Episode 18: Frannie Kelley on TLC’s “CrazySexyCool” (1994)

Episode notes

The album: TLC’s CrazySexyCool (1994)

Frannie Kelley, alongside Ali Shaheed Muhammed, hosts the Microphone Check podcast and when we invited her onto our show, she wanted to talk about one of her formative musical experiences as a teenager: TLC’s sophomore album, CrazySexyCool. The three of us talked about how TLC shaped adolescent ideas about sexuality and femininity, how the group repped the hip-hop South at a time when that was just becoming to be recognized nationally, and how the group had one of the more underrated liner notes font game going on.

More on TLC’s CrazySexyCool

• Kenneth Partridge’s track-by-track review for Billboard.
• The Soulbounce revisit review.
• VH1’s interviews with stars reflecting on the album’s 20th anniversary.

More on Frannie Kelley

• Microphone Check podcast | Instagram
• Frannie’s NPR story archive
• Twitter

Show Tracklisting (all songs from CrazySexyCool unless indicated otherwise):

• “Intro-Lude”
• “Red Light Special”
• Brandy: Waiting To Exhale “Sittin Up In My Room”
• Brandy: Brandy “I Wanna Be Down”
• “Switch”
• “Waterfalls”
• “Something Wicked This Way Comes”
• “Sexy(Interlude)”
• “Can I Get A Witness (Interlude)”
• “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
• Prince: Sign ‘O’ The Times “If I was Your Girlfriend”
• “Creep”
• “Diggin On You”
• “Take Our Time”
• TLC: FanMail “No Scrubs”

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