BLACKPINK are one of the biggest girl group’s out right now dominating the music scene since their inception back in 2016. Hailing from South Korea, BLACKPINK have managed to win their fans over with their infectious melodies and dance moves.
The group are a perfect combination of genres K-pop, hip-hop, R&B, trap and EDM. Although other K-pop girl groups have had success such as XG, BLACKPINK remain the biggest selling Korean girl group internationally.
Back in April, BLACKPINK members Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rosé took part in the series finale of Carpool Karoke with James Corden. During the episode, whilst elaborating on their musical influences, the ladies reveal that they drew inspiration from other legendary girl groups such as the Spice Girls and of course, the iconic TLC.
BLACKPINK ‘Born Pink’ tour (2023)
Like TLC, BLACKPINK had the triple threat ability to not only sing and dance, but also rap, with members Jennie and Lisa taking on the rapping within the group, as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes did with TLC. They have previously collaborated with Cardi B on the single, “Bet You Wanna“.
Jennie explains why BLACKPINK were so inspired by TLC. “We loved TLC’s music,” Jennie said. “They had vocals, they had raps. Then they had a bit of hip-hop.” TLC’s fun personalities and individual style can also be seen as an influence in BLACKPINK.
The group were then delighted when they were offered the opportunity to sing along to one of their favorite TLC songs, “No Scrubs“, along with Corden.
TLC on tour in 2019
During the group’s initial creation, they would spend years in a boot camp-like training school, where they would spend countless hours rehearsing, performing and studying various music and groups like TLC and Spice Girls.
BLACKPINK are also a hugely successful touring act, managing to trump TLC’s record-breaking Fanmail tour sales which grossed $72.8m in 2000, an impressive feat despite the tour ending early. However, with over 85m album sales to date, it will take a while for another girl group to outsell the diamond-certified number one sales set by TLC.
TLC on the ‘Fanmail’ tour (2000)
It would be a huge economic success if the top girl groups of the world like BLACKPINK, TLC and the Spice Girls did a joint tour one day. It would be a unique blend of nostalgia meets the present — ultimate girl power!
TLC were special guests on the 21st season of ‘American Idol‘ finale tonight (May 21) which aired on ABC.
T-Boz and Chilli took to the stage with contestant Lucy Love to perform a phenomenal live medley of their biggest hits. Chilli and T-Boz opened the performance carefully breaking down the lyrics of the smash, “No Scrubs“, to Lucy Love, before they collectively performed the anthem together.
The ladies seamlessly transitioned the performance to their first Billboard number one single, “Creep“, complete with horns and a live band.
With the audience roaring excitedly for more, including the judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and their friend Katy Perry, the ladies performed the anthem, “Waterfalls“, along with Lucy Love showcasing her vocal talents as they harmonized together.
Lucy Love made it into the top 12 and was hoping to earn her spot into the top 10. With a talent like that she is destined to have a very successful career in the music business.
The ‘American Idol’ appearance marked the first time TLC performed on the show since 2011, when they performed with Lil’ Jon and the top 13 girls that year.
Tonight’s performance served as a tour sampler for their upcoming North American “Hot Summer Nights” tour, which kicks off in June, along with Shaggy, En Vogue and Sean Kingston.
The world has been tuned in to the latest girl group reality show airing on Bravo, ‘SWV & Xscape: The Queens of R&B‘, documenting the journey of the two legendary girl groups as they find a way to put on a concert together.
SWV and Xscape were born in the early 90’s and both achieved a ton of success throughout the decade before they both disbanded around the same time in 1998. They experienced a huge revival when they agreed to participate in a Verzuz event in 2021, celebrating their most loved hits back and forth with each other.
The Verzuz episode led to television producer Mona Scott Young offering the ladies an opportunity to continue their working relationship with their own reality television show, leading to them both co-headlining a concert together for their fans.
The groups were both excited about the opportunity and already had formed a close friendship with each other over the years. Frictions occurred when Xscape member Kandi Burruss raised concerns over which group would be the headlining act the show, and felt that her group has a bigger following than SWV, so should headline the show.
This did not go down well with the ladies of SWV, who refused to be an opening act for Xscape and reminded the viewers that they have sold millions of more records than Xscape, so they felt insulted at the suggestion as they were informed it was to be a co-headlining show, a collaborative effort.
SWV (Coko, Taj & Lelee)
Time will tell if the groups were able to fix their differences on the show, which airs every Sunday night on Bravo and streaming on the Peacock app.
Cheryl “Coko” Gamble, the lead singer of the group SWV, took some time out this week to chat with reality television producer Carlos King about her thoughts of the show. Although Coko was not interested in being an opening act for Xscape, she was completely open to doing a tour with, and opening for, En Vogue and TLC!
“Oh, we would love that, but TLC is on tour with En Vogue now. They took En Vogue and they did not ask SWV, like girls, come on!”, Coko exclaims. “I would love that though — I would be an opener for that! We ain’t trying to co-headline, we’ll be an opener. Give us a good 30 minutes! That’s TLC!”, Coko laughs.
SWV has toured with both TLC and En Vogue separately in the past. During an episode on their current television show, Taj George recalls having a blast doing shows with both groups and being treated fairly. “We have toured with tons of girl groups, and none of them have treated us the way those gals have treated us”, Coko said during the episode, referring to Xscape’s demands to headline the show.
“It was a pleasure working with En Vogue. It was a pleasure working with TLC. And both of them have outsold both of us [SWV and Xscape]”, Taj admits. “Xscape can learn a lesson from En Vogue — with their 7 million records!”, Coko adds. For the record, SWV has sold over 30 million records to date.
“That’s the thing about us, we are honest. We know what it is, I do not mind”, Coko says about opening for TLC and En Vogue. “TLC is huge! Are you crazy? I don’t want to come on after no TLC! No, no, no, we ain’t stupid!”, Coko continues humbly.
“We don’t want to come behind TLC, and we respect En Vogue to the upmost. Like I said, if there were no En Vogue, there would be no SWV. So, if you want us to go on before you, we’re going to do that, because that’s how much love and respect we have for both of them”.
Coko with Chilli and T-Boz in 2015
It is beautiful hearing Coko be so open and honest about how she feels about working with other girl groups, especially TLC and En Vogue. A joint tour with all three groups would be a dream come true for many fans of 90s R&B girl groups — so let’s hope it can happen one day!
Alicia Keys would be the first person in line at such a show. These three aforementioned girl groups were amongst her favorites, and she invited all three groups to join her on stage at the BET Awards 2008 to perform their greatest hits with her during her performance.
TLC with En Vogue at the BET Awards 2008
Check out the full Coko interview with Carlos King and tune in to watch ‘SWV & XSCAPE: THE QUEEN’S OF R&B’ on Bravo.
TLC blessed fans in the UK on Easter Sunday (April 17, 2022) with an exclusive interview on the Global based radio station Capital XTRA Reloaded to celebrate the stations ‘Legend Sessions’ with a special spotlight on Ludacris and the legendary TLC!
Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas took a trip down memory lane with Mike Panteli to discuss their fashion statements from the early 90’s and how they got started in the group, the biggest-selling US girl group ever, with over 85 million albums sold worldwide!
“I think it was a shock to everybody, especially the way Left Eye was sitting up there [in the “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” video] in that big bright hat in those bright colours”, T-Boz reminisces about their debut single setting new standards for female’s at that time. “I think we really grabbed people’s attention, with our sound, the look and the way we were dressed. I think we hit the scene at the perfect time, in the perfect way. I think we also made it posisble for people who already dressed that way to feel sexy and not feel like outcasts.”
TLC in 1992
Despite the music scene being heavily dominated by girl groups promoting ‘girl power’ in the late 90’s, Chilli reminds listeners that TLC were indeed the pioneers of girl power from the very beginning. “I think that people knew for sure that we were all about girl power”, Chilli reveals, “and just the way that we hit the scene in the way that we did opened the door for people like Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child“.
T-Boz and Chilli both spoke about their musical upbringing (they both grew up wanting to be stars, but not necessarily in a group), and say that one of the unique thing’s about TLC is how neither of them sound like each other, and they are like three solo artists packaged into one supergroup. “I can sing T-Boz’s parts, but I won’t sound like her”, Chilli laughs. “[T-Boz] can sing my parts, but she won’t sound like me, and we can both rap Lisa’s parts, but we won’t sound like her. So, each girl has her own thing that is so different”.
TLC stand out from the crowd not just because they sing memorable, catchy songs, but because of the unique lead vocals of T-Boz in her deep, raspy tone. “Jermaine Dupri did our first demo and I did background vocals singing deep for Kris Kross“, T-Boz reveals. “He already knew the swag, but what he did do was tell me that I should keep that as my style. He was like, ‘you have a different style, you should do that as your thing’. I sang deep for my audition for my manager at the time, Ian Burke, that’s how he knew I could sing deep”.
The success of TLC went from strength to strength after the debut album. Chilli said she was relieved that they didn’t suffer from the ‘sophomore jinx’ when they released their second album, ‘CrazySexyCool‘ in 1994, which went on to sell over 12 million copies in the US alone and solidified the ladies as a serious group with huge longevity.
“Once the music video to “Waterfalls” was released, that’s when we started really selling [album units]”, Chilli admits. “Because that message [in the music video], people could really relate to it”. Arista boss Clive Davis initially didn’t have faith in releasing “Waterfalls” as a single, but the ladies were able to convince L.A. Reid (TLC’s label boss and owner of LaFace, a subsidiary label to Arista) to take a chance on it and he agreed to commission the multi-million dollar music video, with ground-breaking special effects at the time it was made in 1995.
Panteli dug into the ladies musical archives to find out what their first records were that they bought in their younger days. T-Boz reveals that Michael Jackson‘s “Off The Wall” was her first purchase, whilst Chilli’s selection was more surprising. “The first record that I asked my mom for was Queen “Another One Bites The Dust”, Chilli reveals. ” I wore that thing out! It had scratches on it and everything. She bought me this little record player with psychedelic lights on top when you open it. That was my first record”.
The legendary Prince is another artist that TLC were proudly associated with. T-Boz explains how she was able to work on the cover of his iconic “If I Was Your Girlfriend“. “I was in a nightclub and Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs came up to me and said he has a record that he has for his group Total but he wanted me to have it instead. His producer Chucky Thompson [who recently passed away, Rest in Peace] got together to work on it, and then we finished it off with Dallas [Austin]”.
Prince is notoriously protective of his work and rarely allows permission for artists to cover his work. Howveer, that rule did not apply to TLC! Prince was a huge fan of TLC. “I was so excited”, T-Boz exclaims, “because Prince has been known to say no to everybody, and he said yes to two songs, “Get It Up” (for the Poetic Justice soundtrack) and “If I Was Your Girlfriend”. People still to this day ask us, how did we get Prince to say yes, it’s because he loves us, that’s why!”
TLC have previously stated that they would love to work with Cardi B and Bruno Mars, and that is still applicable to this day. “Right now, I’d still like to have Bruno Mars”, Chilli admits. “I love him. We both love him equally. He is just phenomenal, all across the board”.
So, what’s next in the pipeline for TLC? Well, they have previously teased the production of a Broadway musical, the process has since moved along and made some progress and is closer to becoming a reality. “I’m really excited about the musical”, T-Boz says. “Now, we’re working with a writer and [deciding] on how we want the stage performances to go”.
There is also a chance that there will be some brand new TLC music produced for the project. “I think that we’re going to do some new music for that, mixed with the old”, T-Boz reveals. “I think that it will be something really different and interesting. Even though we have told VH1 stories, behind the scenes, we have just finished an A&E documentary which features stories that we have never told before. We have 30 years of stories to tell, so, why not tell it on Broadway, you know?”.
TLC will arrive in the UK this June as part of their European 2022 tour! Their show in London is now sold out, so get tickets to rest of the tour while you still can!
Tickets available at Livenation.co.uk and Ticketmaster.co.uk
Catch the replay of the CapitalXTRA Reloaded TLC special HERE
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 