R&B and hip hop group TLC has revealed plans to release their fifth and final album, and it will be funded by fans via Kickstarter, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Thirteen years after the group's rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died in a vehicular accident, surviving members Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas are doing preliminary work on the record by asking fans to help them produce it.
Speaking with Billboard, Chilli explained their decision to use Kickstarter instead of going the traditional route of having a record label take care of production.
"Doing it this way, we have complete creative control. The only people we'll be talking to and asking their opinion is the fans. That's it," Chilli, 43, said.
"Doing stuff outside the box is what TLC does. We came out of the box already out of the box. If we felt like we're in the box, we'd go crazy... Kickstarter is perfect for us. It wasn't something we heard about and just got to it. We did our research, met with the people at Kickstarter - they're brilliant, and they're excited to work with us. We feel very good about this collaboration," she continued.
Chilli also said this would not be the first time TLC would be involving their fanbase on an album, referring to the inclusion of fans' names in the CD jacket of the band's 1999 release "FanMail."
In return for pledges, which start at $5, the group is giving special offers to fans, including a list of their favorite songs in PDF, a voicemail from the duo, a movie date and a "onesie party" with select fans, according to the Guardian.
Work on the album's songs has not begun as the pair is still "getting the right team together."
"The right producers, the right writers. Because we all have to connect with these people and have working chemistry," Chilli said.
As for whether they would work with rapper Lil Mama, who portrayed Left Eye in the 2013 biopic "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story," Chilli said that is uncertain as they "haven't gone that far" in terms of plans for collaborations.
TLC's last album of new material, "3D," was released in November 2002, seven months after Left Eye's death.
