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TLC’S NEW ALBUM ‘3D’
ENTERS THE CHARTS WITH A TOP TEN DEBUT!!!
Left Eye’s spirit elevates single and video success of “Girl Talk,” as T-Boz and Chilli complete a whirlwind week of New York tv appearances!
(November 21, 2002 – New York, N.Y.) TLC—the biggest-selling girl group of all time—have returned triumphantly with their new album 3D, which entered the Billboard Pop and R&B/Hip-Hop charts at #6 and #4 respectively, announced Antonio “L.A.” Reid, President and CEO, Arista Records. Released November 12, the album sold over 143,000 in its first week while riding a wave of critical acclaim. Rolling Stone weighed in with a four-star review, the New York Daily News hailed it as “the group’s most enjoyable and clever album” and the New York Post hands-down called it “the album of their career.”
The album’s first single “Girl Talk” exploded on radio last month, claiming the # 1 most added spot on Top 40, Rhythm/Crossover, and Urban Mainstream formats. Their elaborately conceived, multi-setting video–directed by Dave Meyers in their Atlanta hometown–is receiving wide exposure with top rotation on MTV, VH1 and BET. Reporting on a visit to the set, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said, “The whole scene speaks with command and color. Giant lettered billboards point commuters to various destinations…It looks like the Japan of movies or dreams.”
The album is a tribute to the group’s Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes, who recorded four songs for the album before her tragic death in April of this year. TLC’s two other founding members–Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas–have made a number of high-profile TV appearances in conjunction with the release of 3D, where they’ve talked candidly about how special Lisa was to their unique chemistry. T-Boz and Chilli stopped traffic in New York’s Times Square when they were joined by 1,500 out-of-school fans and appeared on MTV’s “TRL” debuting the new video for “Girl Talk” on the Jumbotron outside the MTV studios. The group was also profiled on “Primetime Live,” “The Today Show,” “CBS Early Show,” “The View, ” “BET Tonight with Ed Gordon” and “Access Hollywood” among other programs.
The 3D album features all the trademark TLC forthrightness they captured on their 1993 debut album Ooooh…On The TLC Tip, 1994’s CrazySexyCool and 1999’s FanMail. The track “Quickie,” for example, directly addresses men and their sexuality. “Men talk about women in relationships all the time and they don’t get any flack for it,” Chilli told the New York Daily News. “We’re just coming from a women’s point of view…we were always fun, exciting, experimental.” T-Boz told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the song “Hands” is based on a real incident in the past, where she saw a boyfriend dancing with another woman. “I was like, ‘Oh no the hell he ain’t.’ See, these TLC songs are for real!”
But for T-Boz and Chilli, the success is bittersweet. In an Associated Press interview, Chilli recently said, “Right now, we’re just handling one thing at a time…It’s a very emotional point in time in our lives.”
TLC ‘3D’
Critical Soundbites
“…the group’s most enjoyable and clever album…”
–Jim Farber, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 11/12/02
“…a towering record that is consistently better than either CRAZYSEXYCOOL or FANMAIL…TLC has the record of its career.”
–Dan Aquilante, NEW YORK POST, 11/12/02
“…quintessential TLC tracks, particularly the first single, ‘Girl Talk,’ and the terrific independence anthem ‘Over Me’…”
–Barry Walters, ROLLING STONE (4-star review), 11/28/02
“Rather than dwelling on the untimely loss of Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas and Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins use this album to celebrate their late partner while adding to the group’s sassy, thought-provoking and innovative legacy.”
–Natalie Nichols, LOS ANGELES TIMES, 11/20/02
“The album is dedicated to Lopes, and the track ‘Turntable’ is an especially poignant song dedicated to the late rapper….the result is a wider musical variety than perhaps any other TLC collection…”
–Geoff Boucher, LOS ANGELES TIMES, 11/20/02
“In crazy-sexy-cool TLC style, the trio’s surviving members–TIONNE “T-BOZ” WATKINS and ROZONDA “CHILLI” THOMAS–pay tribute on the rowdy, reggae-tinged party jam ‘Dirty Dirty.’ ‘Left Eye would want us to break it down like this,’ they rap–before, out of nowhere, they stop the groove with ‘LEFT EYE gets a moment of silence.’ Elsewhere TLC continues to display the same kind of street sass that marked hits like ‘No Scrubs,’ whether they are dissing male sexual performance on ‘Quickie’ or kicking a trifling lover to the curb on ‘Over Me.’ Once again they demonstrate an uncanny knack for incorporating up-to-the-second beats into their trademark hip-hop funk, with writing-producing contributions from Babyface and Missy Elliott, among other top talent. The sultry-voiced Watkins co-wrote 6 of 13 cuts, including the CD’s best, most vulnerable moment: ‘Damaged,’ a Princely mid-tempo gem in the vein of ‘Unpretty,’ which reveals that underneath all that attitude, all they really want is a little TLC.”
–Chuck Arnold, PEOPLE MAGAZINE (“Album of the Week”), 11/18/02
“TLC was always good at getting the best songs out of prolific rhythm-and-blues song-writers, either by collaborating with them or simply making smart choices. Virtually every song on 3D has something memorable in it: Eddie (Hustle) Clement’s laconic two-note twang under the verses of ‘Girl Talk,’ the Neptunes’ jazz chords and swooping strings in ‘In Your Arms Tonight,’ Rodney Jerkins’ synthetic jabs in ‘Hey, Hey, Hey’ or the dulcet ‘dumb, dumb, dumb’ chorus in ‘So So Dumb’…”
–Jon Pareles, NEW YORK TIMES, 11/17/02
“The whiplash-inducing beats of TLC’s long-awaited album 3D provide an almost lethal pop rush.”
–Carlene Bauer and Leigh Belz, ELLE, December 2002
“…vibrant…emotional…this wouldn’t be a TLC CD if there wasn’t something brazen and forthright, which just about sums up ‘So So Dumb,’ a soulful wallop against the forehead of a husband with a wandering eye…”
—Sonia Murray, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION, 11/12/02
“TLC has been putting out clever, innuendo-laced songs such as ‘Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,’ ‘Creep’ and ‘Red Light Special’ since they arrived a decade ago as audacious B-girls with condoms pinned to their clothes. And though their sound has matured over the years, they haven’t lost their sense of fun. On the new album’s ‘Quickie,’ the late rapper LISA “LEFT EYE” LOPES, the crazy to her bandmates’ sexy cool, verbally rolls her eyes at a lame lover who needs some ‘ginseng for the ping-ping.’”
–Steve Jones, USA TODAY, 11/12/02
“…a nearly perfect collection…The Dallas Austin-produced ‘Damaged’ and the Rodney Jerkins-helmed ‘Turntable’ are folk-pop gems, recalling past glories like ‘Waterfalls.’ The Neptunes-sculpted ‘In Your Arms Tonight’ is sturdy and sultry, making it perfect for city streets or between the sheets. With 3D, TLC has crafted a fitting tribute to a departed sister.”
–Michael Paoletta, BILLBOARD, 11/16/02
“‘Girl Talk’’s springy, minimalist funk is subtly addictive.”
–David Browne, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, 10/25/02
“These girls are fighters. Jackhammer beats do the digital nasty against digi-coustic guitars, sweeping strings and subwoofer-breaking bass…”
–Kyle Anderson, FHM (4-star review), December 2002
“Inevitably, this music will sink into the great American soundtrack…”
–Meghan Sutherland, PAPER, November 2002
“This is one 3D event that’s all too real. It couldn’t have been easy for TIONNE ‘T-BOZ’ WATKINS and ROZONDA ‘CHILLI’ THOMAS to finish their fourth album after LISA ‘LEFT EYE’ LOPES’ death, but to pull it off with such composure is the real feat. 3D features several career-defining turns by superstar producers such as the Neptunes (‘In My Arms Tonight’), Babyface (‘Hands Up’), Missy Elliott and Timbaland (‘Dirty’), with all the group’s playfulness and silky-smooth funk intact. And through it all, the girls treat the untimely departure of their associate with just the right balance of eloquence and heartbreak. It just goes to show that TLC didn’t become one of the biggest selling girl groups of all time for nothing.”
—E! ONLINE, 11/13/02
“The new album, 3D, thumps, sizzles and thrills with the same formula that drives TLC’s best work. ‘Girl Talk’ is a sassy strut. ‘3D’ pumps with the unmistakable rhythms of black marching bands. ‘Dirty’ boasts a schoolyard playground bounce. And ‘In Your Arms Tonight’ is a Prince-like flirtation.”
— Craig Seymour, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 11/10/02
“T-BOZ continues to blaze new songwriting trails, co-writing the alternative-pop ‘Damaged,’ the jittery ‘’Hey Hey Hey Hey,’ and the neo-soul ‘’So So Dumb.’”
–Vanessa E. Jones, BOSTON GLOBE, 11/15/02
“…these survivors are emotionally honest and sexually brazen… and outright punchy like they haven’t been since their debut…”
–Ben Wener, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 11/15/02
“3D is three-dimensional, melding acoustic folk sounds with hip-hop, pop and R&B. Lots of LOPES’ vocal work was already in the can when she died, and rhyme-wise, this is some of the best work she has done.”
–Kelley L. Carter, DETROIT FREE PRESS, 11/17/02
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