TLC has made a very pleasing announcement, the group will get in the behind the mic one last time to record their 5th & final studio LP. After the response to their critically acclaimed TLC biopic that was debuted on vH1 last year, T-Boz & Chili felt that they owed their fans one last album from the group, even in Left Eye’s absence. Rather than distributing the project through a label, they’ve decided to release the project via Kickstarter.
Fans have even been sending ideas for what they want a new album cover to look like — they get so creative. They have so much love for us, and we thought, “We gotta do this, and we have to involve the fans.
The question that I’m sure everyone is asking is whether or not our beloved Left-Eye will have her presence felt on this final listening experience from TLC. Although the idea isn’t likely to be manifested, they aren’t against it.
Probably not, but I’m not going to say “no” because we’re open to it. But at the end of the day, everyone knows how much we love our sister. You go to our show, you feel her presence.
Even though Left-Eye’s vocals are hazy in question, their long-time collaborating producer, Dallas Austin, is hoped to have his genius displayed on the album. In their interview with Billboard, TLC answered a few other questions that sparked a bit of curiosity.
Why did you decide to make this album using Kickstarter?
It’s a combination of things. Our manager talked to us about Kickstarter long ago, and maybe he was just planting the seeds back then. Also, I got on Twitter later than most. I already had fans asking, “When are you coming back? We need more music!” Then once our biopic came out, the requests were just overwhelming. Fans have even been sending ideas for what they want a new album cover to look like — they get so creative. They have so much love for us, and we thought, “We gotta do this, and we have to involve the fans.”
Before Kickstarter, were you talking to labels? Was it that you couldn’t agree on terms with them?
That wasn’t it at all. We worked with L.A. Reid again when we did the movie — we did a song for the soundtrack (“Meant to Be”) and that was a good experience. We had a great time with him. But doing it this way, we have complete creative control. The only people we’ll be talking to and asking their opinion is the fans. That’s it. Doing stuff outside of the box is what TLC does. We came out of the box already out of the box. If we feel like we’re in the box, we’d go crazy. On FanMail, we had thousands of fans’ names inside the CD jacket, we dedicated the whole album to our fans, so this is not new to us — at least the fan involvement part. Kickstarter is perfect for us. It wasn’t something we heard about and just got to it. We did our research, met with the people at Kickstarter — they are brilliant, and they’re excited to work with us. We feel very good about this collaboration.
So this is a TLC album, but Left Eye is obviously no longer with us. Will she be involved in any way, like unreleased recordings?
You know, when we did the last album, 3D, during the time that she did pass away, the song “Girl Talk” was the only one that her rap was current — she did the rap specifically for that song. Before that, Lisa was working on her solo stuff and she wanted to go in a direction that was different from Left Eye with TLC. And we totally understood, respected and supported her, but a lot of that is different from the type of music that we do. At that time we were searching really hard to find stuff to go with songs we were working on to finish the [3D] album. So to answer your question, probably not, but I’m not going to say “no” because we’re open to it. But at the end of the day, everyone knows how much we love our sister. You go to our show, you feel her presence.
Billboard
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