It took five years coming, the cover art sucks, but TLC's
FanMail topped Billboard in both album and singles charts
not three weeks after the album dropped. Music critics everywhere
acted surprised but really, they just needed extra words to fill in
their alloted inches. Hip-hop has had a drought of good material
for the longest time, and TLC is still known as a name that
delivers.
Do they? "No Scrubs" has the makings of the perfect TLC single: compact attitude, hones lyrics and Lord, these ladies are so COOL (too bad the rap was cut in this mix, but it's still OK). "Unpretty" is also single-ready with its humorous/introspective theme that's a trademark of TLC's (remember "Waterfalls"?). And the sparse ballad "Dear Lie" with its double meaning and acoustic guitar hooks is clever enough to garner cross-platform airplay. There's even a ho-down of a Diane Warren ballad "Come On Down"... but isn't everyone getting sick of her by now?
There are some tracks that have funky, futuristic grooves that might remind listeners of Janet's The Velvet Rope. FanMail has that synthesized vocal texturing and e-mail theme, "Silly Ho" has an Akihabara cutting-edge sound with those karate sounds in the background and some electronically processed vocals. "Lovesick" is cute with its telephone hook but nothing classic.
But almost half the tracks fall on the generic side. The mini-epic "I'm Good At Being Bad" is funny, it's cool, but it's been done (and not just the overuse of a certain racial epithet). Groove-dependent "If They Knew", "Shout", "My Life" and "Automatic" might stike different chords to different listeners but overall, they're fillers. Aside from the Diane Warren ho-down is a Babyface feather duster called "I Miss You So Much" and the title is enough to know what's inside.
FanMail is endlessly replayable, relevant and even the fillers vibrate with TLC's coherent spirit; the meshing of their vocals, the meshing of the groove. If you think you'll enjoy it, you probably will. TLC, as usual, delivers.