[V]: Your last album 'CrazySexyCool' was hugely successful, selling 14 million units world wide. 'Fanmail' was released four years later. What are your expectations for 'Fanmail'?
CHILLI: 20 million.
LEFT EYE: We all have the same expectations.
T-BOZ: For real.
CHILLI: That is no joke. That's the goal. That's the magic number.
LEFT EYE: Any less than that, and we're gonna be disappointed.
CHILLI: So, we need the support of the fans and the record companies…
LEFT EYE: We're not really worried about the fans, I mean the fans are there. We're going on a worldwide tour - something that we've never done before.
[V]: Does it feel like your best album to date?
CHILLI: This is my favourite album. By far. I can listen to it from top to bottom, whereas before I'd kind-of skip over tracks …
T-BOZ: Same here.
LEFT EYE: My favourite album was 'CrazySexyCool'
[V]: How long did it take to record 'Fan Mail'?
CHILLI: Forever.
T-BOZ: Production-wise it didn't take that long, but all the paperwork, and the business side that took a long time.
[V]: What are the influences on the album?
LEFT EYE: I would say TLC.
T-BOZ: I would say TLC too.
CHILLI: Yeah, TLC.
T-BOZ: We admire people like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and people like that - because they stand up for what they believe in and do what they want as artists. They're aren't too many outside of that, you know?
CHILLI: Actually, you know who we thought was dope? Bell Biv Devoe.
T-BOZ: Yeah. BBD is cool.
CHILLI: It was almost like we were the girl BBD. I mean, we weren't trying to be like them, but we admired them because they were different, their sound was different.
[V]: Tell us about the new 'fourth' member of the group - Virtual Vic-E?
T-BOZ: Virtual Vicky!
CHILLI: She's at home today - she wanted us to do everything today. She does other stuff for people - other artists and everything…
[V]: How did you get together, and how were you discovered?
LEFT EYE: Well, it was fate that I had just arrived in Atlanta one week before I met the lovely T-Boz, and then we were together for five months before we met Pebbles, and then we ended up losing another member of the group - which wasn't me or T-Boz, then two months later Rosanda came on board and later became Chilli.
T-BOZ: And there you have it - TLC!
[V]: Tell us about the first single 'No Scrubs'. Did its success and length of stay on the charts surprise you?
LEFT EYE: Nothing surprises us. It didn't. We always hope for the best. If it didn't go to the top of the charts, it probably would have surprised us.
CHILLI: I was a little surprised.
LEFT EYE: Really girl, you knew that was a smash!
CHILLI: Yeah, I knew it was a hit, but just because you feel like something's a hit - doesn't mean the whole world will. So I didn't expect us to beat records and stuff like that. I've always thought the song would do really well - but you know - we sunk the Titanic!
T-BOZ: Well, I thought we were going to be something! We have dedicated fans!
CHILLI: Outside of having the best fans in the world, we really do have God on our side. God is looking out for TLC. Know that for a fact. Thank you Jesus!
[V]: Tell us about the second single 'Unpretty'.
T-BOZ: It's basically about how you feel about yourself and about how society makes you feel about yourself.
CHILLI: You know when you always pick up a magazine - it's so air-brushed and everything looks so beautiful and flawless, and some people think people really look like that and that's not right.
[V]: How do you see yourselves when you look back on the 'Oooh On The TLC Tip'?
T-BOZ: We were really going for our own back then. I looked like a little boy, but it fit for the time. I understand why people thought what they thought about me now, because I really looked like a man. I was cool as hell though.
CHILLI: That's right - we were always like some fly little boys. Tom boys.
T-BOZ: That's cool though…
CHILLI: I'm just saying it was the make up that was driving me to drink!
[V]: You've been able to take your time in between albums. Is that the way you enjoy to work?
LEFT EYE: That's how we'd like to do things in the future -take a little bit of time off between each album…
[V]: Were you worried that you'd been away too long?
CHILLI: We were! It just felt like we were never going to come back out.
T-BOZ: That's why we say God's on our side - 'cos no matter what we've been through, we always snap back. We're blessed in the end. So all you haters out there - people who try to take our money and hold us back - we will be all right!
[V]: Does it surprise you how few bands from when you started in 1991 are still around?
CHILLI: I am because it's so hard to make it in this business. It's a risk every time you go into the studio, do a song, do a video and put it out - you never know what's going to happen. When we came out it was Mary J. Blige and Boyz II Men. And they're still around. A lot of girl groups broke up. En Vogue. Now that really upset me. I was a number one En Vogue fan. When I auditioned I sang 'Hold Onto Your Love'.
[V]: Do you think your fans have grown with you?
T-BOZ: Yes, of course. They're older along with us. And we have some new ones. You don't understand how good it feels to hear a two-year-old sing 'No Scrubs'. It's crazy!
[V]: How important are the many awards you have received?
T-BOZ: Well, I can say this for me: I feel that it was all so fake back then - I was not happy. I was smiling when I did not want to be smiling. I was being nice to people who were taking my money - and it was a sham.
CHILLI: At the end of the day, an award does not make you. I mean, it's great to get one. But just because you don't get one, it doesn't mean you're not great. It's hard not to get caught up in award shows because it's hype.
LEFT EYE: I do agree, but it does feel good to be recognised for accomplishing something.
[V]: Tell us about your new look: cyber babes and urban barbarellas.
LEFT EYE: We have to owe that to our great stylist, Julie. She's always looking on some new outfit for TLC. She styles us from the rooter to the tooter.
[V]: What are you listening to at the moment?
T-BOZ: Faith Evans is the bomb.
CHILLI: Cree Summer. The album is the bomb. And Dallas Austin's group - they're not out yet, they'll be out - they're called Vega. These boys are off the chain. They're CD is so good, I really think they're gonna blow up.
LEFT EYE: I've been listening to 'Blaque' CD - that's my group, and I just finished listening to Eminem.
[V]: What will you be doing on New Year Eve going into the millennium?
T-BOZ: At home safe with my mother and family.
CHILLI: Yes, at home watching Dick Clark.
LEFT EYE: Yeah, I'll be home too. We're just all going to take the safe route - be home.
