In a move that inspired plays on the title of their first single, the 1991 hit “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins have taken to Kickstarter to fund what they say will be TLC’s last album.
“We wouldn’t dream of making our final album with anyone BUT our fans,” the two wrote in the campaign description.”Come on ya’ll, BE A PART OF TLC HISTORY!”
The campaign, which launched Monday, already has exceeded its $150,000 goal. Some of the high-profile backers include Katy Perry, who reportedly donated $5,000, and the New Kids on the Block, who will join TLC and rapper Nelly on tour this summer.
It’s always a bit eyebrow-raising when established stars use crowdfunding platforms to finance creative projects. Director Spike Lee caught flack for using Kickstarter in 2013, and Zach Braff’s efforts to fund “Wish I Was Here” faced similar criticism. But both campaigns were unequivocally successful. Kickstarter also is how the “Veronica Mars” movie got made – creator Rob Thomas set a record when he asked fans of the show to raise $2 million. They donated $5,702,153.
The response to TLC’s Kickstarter has been generally positive – it’s a safe bet that anyone (everyone) who remembers listening to “CrazySexyCool” would welcome another TLC album. But it’s also arguable that a Kickstarter effort might seem a bit lackluster for the final album of one of history’s most successful R&B groups.
“TLC Is KickStarting Their Final Album and That’s Kind of Sad,” reads the headline at Vulture, where Lindsey Weber wonders why T-Boz and Chilli would “ask for a mere $150,000? to fund the expensive endeavor that is making an album.” (With 27 days left to raise additional funds, it’s likely they’ll pull in much more.) And then there’s the obvious, if uncomfortable, questions about what to expect of a TLC album without Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who died in a car accident in 2002.
“The fact that they are going to Kickstarter, opposed to the traditional route, reinforces the idea that this is not necessarily something the people want,” Weber wrote.
But in an interview with Billboard this week, Chilli said incorporating fans is part of TLC’s legacy – it was fan letters that inspired the title of the group’s chart-topping 1999 album, “FanMail.”
“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,” Chilli told the magazine.
In many ways, a crowdfunded project makes sense for a group whose tragedies and triumphs have played out so publicly. Even before fans watched as Chilli and T-Boz mourned their bandmate and friend, the members of TLC were candid about their personal lives – from relationship issues to financial problems.
“We are the biggest-selling female group ever – 10 million albums worldwide. We have worked very hard, we have been in this business for five years, and we are broke as broke can be,” Chilli said at the 1996 Grammys, where the group took home the awards for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.
It was a scene that was depicted in VH1’s 2013 biopic “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story,” a movie that, Chilli told Billboard, made fans hungrier for a new TLC project. “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.”
In an interview with Man Repeller, T-Boz and Chilli said that Lopes would have appreciated the fan-centered nature of the project.
“They always tell us what our songs have done for them, but they have no idea what they do for us,” Chilli told the fashion blog of the group’s fans. “It’s why this project is a very special and important one. I know Lisa is so proud that we are continuing on, doing what we’re doing, still interacting with the fans because that’s what she was all about as well.”
