12 years old

and have groupies?

He got the cards that were dealt.

Stop!

Show business is a beast.

It's a shit show. It'll swallow you up.

It's almost like he never stood a chance.

Once the addiction took over,

that was running the show.

The little prince of pop,

just 34 years old.

We have to give up something to get something.

I gave up being a normal person

to see the world.

Aaron Carter was like quintessentially 2000s.

You know, not a lot of kids my age

get to do this kinda stuff.

He really encapsulated a lot

about that era.

The first time that I heard the name Aaron Carter,

I had already been in love with his brother

for a really long time.

Nick Carter is a member of the Backstreet Boys.

What's up, MTV?

Nick was traveling the world.

This band was already blowing up across the seas

before they were coming back to the US.

Nick's mom would come out on the road

and, you know, Aaron would come out to hang out

with his big brother.

It started to become

to where he wanted to be with me

and the only way that he could be with me

was to do what I was doing.

Aaron and Nick were pretty inseparable.

Me and the boys, we brought him out on tour

over in Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

I believe Aaron was about nine when he opened up for us...

...and when everything really started for him.

He performs with the Backstreet Boys

and he's able to perform a cover of the song

Crush on You.

There's a lot of kids who have

siblings that are in the business.

But he was genuinely really good.

He went out there and he just blew 'em all away.

Once they saw the reaction...

Thank you, Berlin, I love you.

...they were quick to scoop him up.

Aaron is assigned to Jive Records, which is

the label that also a lot of the acts

were being signed to at the time as well.

Lou saw the potential and he-he ran with it.

Lou Pearlman was a music manager

and a bit of a Svengali. He started the Backstreet Boys.

He started NSYNC, he ended up starting O-Town,

and he was also Aaron Carter's manager.

He did know how to pick 'em.

Were you kind of inspired by your brother

to get into the whole singing thing or...

Oh, of course, you know, Nick,

Nick was always my, my big idol

and I've always wanted to be like him.

I met Aaron when he had just come from Germany.

They were now launching Aaron in the United States

and they wanted to be sure that he was on the cover

of the teen magazines and had mass media coverage.

That kid is Aaron Carter.

Aaron, yeah, right there.

One more time like that.

Aaron Carter, is he hot or what?

His real breakthrough would be

at the height of-of it all, it'd be in 2000.

Aaron's Party came out in 2000.

All the bangers on it, I Want Candy.

My best friend's name was Tammy.

When we were little, we would write like, "I want Tammy."

Catchy as hell.

That's How I Beat Shaq.

He's making bank

playing with Shaquille O'Neal

despite the fact that he's four feet tall.

It was a really successful record.

He sold millions of copies domestically.

He became an international hit because of that album.

Phenomenon Aaron Carter.

He's kind of like the turn-up king

for 13-year-olds at this moment.

Now we can sort of look at Aaron Carter

and we can look at that album, we can look at

how successful it was and see the precursor

to a Justin Bieber or to Shawn Mendes.

Whoo, here we go.

Aaron's vibe and his sound

in some ways was very reminiscent of like young,

young, young, young like Michael.

The really high voice.

Kinda goofy awkwardness.

Ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome Aaron Carter.

You know, Michael Jackson was known as the king of pop.

Hey, Michael.

Hey, it's Aaron.

And actually bestowed upon Aaron Carter

the title "the Little Prince of Pop."

And that term stuck.

What's it like to be 12 years old and have groupies?

Well, they're not groupies, they're fans.

They're fans?

The tour bus would arrive at these venues

and the girls would be outside by the gates with signs,

"We love Aaron," and he'd get off the bus

and take pictures with the girls

and he'd be signing records and signing the posters

from the teen magazines.

He's really kind of becoming

a part of the teen idol scene at this time.

I very distinctly remember Aaron on Lizzie McGuire.

Uh, okay, just hear me out.

Aaron Carter coming here is the most

exciting thing that's ever happened to us.

And then they kiss, which is also a really big deal.

You get it on your VHS and you rewind to play it again.

I mean, this is like one of the biggest shows

of this era on Disney Channel.

Hilary Duff's becoming like a team queen of this moment

and this becomes a huge turning point

in terms of kind of fame and charm factor.

It was the premiere of Hilary Duff's first big movie.

I'm nervous, Fred!

And I wanted to shoot the two of them together on the carpet.

So we stopped at a flower store

and picked up a big bouquet of flowers.

With the cameras shooting away,

he presents to Hilary this bouquet of flowers

right on the carpet.

And that was like the start of this media frenzy

that Aaron Carter was dating Hilary Duff.

We're really good friends.

Are you, are you, uh-- Are you an item?

It felt like kismet, these are like the cutest,

whitest, blondest people in the world

and finally they have met and fallen in love.

It was Justin and Britney light.