The long awaited episode of Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry starring our very own T-Boz has finally been given an air date!
The episode, which airs on the E! network on May 24, also features Spice Girl Mel B, Jana Kramer and Reza Farahan.
Tyler connects Mel B to a beloved patriarch; Tyler connects Reza Farahan to his two battling deceased grandfathers; Tyler stuns Jana Kramer when he brings a message from beyond; Tyler reconnects T-Boz with Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.
Other episodes in the new series feature stars like Lil Kim, RuPaul, Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Bobby Brown!
TLC are one of the most diverse and multi-cultured groups that you are ever likely to find in the world!
Their music appeals to wide variety of fans from all walks of life, old and young, black and white (and everything inbetween), gay and straight, and worldwide from the US to Australia, Japan and Europe!
Which brings us onto a special fan by the name of Julia ‘Eye Ma’ Borowczyk, hailing all the way from Poland, who fell in love with TLC in 2007 after discovering one of their songs, “Give It To Me While Its Hot“, and became one of their biggest fans, going onto launching her own fansite dedicated to the supergroup, which became Ultimate TLC!
Julia’s successful fansite, Ultimate TLC
Despite making the decision to close the site many years later, her fansite brand still exists via social networking platforms on Facebook and Instagram.
Julia is currently a successful editor for popular music brand Noisey in her native Poland. Her position in this role landed her the opportunity to make her ultimate dream of meeting her idols a reality!
Julia’s chance to meet TLC was soon to be a close possible reality, when she discovered the girls were planning on their first ever live show in Europe, specifically London, UK!
That show was at KOKO in Camden Town, London on May 9, 2017. The show sold out in a record-breaking 2 minutes, so Julia made sure this was a show she was not going to miss!
After many contacts and exchanges with management behind the TLC event, Julia finally met T-Boz and Chilli before their big performance for the UK, their first show there ever!
We’d just like to congratulate Julia on making her Ultimate TLC dream meeting a reality! That’s one life dream on the checklist complete!
And we had a blast meeting together with other members in the TLC Army before the show which was a joy!
Until next time! XO
You can check out Julia’s personal story of the TLC night on her Noisey website HERE!
Theyâre the nineties girl group that are the modern-day blueprint of what girlbands are based on. With their unapologetic, no-holds-barred feminist anthems, calling out everyday sexism before it was even a thing, standing up for equal rights for those with hidden voices and more, their hits are still rinsed around the world.
I grew up, as did every other wannabe cool urban city chic back then, wanting to be TLC. Their clothes, attitudes and strength in speaking up was aspirational.
Their new self-titled album focuses on the world in 2017, women dying to be perfect, the state of the new world, getting over lifeâs obstacles and more. You see, its for us, for now, for my generation and the new generation, different era, same needed danceable anthems.
TLC after their encore at KOKO in London on May 9, 2017
Ladies, welcome back! How does it feel to be back and what inspired the comeback?
T Boz â Timing is everything. And it was organically right for us now. The fans have been asking for us to return for long time. The opportunity presented itself and here we are â boom!
Youâve never really been away though, TLC have in the past few years been constantly in demand on shows and awards, but how much for you has changed in 25 years since you started?
T Boz â The Industry and social media have been the main changes and of course we lost our group member so I guessâŚpretty much everything.
Tell us why you decided to go down the kickstarter campaign route to finance the new music? (Celebs like Bette Midler / Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry all donated). Was this an attempt to control things yourselves as opposed to a record label?
Chilli â Our manager Bill Diggins brought that to table for us, talking about the freedom of it all and not having to deal with a record label and stuff so we said letâs do that and incorporate the fans like we have in the past. Like we did with the album Fanmail where we put fan names in our CD cover, so they funded this.
T Boz â Also, we gave them packages like sleepovers, personalised messages, movie dates, and stuff like that.
Chilli â If I could have done that with Michael Jackson (when I was a young fan) -whooo you have no idea! Iâd give my rent, money, and carâŚeverything.
You have a new self-titled album coming June 30th â what can you tell us about it?
Chilli â Itâs called TLC. As far as the lyrical content, people know us and our style, we wonât stray far from that. The tracks are jamming. You know we thought Dallas (Austin) was gonna be on this project but with all of our busy schedules we just couldnât make it happen, so we had writing camps in L.A and Atlanta and found all this new raw writing talent which has been great.
What instructions did you give the writers?
T Boz â I think the mistake people make, is trying write for what they think we should be saying now â you canât do that. Or they usually try and outdo something weâve already done in our past. What we are saying to them is ââwe hired you cos we like what YOU do. Working organically is the best way. To get to the essence of who you are and then it just naturally happened. Once people didnât feel the pressured to outdo Unpretty or Waterfalls and did what they do best it just organically came together.
So many of your past songs are still or even more relevant today than they were so many years ago. What are you talking about this time around?
T Boz â Well, its less focus on fashion as we did so much of that early in our career but watching people over the years I had A LOT to say. I couldnât WAIT to get a pen in my hand! âPerfect Girls’, ‘American Gold’, ‘Way Back’âŚ.I helped pen these songs and all of them mean something to me.
‘American Gold’ talks about all the politics in the world, and all the turmoil that America was going through with certain situations, and our troops.., thereâs a dedication to them⌠they fought on this soil and died over it, so its a dedication to them as a thank you.
âItâs Sunnyâ is like life a story about overcoming in life. Good overcoming your fears and bad stuff. We covered a lot of stuff.
Chilli â also social media is a very a very narcissistic system and all these selfies and filters that people are obsessed with, and by the time the world sees the image, thatâs not you and thatâs not realistic. Itâs fun to do and we all do it sometimes, but that canât be what youâre living for? Itâs easy to talk about those things and even though we have No Scrubs and it will exist for ever and ever and ever â some girls werenât even born when we put those songs out â so we have to be repetitive until it really gets in there. I mean weâre not preachers or anything like that, but we do it in a fun way in a way that feels good. Weâve been called feminists, which I take it as a complement and we just tell it like it is.
T Boz â a lot of young girls try and be perfect and thatâs not realistic with that Instagram shot and thatâs what âPerfect Girlsâ is about. No oneâs perfect, we all have flaws and insecurities. But a lot of people alter their bodies and so thatâs cool, they altered them, so letâs just call a spade a spade. âI didnât like this part of my body so I altered it and made it betterâ, but just be real about what youâre doing, before the youngsters out there who are striving to for perfection that doesnât exist, we are all flawed in some way!
How will your new music translate to new generation of young women?
Chilli â this generation are hungry for that stuff. This generation are repeatedly going back to the 90âs cos the music back then was so diverse! For example at the MTV Awards we would be in same category as Hootie & The Blowfish and all these other guys, it was crazy and so you had a nice, beautiful variety of music. But today, it seems like its just one box and the sound is all the same and so I feel itâs important for groups like us to come out and not jump on bandwagon. Also, weâve always been on our own train, people just need to know what their lane is, own it, be confident about that, donât worry about whatâs going on everywhere else.
T Boz â and also I think people now praise promiscuity and being promiscuous. Thatâs unfortunate. Strive to be bigger and better cos some of the goals are just not really that great these days. You wanna respect yourself cos no one else will if u donât.
How much is better for young people nowadays compared with when you guys first started out?
Chilli â itâs definitely better now. Social media is a blessing and a curse. We opened up a lot of doors for women to have that girl power thing in them and do what they wanna do.
T Boz â I think the whole word ‘public figure’ is very interesting. I think if Instagram went away a lot of people would have no jobs. Itâs funny I saw an insta model tweet âthey should get rid of the title instamodelâ. I was like why? Donât be ashamed of what you are!
Thatâs what you do! âŚand then they change and call themselves public figure?! I just think thatâs funny! Things have changed for the better for women but also focused on the wrong stuff. ‘Public figure’ is funny to me. Thatâs not hot. If that were me, I would want an actual job title thatâs legit. A real job!
With your new music, even though there are two of you in TLC now, have you managed to capture the spirit of Lisa within the new work at all?
Chilli â Itâs second nature to us. Lisaâs spirit lives on through us forever. When we perform youâre gonna see that. We have a Left Eye interlude on this album. Weâve had 15 years to try and continue to move forwards. Itâs just the two of us now but we know that she would want us to continue and so this is the new TLC.
Weâve gotten past the part now where we know sheâs not here, but sheâs forever missed, thatâs our sister. But I think about it this way. No one else is ever gonna be in this group, itâs just the two of us. Weâre never changed that. Sheâs always with us.
T Boz â With Lisa we made history together âŚ.
Itâs an unusual and horrific experience to lose a fellow band member so young, there was a lot of shock worldwide. How did you personally deal with that time?
Chilli â losing a family member is heart-breaking. I lost my grandmother but you expect that as sheâs older, but to lose a sister at the age of thirty? Thatâs like what? Itâs unbelievable cos you never think that thatâs gonna happen!
T Boz â and then with the world watching, thereâs no way to grieve. Thatâs not something youâre taught and to go to a grocery store or anywhere and everyoneâs talking about itâŚâdid you hear about Left Eye âŚâ You almost wanna become a hermit seeing the headlines on every counter âŚthatâs really your life. I didnât know how to take people approaching me and smiling going âIâm sorry for your loss but can I have a picture with you?â And Iâm like âdid you mean that?â Or theyâd say âsorry that she died, but I can Rap!â People just say the most insensitive things.
T Boz â I was most probably depressed for a couple of years over it, it was hard.
Chilli â I spoke about her like she was still here for a long time cos I could not talk about her in the past tense. I just, I just couldnât do it. And thatâs how I had to grieve and deal with it.
T Boz, you just mentioned depression, something else thatâs been huge with young people recently with many young pop stars and even our British Royal family talking about it is mental health. Have you ever had any difficult experiences in this area? Do you think young people today have it much better or worse than your own teenage experience?
T Boz â I think everyone shouldnât ever be ashamed. We all deal with something and the reason people donât get help with something is cos theyâre embarrassed. And Iâm glad more public figures are speaking out and admitting that they have problems. I got a whole bunch of people I know with mental disorders. Theyâre locked up theyâve been medicated. Some have psychiatrists. You have to let it out.
We have a campaign in the states called SILENCE THE SHAME and a lot of people are getting into it cos u have to silence the shame. There are too many suicidal kids out there. Like when I hear two of my friends with ten year olds â at ten years of age, what can be soooo bad?
You donât wanna be here at ten? I think itâs a taught and learned behaviour where your child can go to school and talk to people like they do and the parent knows about it and doesnât stop it? That crazy, thatâs a problem!!
I wanna blame the parents. Thereâs no way my daughter would go to school spark to anyone that way and upset them. That is a no no!
Chilli â some people are born bad. I do believe in a bad seed. You have to recognise thereâs a problem but recognise and deal with this problem.
T Boz â but I promise you if I see my kid has a mental health problem Iâm gonna take care of them. Cos I really believe that if family and friends had spoken up before then, a lot of these tragedies wouldnât have happened. And a lot of people would be alive today.
Chilli â with my son Iâm like âclose the door? For what? Privacy? What are u talking about? No. The only time he had a lil bit of privacy was when he needed to go for a shower .I know whatâs going on. Iâm listening to his conversations with his friends. You have to be involved. These are developing years and teenagers are not cool, theyâre emotional. Thatâs when parents are needed the most. Itâs not about stunting their growth; itâs about paying attention to things and their lil personalities and guiding them correctly but not to break their lil spirits and stuff.
T Boz â I look at my daughter. I have the two Tâs. Theyâre good. Compared to what I see on the streets theyâre good. If all I have to deal with is a smart mouth, Iâm good. Cos I have one too. But thatâs better than my child being on drugs. Or beating on me, and stuff I hear other parents go through, I canât fathom what thatâs like.
Youâve seen the impact and power of elections in the states. Something thatâs big on the UK News agenda this month is our General Election. How do you feel about voting? Do you vote? Should young people be encouraged to vote?
Iâm in the middle with that. Itâs important to know what you want to do but maybe youâre not happy with both parties? If you think that itâs important for you to exercise your rights to vote then do. Pick someone you feel most comfy with. But all these politician people at the end of that day are the same and theyâre not as upset with each other as we get with them! Theyâre really cool with each other! Half of them are really good friends and much of the time you vote and youâre pumped and you think these changes are gonna happen and then they usually donât⌠so politics to me is just âŚ.tricks.
T Boz â Iâm all for keeping hope alive so maybe you should vote âŚ
Youâre known for taking songs about serious issues to the top of the pop charts (AIDS-waterfalls / female self-esteem-unpretty). One thing thatâs been a big talking point in music recently has been equality for women in music. You had your own issues with your record labels and management years ago. How have you found being women in musicâŚwas it and is it still sexist?
Chilli â I personally think some stuff is just the way it is. Iâm not saying itâs right so as women we have to continue to kick those doors down and continue to have a voice.
T Boz â itâs not right. I remember sitting in the record company and I had said something two weeks prior to this man and no one had said anything. Two weeks later he says what I said âŚbut see WE are different women âŚI hit the table I was like I HIT THE TABLE I said no no!
I will stand up like a man and speak up. He ainât about to take my credit. If I can pay manly bills I can do manly things. Iâm gonna stand strong, and loud, and say what I wanna say, how I wanna say it, and when I wanna say, Iâm not gonna let you take anything from me man or not!
Chilli â even in the acting world male actors can still be cast with a young actress, but with a female you are hot for a limited time, but as I said itâs always been the way, but you just gotta keep on fighting.
Your new single “WAY BACK” features SnoopâŚ
Snoop! No other person who would fit that track except him. Everyone has that person in their life, when no matter how long you havenât spoken in, when you do its all good, and its still âyouâre still my everythingâ.
Finally, your legacy is historic. TLC formed the blueprint of modern-day girl groups. Beyonce says you influenced Destinyâs Child and you can definitely hear it. How would you describe the legacy of TLC?
T Boz â I just want us to be remembered for the things weâve done and the doors weâve opened. When we came up there was no social media and we had to work really hard âŚmen then could in those days could just take off their shirts and people would scream and weâd be like OMG weâre fully clothed? Like how we gonna get that reaction and do that? But we did, so our talent and everything spoke for itself.
But when you look at TLC itâs the dancing, the clothes, the timeless music, the lyrical content, and the true essence of what we stood for to make you feel good. Feel good in everyoneâs life and not just girls but everybody. And not to come across as preachers but we did it in a fun way with music and dancing and energy and it should just be a good old feeling!
The next night TLC took to Londonâs KOKO venue for a sold out gig and they smashed it!
Full stage set with a full energy and very capable band, dancers in gold lame tracksuits, T Boz and Chilliâs sultry, distinctive vocals both sounding as dope as ever, and their high impact choreography and stage presence was as amazing as it ever was, putting many acts half their age to shame.
For us UK fans it was well worth the wait and their new album âTLCâ, dropping June 30th, is awaited eagerly by R&B and pop fans globally.
A truly brilliant comeback â welcome back ladies, weâve missed and needed your presence!
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 