FanMail
| TLC
FanMail
FanMail is the third studio album by American girl group TLC. It was released on February 23, 1999, by LaFaceand Arista Records. The title of the album is a tribute to their fans who sent them fan mail during their hiatus. FanMail debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 318,000 copies in its first week of release, and spent five weeks at number one.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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We Plug Good Music
March 10, 2018. FanMail was full of everything – innovative technology, love, unhealthy relationships, heat, soul, and pop. The sound was sharper and more aggressive, but TLC always stay real and brave.
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Pioneer Reviews
January 24, 2018. Departing from their street style roots, TLC came on a whole new theme that was futuristic & popular at the time in the industry. This album highly focuses on the independence of women & feminism expressed through uplifting lyrics, morally shown as well through bold attitude & equality for sexes.
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Albumism
February 21, 2019. With FanMail, TLC not only changed the look and sound of R&B at the time, they introduced a newfound depth to the genre, packaging all of it into a generous aural gift to the fans that made them the most successful American female group of the ‘90s.
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Idolator
February 21, 2014. The album should be commended for setting a musical precedent based on combining synthetic sonics with moody themes of loneliness, and its impact is just beginning to peek through R&B and pop. . . . FanMail was the boldest gift the best-selling female group of all time could ever give us.
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AllMusic
. . . it may be disappointing to realize TLC doesn't forge new ground with FanMail, but after a few spins, it settles in that nobody else makes urban soul quite as engaging as this.
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Nevada Sagebrush
It quickly rose to fame for its futuristic sound, and was number one for five weeks straight on the US Billboard 200. Not only that, but TLC also went on their first concert tour, called The FanMail Tour, to promote the album.
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Daily Vault
April 17, 1999. 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.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
After a public feud and near-split with Austin over his producer's fee, the group ended up having him write and produce most of this record, and it's by far their most consistent. Austin's adventurous use of electronic sounds is the defining sound of the album, both on dance grooves ("Unpretty," "Shout") and ballads ("Lovesick") . . . .(DBW)
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Pitchfork
. . . when we talk about TLC's current influence on a whole crop of web-minded, Tumblr-savvy, android-obsessed artists, we don't seem to realize how much we're talking about FanMail-- a record that, almost a decade and a half after its release, still sounds hauntingly prescient, like a transmission from the future.
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Complex
February 23, 2014. Constructed as a direct message to their fans, FanMail was conceived as something of an inchoate Twitter—pop superstars shortening the distance between themselves and their audience by acknowledging them individually, both visually and by name.
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AV Club
February 23, 1999. Fanmail probably won't disappoint TLC's fans—especially since the group has, after all, dedicated the album to them—but this unremarkable new album probably won't win them many more.
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Rolling Stone
February 23, 2019. . . . instead of capitulating to the demands of the late Nineties pop machine, TLC decided to stick to their R&B roots, turning to both Austin and Babyface to create something more timelessly TLC. . . . What resulted was FanMail, a cyber-R&B masterpiece that would serve as a blueprint for a new, digitally-savvy generation of genre-defying musicians.
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Vibe
February 23, 2019. Although its 1999 original drop date has come and gone, in 2019, FanMail is still a fitting soundtrack for dating in the digital age. . . . FanMail proved that TLC was more in tune with the future than their pop peers, and will more than likely continue to be.
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The Boombox
February 23, 2014. . . . expectations of ‘FanMail’ were high and they delivered. The accolades poured in (eight nominations at the 2000 Grammy Awards) and the copies flew off the shelves. With six million records sold and three Grammy wins (all in the R&B category), 'FanMail' became their second biggest-selling album after 'CrazySexyCool.'
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EST. 1997
May 6, 2016. FanMail is the gift that keeps on giving – my 13 year old self didn’t take it off repeat for a week, and 17 years later it still sounds catchy and fresh.
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Entertainment
March 5, 1999. Featuring a who’s-who crop of contemporary R&B producers . . . Fan Mail is a seemingly endless parade of hooks. Some of them feel natural and enticing. . . .Other touches are essentially gimmicks . . . .
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Rated R&B
February 23, 2019. Unleashing a sound and energy that was beginning to take over the musical landscape, the LP’s insanely futuristic vibrations were a distinct reflection of society’s time. The record experimented with foreign, less used sounds to birth a shift that turned out to be equally unheard of but refreshingly necessary.
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Peauxetic Expressions
February 18, 2019. FanMail was truly ahead of its time in styling . . . , sound and concept. It’s yet just another example of why TLC is the best girl group to ever do it.
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Plugged In
Here again, even songs with positive elements contain profane, sexual lyrics. Don't open Fanmail.
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Der Daniel ist Cool
February 23, 2019. Although this is not consistently the R'n'B grenade, which one might hope for and also suffers a bit from the outdated, partly cheesy pop- production. But: The hits are still unmistakable.
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Radio Not Found
Overall, the album gets 7/10. There are some great songs on here that later on turned into classics, but the second half of the album is full of unmemorable tracks that really don’t keep your interest for long.
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