TLC are one of the exclusive guests performing for the first time at the iHeart Music Festival 2023! The two-day festival will be held on September 22 and 23, and TLC will take to the stage tonight (Sept 22).
This year, the festival is headed to Hulu allowing fans to livestream the event online!
In additon to TLC, other acts performing for the event include Kelly Clarkson, Foo Fighters, Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, Fall Out Boy, Kane Brown, Public Enemy, Miguel, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw and Travis Scott. Pre-show performances will be done by Agnez Mo and Paul Cauthen and the event will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
If you want to get your last minute chance to see TLC live on stage at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, you may be able to get tickets through resale sites such as StubHub and Vivid Seats.
iHeartRadio are also launching a fun “House of Music” event for fans, inspired by the artists set to take over the main stage in Las Vegas performing at this years festival. Fans will be able to step into the “Homes” of headlining artists to experience multisensory, mixed-reality installations.
TLC at the iHeartRadio Music Festival 2O23
The free event is open to the public and invites guests to “make themselves at home” as they explore over 15 interactive rooms, diving into the lives, music, and passions of their favorite artists and brands.
TLC’s House of Music room. Credit: Todd Dallman
Guests will be directed to scan a QR code to unlock their key to the House of Music, the House Pass. The digital guide will showcase a map and details of all the things to explore, play and win at the House of Music.
According to super TLC fan Todd Dallman, the QR code for the TLC ”House” links you to the new TLC merch store, which you can access here.
The press release described the TLC room. “Strut your way into TLC’s fully decked out walk-in closet filled with inclusive of their signature looks and exclusive merch to buy, and strike a pose for the glam bot.”
The House of Music will be open September 22 and 23 at Toshiba Plaza right outside T-Mobile Arena, where the iHeartRadio Music Festival is set to take place. The House will be open to the public before, during and after the arena show starting at 4 p.m. and closing at 1 a.m.
TLC’s phenomenal performance at the festival was the highlight of the night for many of the attendees! The ladies pulled out all the stops, including additional dancers, to fill the arena stage and a full live orchestra to play along with them.
MTV gave TLC the animated treatment last week (Sept 6) via their Video Music Awards social media, as they recreated the iconic performance of “No Scrubs” in 1999.
MTV hired the services of animation creator’s Cartuna and LotusFly Animation, who jointly collaborated on the project to produce a 3D animation mash-up of the “No Scrubs” video along with the original audio and costumes from the performance at the VMA’s!
They added a little twist by including elements of some of the most nostalgic MTV dating shows of the past, including ‘Room Raiders‘ and ‘Singled Out‘, which aid T-Boz, Chilli and Left Eye in their decisions to ditch the guys that were no good for them, as they sit on judging panel chairs reminiscent to ‘The Voice’!
TLC are a huge part of MTV and VMA history, having dominated the 1995 award show with 4 major wins including Video Of The Year, a first for a black artist at the time, trumping some major competition from Michael and Janet Jackson!
They went on to add a 5th award to their accolades in 1999, when they took home the award for Best Group, beating stiff competition from megaselling groups such as *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys!
TLC at the MTV 1995 VMA’s
It was hoped that the animation was a sign that TLC was hopefully going to be involved in the 2023 VMA’s (Sept 13) in some form, but that was not the case, unfortunately. Instead, legendary awards were presented to Diddy and Shakira this year.
So, it was unclear what the new TLC animation was commissioned for. The clip baffled TLC member Chilli, who commented, “What in the heck is this?” on the post. It might help if MTV informed the artists prior to including them in their work.
TLC most definitely deserve an honary award at the VMA’s for their impact to the culture, record-breaking album sales, and opening the doors for women to express themselves however they wish to!
We cannot deny Left Eye’s influence on the many female rappers that she has paved the way for, and to see so many of them at the 2023 VMA’s as performers including Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj, was phenomenal! It is amazing to see how far female rap has come!
‘TLC Forever‘ was three years in the making, initially announced in October 2020 and suffered major production delays due to the covid-19 pandemic. The final outcome was delivered officially to the world with a simulcast on both Lifetime and A&E on June 3, 2023.
The highly anticipated documentary was produced by the One Story Up production company, directed by Matt Kay and executive produced by Roger Ross Williams, as well as Bill Diggins and TLC.
The documentary delivered on it’s promise to delve deeper into the history of TLC, more than they have ever told before, told in the words of T-Boz and Chilli themselves. “And who better to tell it than us, while we’re still here to tell it”, T-Boz told Billboard.
TLC in 2001
The documentary has a unique perspective of capturing the raw reactions of Chilli, T-Boz and Diggins in a private screening, whilst they take time reminiscing about the past, as they watch the footage of themselves and add commentary and thoughts of what they were going through at the time. The footage was largely filmed by T-Boz on a camcorder that she carried around with her as they were on tour in the early days as well as lots of archive, behind the scenes footage, many never seen before.
From the beginning of the documentary, viewers are instantly kept on the edge of their seats, as the scene opens with an emotional T-Boz becoming upset while she reminisces about her struggles with her brain tumor diagnosis and subsequent surgery and recovery. Her main focus was to make it back so that she could continue to be a mother for her daughter, Chase Rolison.
“But she doesn’t want anyone to pity her,” Chilli tells Forbes, adding that she hopes the film will help viewers see that the women of TLC are human, that they aren’t just performers, and that not everything during the height of their career was smooth sailing. “I think that everyone will realize that we’ve never seen this side of Tionne before. I’m always crying, I’m a frequent crier, but in this she cried a lot.”
The synopsis for the documentary is set on documenting TLC’s journey as they prepare to perform at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival, billed as their biggest gig to date. Fans are taken on an emotional roller coaster, as we witness the extra lengths TLC needs to go through in order to get through a show or a tour successfully, ensuring T-Boz gets the appropriate care and rest that she requires to prevent her health from declining.
Diehard fans were delighted to learn than the documentary also touched on the career of TLC beyond the passing of the beloved Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in 2002. TLC revealed that the industry had turned on them once Left Eye passed and deemed TLC to be over. Although they were unhappy with L.A. Reid forcing them to complete the unfinished ‘3D’ album in favor of a greatest hits, the ladies made the most out of the situation and wanted to do the album justice, both for their fans and for Lisa.
TLC in 2000
In unreleased footage that was not included in the final release of the documentary, TLC can be seen in the studio working on songs for the ‘3D‘ album in 2001 with Raphael Saadiq with an unreleased TLC song, “Us“, playing in the background. T-Boz went on to explain why some of the original songs Lisa had completed before she died weren’t featured on the final release of the album.
“The ironic thing was, we did some songs that was unreleased by Raphael Saadiq, and there was this one song called “Us”, T-Boz explains. “It was talking about something happening to you and it wasn’t your time and thanking God. It was just an eerie song to listen to afterwards [after what had just happened to Lisa], and that’s why we didn’t use it because it was actually a good song, but it kinda spoke on what had just happened to her”.
TLC naturally went on hiatus after the release of ‘3D’ in 2002, giving them the chance to grieve the loss of Left Eye. They completed the album promo in 2003, ending with a performance at Z100’s Zootopia, billed as their final show ever. Fans across the world (including myself) made sure to be there at Giants Stadium in New Jersey to see TLC performing for the first, and potentially, last time, as a duo.
Fans were still hungry for TLC to continue, so they agreed to a reality talent show on UPN called ‘R U The Girl with T-Boz and Chilli‘ in 2005, which followed the ladies on a nationwide search for the perfect girl to perform a new song with them, “I Bet“, which the winner O’so Krispie did during the finale.
TLC in 2003
During the years that followed, Chilli recorded a couple of solo singles, launched her Bags By Chilli fashion line, became a Beachbody spokesperson and featured in her own reality show on VH1, ‘What Chilli Wants‘. T-Boz also recorded a couple of solo demos and during this downtime she encountered severe migraines and was later diagnosed with a brain tumor which took over three years of rehabilitation to become healthy again.
TLC took the opportunity to be the guest for Alicia Keys at the 2008 BET Awards, performing alongside SWV and En Vogue. T-Boz then became a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice in 2009 with Donald Trump, winning $20k for her chosen sickle cell charity in the process. TLC returned to the television screens in 2011 as guest performers on American Idol.
TLC on tour in 2021
T-Boz took part in her own reality show, ‘Totally T-Boz‘ in 2013. During this time TLC were also in talks for a potential comeback to the stage after successful spot dates in Japan and Las Vegas. The ladies were then approached by VH1 to executive produce their record breaking biopic, ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story‘ in 2013.
The success of the biopic brought in a ton of new fans and a new wave of demand for the group. TLC enjoyed success on the festival circuit that year, performing at the Mixtape Festival and Drake‘s OVO Festival. The peak of that success reached when TLC were offered the opportunity to perform on VH1’s Super Bowl Blitz in 2014. With stakes so high, TLC put on the show of their lives and promoters were demanding to book TLC as a result of the high level of production and outstanding performance the ladies provided on the show.
With so many accolades and awards to their name, it would be easy to think TLC have completed their mission to dominate the industry. But not quite yet — as T-Boz says, “we’ve still got a lot to do!” This includes an upcoming TLC Broadway musical that is still in the works, as well as a possible animation based on the music of TLC and possibly a new reality show. Oh, and new music to accompany said projects, of course!
As a diehard fan, I can say that we would love to see TLC finally receive a place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — long overdue! TLC also deserves a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We’d love to see more Lifetime Achievement Awards, too! Let’s speak these things into fruition and give the biggest girl group in the world their flowers!
TLC on tour in 2023
Catch TLC while you can on tour this summer on the ‘Hot Summer Nights‘ tour with Shaggy, En Vogue and Sean Kingston! Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com
K-Pop vocalists Hinata, Juria and Chisa of global girl group XG have shared a cover of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’.
On June 25, XG released the fifth video of their ‘XG VOX’ series on YouTube, which features cover performances by the girl group’s vocalists. In the new clip, Hinata, Juria and Chisa each perform a solo cover before teaming up for their rendition of TLC’s 1999 smash hit, ‘No Scrubs’.
The girl group made a comeback in January 2023 with dual singles ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Left Right’. In an interview with NME, rapper Cocona shared that “the concept behind ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Left Right’ is to trust yourself and be what you want to be.”
Recent and upcoming group activities: XG recently made their U.S. live debut at 88rising’s Head in The Clouds festival in New York. They are slated to perform at the Head in the Clouds festival in Los Angeles this August. Additionally, XG has been included in the artist lineup for KCON LA‘s “ NICE TO MEET U” showcase stage on August 20.
So, who are XG? XG (acronym for Xtraordinary Girls) is a Japanese girl group based in South Korea. The group was formed by Xgalx, a subsidiary of Avex, and is composed of seven members: Jurin, Chisa, Hinata, Juria, Cocona, Maya, and Harvey. They made their debut on March 18, 2022, with the release of the digital single “Tippy Toes”.
XG are gearing up for the release of their debut mini-album, ‘GRL GVNG‘ on June 30.
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 