On Thursday, Weezer followed up the surprising success of their 2018 cover of Totos persistent hit Africa withThe Teal Album, a collection of10 faithful covers by the rock band ranging from Black Sabbath (Paranoid) to Michael Jackson (Billie Jean). The most surprising and immediate fan favorite has been the groups take on TLCs 1999 megahit No Scrubs. Speaking to Rolling Stone, TLCs Rozanda Chilli Thomas co-signed the ebullient cover.
When I heard it, I loved it! They did a great job, Chilli tells Rolling Stone. She hadnt heard about Weezers plans to cover the track until the album dropped and has witnessed a flood of opinions from her trios fans. I hope we can perform it together.
Prior to hearing the fuzzy, alt-rock take on theFanmail single, Chilli has not exactly followed Weezer. She was as surprised as anyone by the groups choice to tackle the R&B track amidst mostly classic rock reinterpretations.
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Im definitely familiar with the group, she adds, though she laughs off the possibility of TLC ever swapping positions with Weezer and covering one of their songs.I totally get why any girl would do it, but when guys do it I go, Clearly, theyre not scrubs. If they were scrubs, they wouldnt sing the song with this type of confidence, she adds. It reflects a similar sentiment to singer Rivers Cuomos own explanation for how the band chose to approach the song in the album breakdown on Apple Music.
I just thought it was one of those songs thats freakishly popular, he said. I was trying to decide which gender perspective to sing it from, then I saw this tweet that said, If youre a guy covering a song by a girl, you gotta keep the pronouns. For those three minutes, youre gay. So I was like, Cool, lets try this.'
She also expressed admiration for the groups tenacity when it came to singing a Jackson hit like Billie Jean for the album. You gotta be pretty brave to do any of his songs, no matter who you are, she says, jokingly referring to the late pop star as the only husband Ive ever had.
Prior to Weezers cover, Chilli has appreciated Bette Midlers Waterfalls as well as any time Hanson has tackled the girl groups discography. Shes honored that new life continues to be breathed into all of their music.
It feels really good because when youre in the studio working, you hope and pray that you make songs that have longevity. And we have, so thats a blessing. Im telling you, I wanna reach out to [Weezer] and try to make this performance happen!