TLC - YM Magazine

"Totally TLC" May 2000 Issue

Bankruptcy. Breakup threats. Bad health. These sorts of problems could make any group lose its groove, but not TLC. Leave it to the best-selling female trio in history to rebound from big-time troubles with FanMail, an album that went multi-platinum and scored eight Grammy nominations (including Album of the Year) and three wins for Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Group With Vocal. As other musicians get pegged to one type of music, TLC (Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, 29; Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, 28; and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, 29) continues to kick it in hip-hop, rap, R&B, and pop. With their make-you-move music, swaggering self-confidence, and fabulously funky fashion sense, TLC has created a brand new definition of girl power.So how can girls achieve that inner strength? "It's all about how you feel inside and how you deliver it," says Chilli. Adds T-Boz, "It comes from loving and respecting yourself." That's wise advice that the group not only doles out but also lives by. Besides empowering themselves, their goal is to touch other people. Sometimes, though, even they are surprised by the enormous impact their music has. "We get letters saying things like, 'I tried to commit suicide, but I patched up my arm after I heard "Unpretty" and I don't feel ugly anymore,'" says T-Boz. "Whoo! That's heavy." TLC makes it their mission to tell girls that beauty comes from the inside. "No actress, model, or singer is perfect," says T-Boz. "Stars have makeup artists and computers that airbrush us. So if you're anorexic or bulimic, and you're killing yourself to look like one of us, realize we all have flaws. That's what makes us who we are." Despite the singers' crazysexycool style and the massive critical success they've achieved, award-winning egos are the last thing these three flaunt. "We're still touchable," Chilli assures us. "We don't make girls feel like they can't be down with us."

Bad Boys, Fed-Up Girls

TLC first turned heads with their 1992 debut album Ooooooooooh On the TLC Tip then created more splash than a waterfall with CrazySexyCool two years later. Soon after that, financial planning problems left them bankrupt but undaunted, and they pulled themselves together again.Never content with just a catchy chorus (though almost all of their songs have one), TLC's tunes consistently deliver provocative messages -with tough-girl 'tude- about taking control of your destiny, losing lame guys, and beating bad body image. The singers have long turned their personal downfalls into songs that spark action. For instance, when T-Boz was released from the hospital after undergoing treatment for sickle-cell disease, her body was worn down from heavy doses of drugs. "I felt so ugly, and my boyfriend at the time still wanted to go out and party," she recalls. "He didn't understand what I was going through, and I felt like even if I explained he'd choose to be with his friends, anyway." Did she give in? Hardly. Stay home and cry? Forget about it. She sat down and wrote the poem that would become TLC's smash single "Unpretty." Says T-Boz, "Society has a way of making girls feel like we're not good enough, so I wrote that for us.""No Scrubs" was another fab girl anthem, though it was a different story for the guys - to this day, some approach TLC and protest, "Hey, I've been on the passenger side, but I ain't no scrub!" Still, the group insists it's not an anti-man message. "The only guys who get offended are those who really are scrubs," T-Boz says. It's time girls took charge of their love lives, continues T-Boz, "If a guy doesn't like you, realize you're not meant to be with him. I was in a bad relationship for five years, and I asked myself 'Okay, would it hurt more to stay in something bad, or to leave and know I'll be happy again one day?' Time does heal." T-Boz's key to not getting hurt in the first place: "When you're first with a guy, demand your respect right then. If you accept a guy cheating on you and later tell him to stop, he's gonna say, 'Girlfriend, please. I've been with all of these girls in front of you; why should I stop now?"

All For One?

As TLC's power surge keeps fans charged, the singers are finding energy for solo projects. Now that Chilli has an acting credit under her belt (this winter's flick Snow Day), she's sifting through other movie scripts. For the time being, though, she's occupied with a very personal production - her 2-year-old son, Tron. "Whatever I'm doing, I'm still responsible for my baby," she says. "I get up, I make him breakfast, I take him to school. I wanted him, so I'm gonna do everything I'm supposed to do." Chilli has been with Tron's dad, TLC's main producer, Dallas Austin, for a few years, though they don't have definite plans to get married.T-Boz is busy co-producing Jelly Beans, a movie about the Atlanta skaing rink she used to go to. "Everything I know about dancing came from hanging out there," she says. She's also developing an animated TV show tentatively called It's A Fly World, a project she's been working on for six years. And on top of all that, she's planning an August wedding to a guy she met while filming the "Unpretty" video. As for Left Eye, she's designing clothes with (her words) "a cutting-edge, Left Eye flair" for a fashion line she's doing with her uncle. She's also rapped on "Space Cowboy," a track on 'NSync's latest album, No Strings Attached. If that seems like an odd collaboration, Justin Timberlake insists otherwise. "Left Eye raps, but she's got pop appeal," he tells us. Left Eye dug working with the guy group. "I know them really well because their manager used to manage me," she says. "They're just regular, down-to-earth guys. You'd never know they've sold 10 million albums!" Left eye also started working on a solo album, which she says will be geared toward hip-hop. "In TLC I'm not on every song, and when I am I have maye 16 bars, so now I'll have more creative control and a whole album to speak my mind."

Uh-oh. Sounds like we're headed for another round of raging rumors that Left Eye is ditching the group. Yet she calmly claims the opposite. "There are rumors that TLC split up, but I don't foresee that happening any time soon," she says. "I've made statements on how I feel about certain things in the past, but I have never opted to leave. So anything that TLC has to do from here on out, I'm there and I'm committed."In the past, her dedication was doubtful. She quit the group prior to recording FanMail, challenged T-Boz and Chilli to a solo record standoff, and staged some public hissy fits in protest of her position in the group. T-Boz and Chilli were not amused by the drama. "You don't have to go through all that to get everybody to pay attention to what you're saying," T-Boz says. "You have to agree to disagree. That's part of sticking together." Ultimately, though, it looks like everyone will be able to keep writing fan mail to all the TLC girls at the same address. "From day one we've said we'll never break up like other groups," says Left Eye. "So even if we go through problems, I think we're too stubborn to go back on that statement. And I'm not gonna be the one!" Chilli's not going to be the one, either. "I love being in TLC," she says, "and can't imagine being in any other girl group." And T-Boz? She's staying put as well. "Unity is the most important thing." After all, nobody rallies to get it together as fiercely as TLC - the sonic symbols of girl groove.

TLC's Take-Charge Tips

T-Boz: "Find something positive to believe in and be head-strong. But make srue your dream is something you really have the talent to pursue. I tried to produce other artsits, but I don't have the patience. If it doesn't work out, that just means it wasn't your destiny."

Left Eye: "People limit themselves and don't even realize it. How do you know you can't do something if you've never tried it? Be open-minded and always have high expectations; that way, you still achieve a lot even if you fall short of your goal. And if something doesn't go right, don't get caught up in your emotions and lose sight of where you're going."

Chilli: "Be secure with yourself. Even if you don't think you're physically attractive, if you have confidence in yourself your aura will make you the most beautiful girl in the room."