In just a few days TLC has already raised more than $100,000 through Kickstarter to fund their final album, leaving them only about $40,000 shy of their $150,000 goal.
The surviving members of TLC, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, are taking a different approach to funding their next album.
Instead of going through label executives or signing any lucrative deals, the R&B stars are raising all the money for the album through Kickstarter—and their fans are clearly showing tons of support.
The ladies still have 28 days left to meet their goal of $150,000 and, as of Wednesday afternoon, they already garnered $109,304 from fans and fellow artists.
According to TMZ, Katy Perry dished out $5,000 to the fundraiser.
Even more exciting for Perry and TLC fans alike is the fact that a donation of that amount is rewarded with a sleepover with Chilli or T-Boz.
There are currently no backers for the sleepover with Chilli in Atlanta, but with four backers already popping up for the Los Angeles-based slumber party with T-Boz, there is a chance that one of those people could be the “Roar” songstress.
One donor even outdid Perry with a donation of at least $7,500, which is rewarded with a professional photoshoot with TLC.
Perhaps the most impressive numbers are displayed in the sheer amount of donors who are supporting the cause. In such a short amount of time roughly 250 people have already dished out donations of at least $100 to the Kickstarter and another 205 people gave $5 donations.
More than $400 people gave $15 donations to the cause.
It’s proof that the ladies have a strong fan base backing the project and anxiously awaiting the release of the final TLC album.
Some fans are nervous about what the sound of the album will be like after all these years, especially without the hip hop skills of the third member of the group, the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who was killed in an auto accident in Honduras in April 2002.
On the official Kickstarter page, the ladies explained that their sound will “stay true to the TLC sound” and that “Lisa’s spirit will always be present” in their music.
“Our final album will stay true to the TLC sound, always confronting the real issues and life experiences that we all must face every single day, everywhere,” the Kickstarter page reads. “We write music that people relate to…timeless music. No matter the trends, we feel like our music is always relevant…We will continue to make music for EVERYONE, music that’s UNIVERSAL, TOUCHABLE.”
The last TLC album will also mark the first album by only T-Boz and Chilli but they made it clear that they aren’t working alone.
“We have already enlisted many key members from our original team,” the Kickstarter page continues. “(We’re looking at you KANDI BURRUSS!), plus many more! We will be announcing more members of the team and other news in the days to come here on Kickstarter.”
For those who are wondering why the ladies decided to use Kickstarter to fund the final album, they addressed that question as well.
“While major labels offer artists multimillion dollar recording and marketing budgets, they don’t often give artists complete control of their own music,” the ladies explained. “It is ESSENTIAL that we create our final album completely on our own terms, without any restrictions, with YOU.”
The ladies will have until February 19 to raise the rest of the money to fund the final album.
