I was pretty surprised to find a new TLC track over the Easter weekend. I’ve been writing about their Kickstarter funded album several times and thought I was watching this closely. I even follow T-Boz on her social media, but somehow the release of the first single from this project, “Way Back” featuring Snoop Dogg, still took me by surprise. The girls have released a simple lyric video for the track and I have to admit, I expected it to have a much higher response in views and comments than it had three days after its release.
I’m glad the girls have decided to do one more album. When they first arrived on the scene, TLC were outrageous. Wearing baggy jeans, egg covered glasses and representing positive fun, they could’ve been an inspiration to many of today’s artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, who’s actually backed them in their Kickstarter funding.
But underneath it all, they had a serious layer of feminism and girl power, before The Spice Girls even introduced the term. Their music became more serious with their second album and they used their music and their fame to get people thinking about things. Their biggest hit, “Waterfalls”, is a good example of that.
Despite becoming slightly more serious, they would never let us forget that they were still as crazy as they were when they were young. Their albums would always contain something crazy like a prank or something.
A lot has happened since then, and especially the death of member Lisa “Left Eye” and brushes with serious health problems, have matured the group even further. “Way Back” literally picks up where they had left off. For the first time, they decided not to come back with a strong cheeky song, but a simple retro track that reminds you exactly what TLC are known for. The early entry of Snoop Dogg’s feature (already starting where you would expect the second verse) is a welcomed change in the song, even though I think his lyrics are a bit weak.
I think TLC have made their interpretation of the lyrics a lot less predictable and, even though I think the response has been low, I think it’s a subtle return that hopefully leads to a bang after this. After all, it’s just a one-time return as TLC, so a massive hit like “Waterfalls” or “No Scrubs” would be really nice.
