Backstreet Boys x Taylor Swift (and the Bar Exam Goes NextGen)

You’ve might have heard it by now. The viral mashup of Taylor Swift’s “Elizabeth Taylor” and the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” has taken over social media. It’s a nostalgic, unexpected blend of pop eras that somehow works.

And believe it or not, it’s a pretty good preview of what’s coming your way with the NextGen Bar Exam.

The Mashup Analogy

A mashup works only when two songs—often with very different rhythms, keys, and eras—are artfully combined to sound cohesive. The DJ has to line up tempo, match tone, and make seamless transitions.

The NextGen Bar Exam works much the same way. While the days of purely single-subject essays are fading, they’re not entirely gone. In their place: Integrated Question Sets that mix multiple subjects and skills into one performance.

You might see Evidence, Criminal Procedure, and Constitutional Law appear together, or Contracts, Torts, and Agency in the same narrative. Like a good mashup, the parts need to blend naturally, not clash.

From “Everybody” to “Everything”

The new exam isn’t just about memorizing isolated rules. Instead, it's about showing you can use everything you’ve learned across doctrinal lines.

In one integrated question, you might:

• Analyze a client memo that raises issues of both Civil Procedure and Professional Responsibility

  
  

• Apply Contracts and Property doctrines in a transactional drafting task

  
  

• Or evaluate evidence in a Criminal Procedure context, where admissibility and constitutional rights intersect

That’s the “Everybody” of the bar exam—everybody’s invited: every subject, every skill, every reasoning mode.

What This Means for You

If you’ve been studying each subject in isolation, like listening to each track on repeat, the NextGen format will challenge you to think like a producer, not just a listener.

Start practicing now by:

• Reviewing questions that mix doctrines (e.g., Torts × Agency, Property × Contracts, Criminal Procedure x Evidence)

  
  

• Outlining your answers in layers: identify the primary subject, then blend in related rules where relevant

  
  

• Explaining transitions out loud: “Now that we’ve addressed the evidentiary issue, let’s turn to the Fourth Amendment question it raises.”

Integrated writing isn’t about knowing more rules. Rather, it’s about connecting them in rhythm.

So next time you hear that Backstreet Boys × Taylor Swift mashup, think of it as a sneak preview of what’s coming in 2026 and beyond. The key to success? Staying on beat across subjects, and learning to hear how the doctrines harmonize.