AJ McLean doesn't believe he'd be here today if not for his 8-year-old daughter, Lyric. "She's smart as a tack, but I don't know if she really, really grasps the idea that she saved my life - because she did," the longtime Backstreet Boys member, 47, tells Us Weekly in an exclusive interview promoting his upcoming solo EP, Hi My Name Is Alex. "Four years ago, when I came back from a trip to Miami, [where I was] doing a show, I smelled like a bar. I had done a s*** ton of cocaine. I was off my rocker. And when I got home, she would not come within 2 feet of me. She wouldn't even hug me." McLean remembers asking Lyric what was wrong, to which she heartbreakingly replied, "You don't smell like my daddy." "And that was it," he says of realizing he needed to get sober. "A light bulb went off, and I was just like, 'What are you doing, dude?'" AJ McLean Courtesy of CSW To this day, Lyric and her 12-year-old sister, Elliott, keep their dad in check. "They've never seen me messed up, and now they never have to," McLean, who has been clean of substances since 2021, tells Us. "Believe me, they are on me like flies on s***. If I'm on FaceTime and I'm drinking a bottle of Jones [Soda] or even, like, I love ginger ale, and most ginger ale bottles are green. They're like, 'Dad, is that alcohol?'" AJ McLean's Ups and Downs Over the Years: BSB, Sobriety and More One of the songs on Hi My Name Is Alex - which McLean is releasing under his real name, Alexander James - is titled "Arizona." It is inspired by his 2023 trip to the city of Scottsdale, where he participated in an intensive outpatient treatment program just days after the Backstreet Boys wrapped the South African leg of their DNA World Tour. "I was sober, but I was going there to dig a little deeper and to really get to the root of my addictions," he says. "What people don't necessarily understand about addiction is that it's more of the symptoms of what's really going on - whether you come from a, God forbid, domestic violence household or a family of alcoholics or addicts, and none of those were the case for me. I had a great upbringing. I had an amazing childhood, amazing family, but when I went to Arizona, I found out that I suffered from a lot of insecurities and low self-esteem. I kept that really close to the chest. I didn't really talk about it much." Rochelle DeAnna McLean, Lyric McLean, AJ McLean and Elliott McLean Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images McLean acknowledges he was able to "mask it pretty well" for a long time, which "worked until it didn't." "While I was there, I really discovered who Alex was, and I had really suppressed that person for so, so many years because it was just easier to stay in the spotlight, stay in that character, stay in that mindset. But it was never really, truly me, if you will," he explains. "So the outcome of that trip discovered that AJ is a persona. He's a character in a band. And Alex is who I am." AJ McLean and Rochelle McLean's Relationship Timeline Now, McLean hopes that "Arizona" will help others with addiction or mental health issues. "To confidently say, 'I put myself first today,' there's nothing wrong with that. There is a healthy selfish," he tells Us. "I would not be able to be a good partner for my wife [Rochelle DeAnna McLean]. I would not be able to be a good father for my children. I would not be a good bandmate to my bandmates. I would not be half the man I am today if I didn't put myself first. The age-old saying, 'If you can't love yourself, you can't love someone else,' it couldn't ring more true for me." AJ McLean Courtesy of CSW Hi My Name Is Alex will be released on November 27, with a full-length solo album slated for early 2026. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).