Why R&B group TLC got rid of their ‘sexy moves’

After years of busting out the ‘sexy movies’ during their sexy songs like Red Light Special, trailblazing R&B group TLC knew they had to make some changes.

When Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins started to spot the adoring faces of children at TLC shows, the R&B superstars made a big adjustment to their choreography.

The women, who trailblazed a new era of pop female empowerment in the 90s, dropped the gyrations during the performance of sultry smash ‘Red Light Special’.

Like their 90s rock and pop peers who are doing the rounds of the global tour circuit in celebration of a big anniversary, the duo are now “family entertainment”, performing to a cross-generational audience of fans aged six to 60.

The biggest-selling American girl group of all time, who paved the way for Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls and BLACKPINK, find it “adorable” to see the first-timers singing along to ‘No Scrubs’ and ‘Baby-Baby-Baby’ but said it would be “weird” to bust out the sexy moves during the sexy songs now.

Trailblazing hip-hop duo TLC are touring Australia in 2024 for the 30th anniversary of album CrazySexyCool. Picture: Supplied.

“Now when we do ‘Red Light Special’, we don’t even gyrate no more,” Watkins said.

“It’s too uncomfortable! Like, we had to change the whole T&A thing, [it’s] not for the babies, it feels weird with their innocent eyes looking up at you. You just got to rock with it, you still make it look good, but not that kind of good.”

TLC marks the 30th anniversary of their monster 1994 hit record ‘CrazySexyCool’ with an Australian tour in March with fellow 90s chart-toppers Busta Rhymes and En Vogue.

The group they started in Atlanta in 1990 with Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes, who was killed in a car accident in Honduras in 2002, became a global pop culture phenomenon in the mid 90s.

They released a succession of great songs promoting safe sex and gender equality and social messaging on the decade’s dual crises of AIDS and drug-fuelled street crime in America.

TLC dominated at the height of the music video era with million-dollar budgets for their slick clips and an uncompromising image; they refused to be sexualised, modelling their look on the baggy fashion sported by the male R&B groups of the time.

They incorporated their safe sex message into their outfits - much to the outrage of conservative quarters - with Lopes wearing a condom as an eye-patch and Watkins and Thomas sewing the contraceptives onto their clothes.

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas in 1995. Picture: Supplied.

“We lost a lot of opportunities because we didn’t allow someone else to dress us in a way that we didn’t want to dress, you know what I’m saying?” Thomas said.

“They wanted us to remove our condoms and stuff. We said no to big magazines and big TV shows because of that.”

Songs including ‘Waterfalls’, ‘Creep’, ‘No Scrubs’ and ‘Unpretty’ remain inescapable three decades after they first commanded the airwaves, regularly referenced, covered, sampled or inspiring new works such as Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’.

Thomas and Watkins attribute the generational refresh of the TLC audience to their series of television biopics.

They lifted the lid on the behind-the-scenes drama of their early years in ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story’ in 2013 and updated their legacy with this year’s ‘TLC Forever’ documentary.

At the peak of their career off the back of their 1992 debut album ‘Ooooooohhh … On the TLC Tip’ and ‘CrazySexyCool’, the group had sold over 20 million records worldwide – that total is now over 85 million.

But behind the scenes, the trio were rocked by unfavourable recording and management contracts, bankruptcy and illness, with Watkins battling sickle cell anaemia and Lopes struggling with alcoholism.

Television docos have given TLC a young new audience. Picture: Supplied.

At the press conference after they won two Grammy Awards in 1996, Thomas dropped the truth bomb that the group was “broke as broke can be.”

“We are the biggest-selling female group ever … we have worked very hard, we have been in this business for five years and we are broke as broke can be,” she said at the time.

“We’re not trying to be a sad story, if that was the case we woulda been on everybody’s talk show talking about how broke we are.

“I know it’s hard to believe because we’ve sold so many albums but … that’s the deal here and we’re not happy at all.”

The documentaries underscore their resilience after those soul-sapping trials and then losing Lopes – they decided to go on as a duo rather than replace her – and why they have inspired so many young artists and fans.

“Everybody’s gonna go through something in life, right?” Thomas said.

“There was so much that we learned and I think also having strong mothers who raised us a certain kind of way and our faith meant we naturally had that thing in us to never wanna give up and to just fight for what we truly believe in, no matter what.”

And right now, they believe in the power of 90s R&B to fuel a box office revival of that glorious pop era by linking with Busta Rhymes and En Vogue for the Australian tour in March after the success of the line-up in America this year.

American 90s R&B group En Vogue will tour with TLC in March. Picture: Supplied.

“(En Vogue) are definitely one of my favourite girl groups so we’re happy to have them. We’re so happy to have Busta Rhymes. I mean, this tour is going to be electrifying,” Thomas said.

TLC open the 30th anniversary of CrazySexyCool tour on March 2 at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne and play at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on March 3, Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on March 5, Brisbane Entertainment Centre on March 7 and Perth’s RAC Arena on March 9. All ticket details via livenation.com.au

Originally published as Why R&B group TLC got rid of their ‘sexy moves’