FanMail
TLC
1999
Exploring how technology shaped the future of an upcoming Y2K millennium, the iconic trio laid out their creative division in real life while utilizing it to navigate the sonic music trends that controlled 1999’s pop scene.
Electro-Hop&B/Lilith Fair Soft Rock
BY HARPSICHORD
FEBRUARY 23, 2024
A year before society would experience the start of a new millennium, R&B music already seemed ahead of the technological curve. By 1999, the genre experienced a dominance of the electro-hop&B wave. Fostered by the overseas club sounds that inspired Missy Elliott and Timbaland, electro-hop&B gained life thanks to their muses Aaliyah, Total, and even SWV.
The trend aligned more with where women were at during the shift— more so than men. E-mail correspondence and pagers became the focal point of romantic connections and disagreements. These advances in technology also meant more access to people around the world— and at a much more accelerated pace.
When looking at TLC’s career trajectory 25 years after the release of their third studio album, FanMail , the trio composed of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, always fell in line with what was hot as it pertained to R&B, pop, and hip hop. Their 1992 debut studio album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip , embraced new jack swing and hip hop’s rising spot in commercial pop music. 1994’s sophomore follow up, CrazySexyCool , took on the challenges of the Puff Daddy-invented hip hop soul that saw acts like Mary J. Blige shine. With a newfound look on the meanings of sexuality and sensuality, there contained aspects of the slow jam backed quiet storm (see: “Red Light Special”).
For their third album around the sun— or rather the moon— it became apparent that there was a newfound independence creeping into each of their storylines. Independence had been a main singing point in electro-hop&B. Girl groups were on the verge of discovering the trials and tribulations of each member contemplating solo careers. Ultimately, TLC started to face that roadblock— therefore making FanMail their last true era as a girl group before egos and tragedy got in the way.
To kick off their third era, the ladies released the album’s first single, “No Scrubs,” on February 2, 1999. It contained an airy bounce to what is now regarded as one of the most legendary songs of their discography— as well as one of the most iconic and defining of the ‘90s. Written by Kandi Burruss and Tameka “Tiny” Cottle-Harris of the girl group, Xscape, the anthem described men not worthy enough because they were “sitting on the passenger’s side of their best friend’s ride trying to holler at me.” Produced by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, “No Scrubs” appeal was not only in the chorus or rather the first lead vocal performance from Chilli, but also in this modernized sound of what can be perceived to be a digital harpsichord.
The video for “No Scrubs” matched the aesthetic of the album’s theme of futurism— each lady standing on large aerial swings while wearing super matrix costumes to fight invaders. While the album version did not feature a rap verse from Left Eye, the radio-sent and music video versions did. “Scrub” became a popular saying in American lingo, just as much as “triflin” had its moment thanks to the Destiny’s Child follow up, “Bills, Bills, Bills” also produced and written by Burruss, Cottle-Harris, and Briggs. Directed by Hype Williams, “No Scrubs” earned the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video beating out Y2K acts Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC.
“No Scrubs” went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks on April 3, 1999. That had been less than two months since FanMail was officially released on February 23. Their lead single actually became one of the last to be recorded for their entire project. The journey featured many creative falling outs— as Left Eye wanted to go solo as a means to get into more detail about the group’s bankruptcy woos as well as her on-and-off relationship with Andre Rison— whose mansion she infamously caught on fire back in 1994. The main producer of FanMail , Dallas Austin also happened to reject a lot of the material Left Eye submitted for FanMail — ultimately causing her absence from most of the recorded material that did make the final cut.
The album art for FanMail aligned with the sonics of the music. There is a binary code featuring zero’s and one’s that make up the backdrop. Left Eye, T-Boz, and Chilli’s headshots are in a dull grayscale, giving them the aesthetic of robots. A clipart email icon separates the words “Fan” and “Mail.” A wide techno font of steel announced the group’s three-lettered name. As Dallas Austin envisioned, the world was heading to “the future” of Y2K— and FanMail made sure to play on that.
The opening track is the most electro-hop&B meets cyber world that album gets. It’s a strong opener that features a software generated AI voice of “Vic-E,” the narrator of the LP (created by Austin and T-Boz). “Welcome,” starts Vic-E; “We've dedicated our entire album cover to any person who has ever sent us fanmail. This is a journey into life love, and the future of music.” In her contralto, lower register, T-Boz sings about reconnecting with a sexual partner. And during the chorus, that is silky smooth over a jittery production accented by clicking and tapping drumwork, she and Chilli sing, “Just like you: I get lonely too.”
Towards the end of the titular track the bridge includes a snippet from a 1994 interview the group did with MTV. Left Eye comments “Man we had all kinda sorts of conflicting fanmail, the letters.” Then she goes on to recall, “Some parents was like ‘You’re the thieves and the pimps and the thugs of stage.’” This moment foreshadows how one half of the album embraces that reputation. Much of that attitude is fueled by the incorporation of electro-hop&B, with Vic-E having her own interlude describing fake and materialistic personalities occupying the nightclubs, as an act to obtain a romantic suitor.
Aside from “FanMail” and “No Scrubs,” a majority of the tracks delve into futuristic production meets sassy banter. It primarily called on the group’s inspirations from touring in Japan— where they witnessed advances in technology not even introduced to the American consciousness, as well as the intimate neighbor-to-neighbor contact in overpopulated spaces. “Silly Ho” sends the impression that the ladies are not the ones to chase after the guys all the girls want. Left Eye had been conveniently substituted with the Mac computer software of Vic-E to do broken down rapping: “I ain’t the one for you.” A distressed radar that sounds like a basketball court shot clock clunks after that punchline, as the song also gets its spunky attitude from a melodic Arsenio Hall, trash talk tv audience adjacent “woo woo, woo hoo!” instigating those moments.
However on “Shout,” Left Eye raps allusions to chess, basketball, and the “dot dot com” when describing anger felt while chasing a career. To add on the idea of technology’s importance on the theme, “Lovesick” features dial tones. Conveniently coming right after the “Communicate (Interlude)” that highlights typing on a spaceship keyboard. “Communication is the key to life… to love… to us.” The group echoes each other as a cyborg, “There’s over a thousand ways to communicate in our world today.”
“I’m Good At Being Bad” features a divide that becomes more apparent as the album goes on. First it starts with a soft acoustic guitar-assisted verse sung by Chilli. This models after how the other half of FanMail occupies pop rock that mirrored the trend of Lilith Fair soundscapes that provided mass commercial success for women entertainers. It’s the good, more transparent, vulnerable side. Then the electro-parts take over to showcase the “bad,” with Left Eye rapping as she did during the days of ‘92– with an element of the group’s signature CrazySexyCool bravado of ‘94. “I need a crunk tight n!gga, makes seven figgas, laced with a platinum, not the silver sh!t n!gga.”
Ebbing and flowing through those two sounds of electro-hop&B and Lilith Fair soft rock, FanMail gives a balance. “I Miss You So Much” is a ballad that contains an acoustic guitar. While “Come On Down” is a combination of that vibe overpowering the instrumental’s orbiting bounce. “Dear Lie” is poetically sang by T-Boz, who had frequently visited the hospital due to her sickle cell disease.
However the staple that balanced out the success of “No Scrubs” had been “Unpretty.” A song that combats the notions of beauty standards became an anthem before Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” or Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts.” Regardless of how someone looks on the outside, it’s the inner soul and confidence that makes one attractive.
Unfortunately for TLC, FanMail would be their last studio album during the lifetime of Left Eye— who died tragically in a car accident in 2002. Up to that point, the group had some unresolved tension. On November 26, 1999, Left Eye told ‘Entertainment Weekly,’ “I challenge Tionne "Player" Watkins and Rozonda "Hater" Thomas to an album entitled The Challenge. A 3 CD set that contains three solo albums.” She pushed for Dallas “The Manupulator” Austin— as she dissed him— to produce all the projects, and that their record label LaFace, give the winning album that did the best numbers on Billboard, a $1.5 million bonus. She would go on to release Supernova in August 2001– although the entire album can be found on YouTube, some internet sites, and rare printed copies only. In 2002, the remaining members of TLC finalized their last official studio album, 3D .
“FanMail” for being the perfect way to open the album and setting the themes and concept in motion.
“No Scrubs” for being an iconic classic and reshaping how pop music incorporated electronic production. Also for being an inspiration for the naming of this magazine.
“Unpretty” for being a great turn for the group— in terms of their usage of the Lilith Fait craze.
Key Tracks
While FanMail is regarded as a game changing and legendary project from the group it tends to wane at times. It is noticeable that Left Eye wasn’t truly a part of this project for various reasons. This is also not as strong of a project as the group’s first two albums. That being said, FanMail is still an important part of history.