| FanMail | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by TLC | ||||
| Released | February 23, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | April – December 1998 | |||
| Genre | R&B, hip hop, pop, electronic | |||
| Length | 62:07 (explicit reissue) 63:31 (original explicit version) 63:23 (clean version) 67:02 (with bonus track) |
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| Label | LaFace, Arista | |||
| Producer | Antonio "L.A." Reid, Babyface, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin, TLC | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
| TLC chronology | ||||
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| Singles from FanMail | ||||
FanMail is the third studio album by American girl group trio TLC, released on February 23, 1999. As with previous album CrazySexyCool (1994), the group re-teamed with Dallas Austin, Babyface, 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, selling approximately 318,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was certified 6x platinum by the RIAA for more than six million copies sold in the US alone, and featured two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty".
The album entered the top twenty on the majority of international charts, and it reached the top ten in Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.[2]
The album was very successful at the Grammys, receiving eight nominations including Album of the Year. "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.
Contents |
After a lengthy hiatus following the members of TLC filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 3, 1995,[3] 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 album took on a new world, futuristic style, which was highly popular in the late 90s to early 2000s. 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. A limited edition of the album was released, and had an insert with a lenticular version of the cover placed in front of the original booklet in the jewel case. The album contained several tracks featuring vocals by the computer modulated voice Vic-E (vikki), a talking android later featured in the FanMail Tour.
There is an explicit version and a clean version replacing certain curse words, some sexual remarks, and some racial words. The explicit version comes with a Parental Advisory sticker, their first album to do so. FanMail was the groups final album released during Lisa Lopes lifetime before she died 3 years later. Lisa Lopes co-wrote 5 of the songs (overall 6 including "I Need That"), Watkins co-wrote 5 and Thomas co-wrote one.
Fanmail was a Grammy Award-nominee for "Album of the Year", Reception for the album was positive. 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."
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. The album remained atop the chart for five weeks, it eventually received a 6x platinum certification by the RIAA with selling over 5.3 million copies domestically, and over eleven million worldwide.[4] 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 three 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 due to its lack of promotion and unavailability of its video in the United States.
Rapper/Singer Drake recorded a cover of TLC's FanMail for his song I Get Lonely Too, a remix features Jeremih and another extended mix and mashup features TLC. The songs are featured on The FanMail Mixtape and It's Never Enough on DatPiff.com.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "FanMail" | Dallas Austin | Cyptron | 4:00 |
| 2. | "The Vic-E Interpretation - Interlude" | Austin | Cyptron | 0:18 |
| 3. | "Silly Ho" | Austin | Cyptron | 4:15 |
| 4. | "Whispering Playa - Interlude" | Austin, Marshall Lorenzo Martin | Dallas Austin | 0:52 |
| 5. | "No Scrubs" | Kevin "Shekspere" Briggs, Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle | Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs | 3:34 |
| 6. | "I'm Good at Being Bad" | James Harris III, Terry Lewis, Tony Tolbert, Tionne Watkins, Lisa Lopes, Martin, Giorgio Moroder, Pete Belotte, Donna Summer, Morris Dickerson, Charles Miller, Sylvester Allen, Harold Brown, Howard Scott, Lee Oskar, Leroy Jordan | Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis | 5:39 / 4:38 |
| 7. | "If They Knew" | Austin, Ricciano Lumpkins, Lopes, Martin, Watkins | Austin, Lumpkins | 4:04 |
| 8. | "I Miss You So Much" | Babyface, Daryl Simmons | Babyface, Simmons | 4:59 |
| 9. | "Unpretty" | Austin, Watkins | Austin | 4:39 |
| 10. | "My Life" | Jermaine Dupri, Tamara Savage, Lopes, Martin | Dupri (Co-produced by Carl So Lowe) | 4:01 |
| 11. | "Shout" | Austin, Lopes, Martin, Watkins | Austin | 3:59 |
| 12. | "Come On Down" | Diane Warren | Debra Killings, Austin | 4:18 |
| 13. | "Dear Lie" | Babyface, Watkins | Babyface | 5:10 |
| 14. | "Communicate - Interlude" | Austin | Austin | 0:51 |
| 15. | "Lovesick" | Austin, Rozonda Thomas | Austin | 3:53 |
| 16. | "Automatic" | Austin | Austin | 4:31 |
| 17. | "Don't Pull Out on Me Yet" | Austin | Austin | 4:33 |
| Japanese bonus tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | |||||
| 18. | "U in Me" | Austin | Austin | 3:50 | |||||
| Chart (1999) | Provider | Peak position |
Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart | CRIA | 3 | |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | RIANZ | 6 | |
| UK Albums Chart | BPI | 7 | Platinum |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | Billboard | 1 | 6x Platinum |
| U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 1 |
| Chart (1990–1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200[5] | 84 |
| Preceded by ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears I Am… by Nas |
Billboard 200 number-one album March 13 – April 9, 1999 (first run) May 8–14, 1999 (second run) |
Succeeded by ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears Ryde or Die Vol. 1 by Ruff Ryders |
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