Aaron Carter plays at Baltimore Soundstage

Baltimore Soundstage was invaded by a sea of excited twentysomething women on Feb. 17.

When Aaron Carter took the stage, the audience erupted into squeals. Their frenzy could only be rivaled by 12-year-old girls at a One Direction concert. While performing, Carter was interrupted by shrieking, screaming and sometimes full-out yells.

Carter was most popular in the late ’90s as a teenage singer who appealed to a pre-teen and teenage audience. However, he is perhaps most famous for his teenage relationship with actress and singer Hilary Duff.

In 2014, for the first time in nine years, Aaron announced that he would be releasing new music and soon thereafter embarked on his “After Party” tour. This tour name refers back to one of Carter’s most popular songs, “Aaron’s Party,” which was released in 2000 when he was just 13.

The concert relied heavily on Carter’s earlier material and his performance was nothing exceptional. Lip synching and the use of Auto-Tune were glaringly obvious. Carter performed alone, aside from one female backup dancer who was only present so the two could occasionally dance in tandem. The newer songs — often referencing sex and involving excessive hip thrusting — were quite jarring when placed alongside his childhood hits.

That being said, whatever Carter lacked in talent he made up for with presence. He was a master crowd manipulator. Female fans were screaming, jumping and singing along so loudly to the songs that one almost forgot Carter was playing to a half empty venue. When the song “I Want Candy” came on, he tossed Valentine’s Day candy hearts into the audience. What girl can resist her childhood crush tossing her a candy heart that says “call me” on it? It was rumored amongst concertgoers that some “VIP” sessions got more up-close-and-personal than others.

The most bizarre moment of the concert occurred as a result of Carter deciding to involve the audience further.

“I appreciate that you guys have been singing along — even to the songs that you don’t know,” said Carter.

Carter then proceeded to teach the audience the backup vocals to one of his newer songs. He went as far as to hold the mike up to a random audience member, a choice he visibly regretted when he heard her singing abilities. Before starting to sing some of his newer tracks, he reminded the audience he had performed all of the throwbacks just for them.

Despite attempts to engage the audience with his more recent songs, the audience was not very receptive. There is a very clear reason for the subpar quality of Carter’s earlier songs: he was a child actor, it was the ’90s, etc. The newer hits, however, were bad without much excuse. The child star often resorted to belting for extended periods of time for no apparent reason. And the audience, especially the slightly inebriated portion located near stage left, was not very receptive to the majority of these newer songs. In fact, any time Carter would attempt to sing anything other than one of this “classics,” they would start shouting at him to play “Aaron’s Party.” Carter was not inflexible and did change his set to sing the songs hecklers were chanting. Aaron Carter was very aware of his own status.

Altogether, Aaron Carter’s performance was not a work of great musical genius, but it was a playful throwback that the audience appreciated.