“This album means so much to me, for so many reasons, one the album starts with my beat and my voice. Hard to believe 22 years ago today #CrazySexyCool was released! I’ve made a lot of records and they all don’t come out the way I actually wanted them to, but “Kick Your Game” is by far one of my songs I’m most proud of, the sound, the lyrics, the vibe, everything!!”
Thank you JD, for assisting TLC in this masterpiece!
TLC caught up with Sunrise’s Edwina Bartholomew backstage at their Sydney show on Nov 15 to discuss their legacy, their kids, Haters and their plans to beat the Spice Girls and reclaim their worldwide #1 girl group status!
Edwina backstage with TLC
On Spice Girls
“We have more work to do because we wanna beat them! We wanna be number one everywhere! Not just in the States, but over there too.”
On Left Eye
“There can never be another person in this group, to take her place, its impossible. This is the new TLC, and that’s that.”
On how their children view there superstardom
T-Boz: “It’s cool to be, you know, the TLC girl when it comes in handy to get her in backstage in a concert or something like that, other than that I need to remain as mom at all times, and my son is 15 months old, so he doesn’t know who his mommy is yet, so he’ll find out.”
Chilli: “His friends think I’m so cool and its cool your mom is in TLC, so he’s always, you know, the proud son”.
On “Haters”
“If you go on social media there’s haters all day. There’s a whole bunch of computer thugs out right now. Like, all they do is sit and cyber bully everyone. Back in the day it used to be about liking someone’s craft, now its about how can I break this person down to make myself feel better. Haters are gonna hate, don’t let them stop you”
Originally a poem in the book “Thoughts Vol 1” written by T-Boz, the 3rd and final single from TLC’s Fanmail album was the light rock guitar-ballad “Dear Lie”, co-written and produced by Dallas Austin.
Left Eye in the Dear Lie video
LA Reid had planned to release “Dear Lie” overseas, and release “Shout” in the US, during the hugely successful Fanmail tour.
‘Dear Lie’ was inspired by ‘What’s My Name?’ in Thoughts by T-Boz
“Shout” never did get a single release, which was to be remixed by Sheila E. and feature Enrique Iglesias.
T-Boz in Dear Lie
“Dear Lie” was released internationally, and became a fan favorite overseas when it was released in the fall of 1999, making a big impact in the UK, Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, reaching the top 40 and receiving regular radio airplay.
The ladies hired Billie Woodruff to direct the music video to support the single, which was notably a lot more sombre and stripped back in comparison to their previous videos.
T-Boz and Chilli shot scenes in turmoil with their inner lies, portraying themselves as alter egos in the video.
Left Eye shot scenes strutting and posing in the corridors, keeping the TLC humor as she knocked a door and ran away at the end of the video!
It was a difficult time for TLC as the video was shot around the time the girls were having personal differences and released statements against each other in the press.
“Dear Lie” sadly became the final single to be released by TLC as a trio.
LA Reid decided not to release any further singles from Fanmail as the tour came to an end after they decided to record a pay-per-view TV special.
Chilli in Dear Lie
The Fanmail tour wasn’t taken overseas. A tour DVD is still a hopeful possibility for fans worldwide.
But in the meantime, lets not forget this epic single which often gets overlooked!
TLC released their 4th album “3D” this week, 14 years ago on November 12, 2002!
Rush released by LA Reid after the passing of Left Eye, the ladies had limited time to grieve, and went into the studio with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Timbaland, The Neptunes, Raphael Saadiq and regular producers Dallas Austin and Babyface.
The album birthed the smash singles “Girl Talk”, “Damaged” and “Hands Up”. It also featured “Turntable”, the bittersweet tribute to Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.
Producers had limited Left Eye vocals to work with, so the album features a lot of verses taken from Lisa’s 2001 solo album, “Supernova”.
LA Reid held onto tracks Lisa worked on with TLC and Raphael Saadiq like “Its On”, “Us” and “Watch The World” for release on another album, which never came to light.
14 years later, TLC are ready to bless the world with another masterpiece, scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2017!
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 