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Unpretty

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"Unpretty"
Single by TLC
from the album FanMail
ReleasedAugust 10, 1999 (1999-08-10)
RecordedAugust 4–7, 1998
StudioD.A.R.P. Studios
Bosstown Recording Studios
(Atlanta, Georgia)
Genre
Length4:01 (radio version)
4:38 (album version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Austin
TLC singles chronology
"No Scrubs"
(1999) 		"Unpretty"
(1999) 		"Dear Lie"
(1999)
Audio sample
Music video
"Unpretty" on YouTube

"Unpretty" is a song by American recording group TLC. It was produced by Dallas Austin and co-written by Austin and TLC member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins for the band's third studio album, FanMail (1999). Long time contributor Dallas Austin helped Watkins adapt the poem into an empowering song for their female fan base to overcome feelings of physical inadequacy.

"Unpretty" was the second single released from FanMail. The song would mark the group's fourth and final US number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, spending three weeks atop the chart, and the second consecutive number-one single from the album, following "No Scrubs". Worldwide, the song reached number one in Iceland for a week and peaked within the top five in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. A critical success, the song was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards.

A remixed version of the song, sampling Dennis Edwards & Siedah Garrett's "Don't Look Any Further", was produced by JayDee of 1208Ent. and "Mad" Mike Lewin. Two versions of the remix were made, one containing a rap verse by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and one without the rap. It was heard in the end credits of the PEN15 episode, "First Day".

Background

Tionne Watkins was in hospital when she conceived the idea of the song after watching an episode of Ricki Lake, in which the men on the show called women "fat pigs". Watkins wrote the song out as a poem and gave it to Dallas Austin to record in the booth. Austin wanted to incorporate TLC's music into a folk and alternative sound. He wrote the song out as an "acoustic-driven pop song" in order for people to conceive TLC as an established group.[3]

Composition

VH1 described the song as having an "alternative rock vibe".[2] Billboard described the song's production as a "pop/rock beat", and described the song's lyrics as being about insecurities.[1]

Music video

Background

Paul Hunter directed the music video for "Unpretty", which was filmed in June 1999 in Valencia, California, and cost over $1.6 million to make. The group's official YouTube channel contains a shortened version of the video, released to an all-ages audience (as "Children's Version"[4]), that removes both Watkins and Lopes' solo storylines, and some of the scenes that were considered as too explicit.

Synopsis

The video begins with TLC entering a meditation hut. As the three women begin to meditate, a probe camera is released to record images of struggles in daily life, which ties together vignettes of several different stories relating to the song's lyrics. Several shots of TLC meditating and in a pink and purple field of flowers are shown intermittently throughout the video.

The main set of vignettes features a young woman, portrayed by band member Chilli, and an overweight teenager (played by actress Tamika Katon-Donegal).[5] Chilli's boyfriend convinces her to get breast implants to augment her modest bust. However, after she sees another patient in the hospital (played by actress Jade Valerie) getting her implants painfully removed, the woman flees the hospital in fear, and is later shown fighting with her boyfriend when she catches him reading magazines of busty women. The other girl is worried about fitting the "ideal" image of the petite supermodel and struggling with a bulimia as a result. Near the end of the video, however, she tears down the unrealistic images of models that she has tacked on her wall and changes into a bathing suit, a sign that she may be starting to accept her body shape.

Another vignette features Watkins as a high school student who is harassed by two white kids because she is a girl (which is based on what she dealt with in high school), only to be saved by her teacher, who sends the white kids away and retrieves her stuff for her. The last vignette features Lopes as an inner-city woman who plays her verse from "I'm Good at Being Bad", another track on FanMail, to her friend in her car. They come across a city gang, who are approached by a rival gang who begin to threaten them. The two gangs start fighting, which becomes so violent that knives and guns are involved and Lopes and her friend duck for cover as her car window is damaged. When the fight subsides, Lopes leaves the car to assist the remaining injured and barely conscious survivors. One of the survivors has been mortally wounded due to being stabbed in the heart, so Lopes applies pressure on his chest to stop the bleeding and prays as they wait for the police to arrive. Lopes also appears in the "Unpretty" performance shots reciting the song lyrics in American Sign Language.

Track listings

Charts and certifications

References

  1. ^ a b "The School of TLC: Matching 10 of the Group's Classics With '10s Songs Modeled After Them". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Behind The Song: TLC's "Waterfalls" + "No Scrubs" + "Unpretty"". VH1 News. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  3. ^ Gracie, Bianca (February 22, 2019). "TLC's 'FanMail' Turns 20: A Track-By-Track Retrospective With the Girl Group and Behind-the-Scenes Collaborators". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  4. ^ "TLC (UK) Unpretty - Childrens Version UK Promo video (VHS or PAL or NTSC) (289882)". eil.com.
  5. ^ http://www.sag.org/iactor/tamikakaton-donegal.pdf
  6. ^ "TLC – Unpretty". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  7. ^ "TLC – Unpretty" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  8. ^ "TLC – Unpretty" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  9. ^ "TLC – Unpretty" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  10. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7284." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  11. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 7842." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  12. ^ "Top RPM Dance/Urban: Issue 9973." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  13. ^ "Euro Chart Hot 100" (PDF). Music & Media. October 9, 1999. p. 10. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  14. ^ "TLC: Unpretty" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  15. ^ "TLC – Unpretty" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 20 (23.9 – 30.9 1999)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). September 24, 1999. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  17. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Unpretty". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  18. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 36, 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  19. ^ "TLC – Unpretty" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  20. ^ "TLC – Unpretty". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  21. ^ "TLC – Unpretty". VG-lista. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  22. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  23. ^ "TLC – Unpretty" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  24. ^ "TLC – Unpretty". Singles Top 100. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  25. ^ "TLC – Unpretty". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  26. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  27. ^ "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  28. ^ "TLC Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  29. ^ "TLC Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  30. ^ "TLC Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  31. ^ "TLC Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  32. ^ "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 1999". ARIA.
  33. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1999" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  34. ^ "RPM 1999 Top 100 Hit Tracks". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  35. ^ "RPM 1999 Top 100 Adult Contemporary Tracks". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  36. ^ "RPM 1999 Top 50 Dance Tracks". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  37. ^ "Top 100 Single – Jahrescharts 1999" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  38. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1999" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  39. ^ "End of Year Charts 1999". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  40. ^ "Årslista Singlar – År 1999" (in Swedish). Hitlistan. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  41. ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1999". Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  42. ^ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  43. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1999 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  44. ^ "New Zealand single certifications – TLC – Unpretty". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  45. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2000" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-17. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  46. ^ "British single certifications – TLC – Unpretty". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 5, 2015. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Unpretty in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  47. ^ "American single certifications – TLC – Unpretty". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
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