Relighting Their Fire

The women of TLC claim they've softened with age. ''The new album's not so much 'I don't need you; I can do it myself,''' says the R&B trio's designated rapper, Lisa ''Left Eye'' Lopes. ''The new album's more like, 'Hey baby, let's do this.'''

Lopes, 23, and bandmates Tionne ''T-Boz'' Watkins, 23, and Rozonda ''Chilli'' Thomas, 23 — whose sophomore disc, CrazySexyCool debuted at No. 2 on the R&B chart last week — seemingly had no reason to dilute the bawdy feminism of their 1992 debut, Ooooooohhh On the TLC Tip. Juiced by the group's condoms-and-Crayola wardrobe and Ritalin-ready videos, the groundbreaking rap-soul album sold over 2.7 million copies and inaugurated LaFace Records' reign as an R&B powerhouse. But, Lopes understates, ''a lot has happened in two years.''

Indeed, TLC's follow-up has cruised several potholes: The trio has left their manager, Pebbles — who is also the wife of LaFace president L.A. Reid — claiming the singer concealed movie, TV, and merchandise offers that flooded in after Tip's success (Pebbles declined to comment).

Recording stumbled again when some of the project's writer-producers (Dallas Austin, Sean ''Puffy'' Combs, Jermaine Dupri, and Babyface all contributed) took Lopes' CrazySexyCool concept too literally. ''They gave Tionne a 'cool' solo song, Chilli a 'sexy' solo,'' she says. ''We were like, 'You can't split us up like that!'''

That would have left Lopes with ''crazy'' — an epithet she was tarred with after she allegedly torched the mansion of her boyfriend, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Andre Rison, on June 9. (Lopes, who's completed an alcohol-rehab program, was indicted on an arson charge.) LaFace delayed the album's June release date. The trio claim they still plan to tour in January and say MTV is negotiating with them for their own pilot. But their ill-starred hiatus has taken its toll. ''We're all grown up and kind of tired,'' sighs Lopes. ''Before, we felt playful, like kids; we could do anything. It ain't just fun anymore.''