FanMail

FanMail
Studio album by TLC
Released	February 23, 1999
Recorded	1998-1999
Genre	R&B, pop, dance-pop, hip hop
Length	62:07 (Explicit Version) 63:23 (Clean Version) 67:02 (With Bonus Track)
Label	LaFace/Arista
Producer	Antonio M. Reid, Babyface, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin, TLC
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau link Entertainment Weekly (B-) link Muzik link NME link Q link Rolling Stone link Spin link
TLC chronology
CrazySexyCool (1994) FanMail (1999) 3D (2002)
Singles from FanMail
"Silly Ho" Released: December 29, 1998 "I'm Good at Being Bad" Released: January 1999 "No Scrubs" Released: March 23, 1999 "Unpretty" Released: August 10, 1999 "Dear Lie" Released: November 30, 1999

FanMail is the third studio album by American girl group trio TLC. As with previous album CrazySexyCool (1994), the group re-teamed with Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Jermaine Dupri on the album's production and the album features the computer voice female named Vic-E (vikki)

The group's first album in five years, Fanmail debuted on top of the U.S. Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and at number one on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 318,000 copies in its first week of release. It eventually received a 6x platinum certification by the RIAA for more than six million copies shipped to stores. While the album entered the top twenty on the majority of the charts it appeared on oustide the United States, it also reached the top ten in Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.^[1]

The album was very successful at the Grammys, receiving eight nominations. "No Scrubs" won Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and Best R&B Song and Fanmail won Best R&B Album.

Production and title

After a lengthy hiatus following the members of TLC filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 3, 1995 ^[2], TLC eventually entered recording studios in 1998 to start work on their then-untitled third album with producer Dallas Austin. While Austin contributed the most to the album and moreover served as its executive producer, TLC also worked with producers Antonio M. Reid and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The album was scheduled for release on November 10, 1998 but was pushed back to February 23, 1999.

The album title was a tribute to TLC's fans after the group's lengthy hiatus. The title came from group member Lisa Lopes, who also coined the group's first two album titles, "Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip" and "CrazySexyCool". The group released a song titled "I Need That" on the Internet as a preview of what the album would sound like. However, the song did not make the final tracklisting for the album.

The album took on a new world, futuristic type, style, which was highly popular in the late 90s to early 2000's. This style was effectively portrayed in the albums most popular song "No Scrubs", along with the music video, which embraces a modern emphasis on female strength, and independence. The album also featured a custom font design, cover art with decode-able binary code, along with pictures of the group members in metallic skin tones. The album's CD insert folds out to form a large poster featuring a picture of TLC and the names of thousands of people who sent them fanmail along their career. The album contained several tracks featuring vocals by the computer modulated voice Vic-E (vikki), a talking android later featured in the FanMail Tour.

Reception

Critical response

Fanmail was a Grammy Award-nominee for "Album of the Year", Reception for the album was positive to mixed. While professional reviewers saw "the performances and productions were utterly seamless", the album was praised for the album idea of "requisite slew of formulaic, queasy-listening ballads" and the growth of the group's "the very stuff of R&B — sweat, soul, heat" in their voice. By contrast, Rolling Stone Magazine declared Fanmail as "equal parts steely bitch and sweet sister, superfreak and misty romantic, self-centered coffee achiever and spiritualized earth mama."

Commercial performance

However, TLC's third album became a global success. Fanmail debuted on top of the U.S. Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, selling approximately 318,000 copies in its first week of release. The album remained atop the chart for five weeks, and the album eventually received a 6x platinum certification by the RIAA for more than six million copies shipped to stores domestically, and over eleven million worldwide.^[3] While the album entered the top twenty on the majority of the charts it appeared on oustide the United States, it also reached the top ten in New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Although "Silly Ho", was considered to be released as a single at times, Fanmail spawned four singles: The album's lead single, "No Scrubs", became TLC's biggest commercial successes in years, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks charts with spending four consecutive weeks on top. It was eventually ranked two on the Hot 100 1999 year-end charts. Follow-up single "Unpretty" received the same success on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 but reached number four on the "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks" chart. The follow-up single, "Dear Lie" never made it out of the lower half of the Billboard Hot 100.

Track listing

1. "FanMail" — 4:00
2. "The Vic-E Interpretation - Interlude" — 0:18
3. "Silly Ho" — 4:15
4. "Whispering Playa - Interlude" — 0:52
5. "No Scrubs" (non-rap version) — 3:34
6. "I'm Good at Being Bad" — 5:39*
7. "If They Knew" — 4:04
8. "I Miss You So Much" — 4:59
9. "Unpretty" — 4:39
10. "My Life" — 4:01
11. "Shout" — 3:59
12. "Come On Down" — 4:18
13. "Dear Lie" — 5:10
14. "Communicate - Interlude" — 0:52
15. "Lovesick" — 3:53
16. "Automatic" — 4:31
17. "Don't Pull Out on Me Yet" — 4:33

Bonus tracks

18. "U in Me" (Japanese Bonus Track) — 3:50

*It is labeled as 5:39 on the back cover of all editions. On the original explicit CD, the song clocked in at that time. However, the clean edition of the album removed the end part of the song, making the clean version clock in at 5:25. Then, the sample of "Love to Love You Baby" was removed from the explicit version, making the 'new explicit version' clock in at 4:37.

Main personnel

• Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Vocals,Rapping
• Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas - Vocals, Lead Vocals
• Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins - Vocals, Lead Vocals
• Dallas Austin - Arranger, Vocals, Producer, Executive Producer
• Babyface - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Drum Programming, Executive Producer
• Jermaine Dupri - Producer, Mixing
• Debra Killings - Background Vocals

Charts and certification

• These are the peak positions and certifications from chart providers.

Chart procession and succession

References

1. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Never Say Never review". AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0eozefykogf3. Retrieved 2006-11-10. 
2. ^ Henriques, Diana B. and Samuels, Anita M. (February 5, 1996). "Does Going 'Broke' Mean Artist Really Doesn't Have Any Money?". New York Times. http://web.archive.org/web/20041010081842/http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/nyt/rapper01.htm. 
3. ^ TLC: 11.3 million, worldwide sales for Fanmail