TLC recently spoke with Billboard Japan whilst on their whirlwind tour of Japan, debuting some of their new material for the first time!
The Japanese leg of the tour ends on Nov 4, before they head to the Phillipines on Nov 6 for their joint show with SWV, then continue onto their Austrailian tour.
Billboard – First of all, thank you for coming back to Japan!
Chilli: I’m glad to be back.
BB – So, immediately. The other day, they released the lead single two songs, but is that the release of the new album soon, or progress are you feeling?
Chilli: Well, you might end up with just the two songs.
BB – Really?!!
Chilli: I’m joking with you (laughs)
BB – I was surprised (laughs) all over the world people have wanted to know when the new album will be released.
T- Boz: I think it will be out next year.
Chilli: Well, we’ll release within the next year.
T- Boz: But it is not yet decided.
BB – After the new work, will you plan to tour?
T- Boz: Yeah, we plan to.
BB – Will the tour come back to Japan?
T- Boz & Chilli: Of course!
BB – In the new music will you have any featured artists?
Chilli: We have no names to put out, I’m an artist who wants to be the feature. I do not go with features on all of the songs, maybe a few songs will feature someone.
T- Boz: I hope it will be a good surprise.
BB – Do you record at the same time as featured artists?
T- Boz: We will have a feature if the song is fit for a feature.
Chilli: Well, it depends if a song is fit for someone … maybe no one will feature (laughs)
T- Boz: The album up until now only features a few artists, and we will decide if we want others.
BB – Since the death of Lisa Lopes, this is the first TLC album with only two people. Will the sound be different from previous work?
T- Boz: The TLC sound does not change. It does not feel different in the studio because we always have recorded separately (laughs)
BB – Really?
T- Boz: Yes. Each member doesn’t want to wait for the other member to be recorded. That has not changed even now. But, we feel her absence. We have lost someone from our lives. This is our new normal, and it cannot be changed. .
BB – I see. You used “Kickstarter” to collect album production funds, what is the purpose of this?
T- Boz: Freedom!
Chilli: Exactly.
T- Boz: By using Kickstarter, we can release the music any time. Freedom is the most appropriate word to describe this albums production.
BB – You were able to freely work. But you recently released the new song “Haters”, do you have a backstory about this song?
T- Boz: “Haters” are here and there. On Twitter, or Instagram, anywhere . People just like to have a lot of opinions. We respect opinions. We all have a different life, as long as you want to do something do it, respectfully. We did the song for things like that.
BB – Besides the new single it is said this is the last TLC album. Is this true? Will you not do more songs?
T- Boz & Chilli: This is it. This is the last.
BB – That is it, will you retire? Or will you continue to write songs, and do tours and continue?
T- Boz & Chilli: We do not know yet.
BB – After the Tokyo performances, what will will the next shows be like?
Chilli: I think basically the same kind of show, two new songs … Oh, actually three songs because also the first song’s new song called No Introduction.
T- Boz: It will be a different type of show, we might also do a generous a little song maybe. Changes came be made ay anytime, I want you come to also look at the Osaka show.
BB – So in the end, do you have a message to the Japanese fans that are reading this interview.
T- Boz: First of all, I really have to thank the fans. Japanese fans are very generous, to feel the fans support every time you come to Japan. We also thank the fans for helping our songs on the charts.
T- Boz & Chilli: We are grateful to all the fans!
TLC’s remaining shows in Japan are:
2016 November 2 (Wednesday) Tokyo Billboard Live Tokyo ·
2016, November 4 (Friday) Osaka · Zepp Namba
