"Creep" is a song recorded by the American singing group TLC for their second studio album, CrazySexyCool (1994). Dallas Austin, who aimed to write the track from a "female perspective," both wrote and produced the song. It is based on the personal experience of group member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins with infidelity. The lyrics describe the singers as women who cheat on their unfaithful partners to gain "some affection." This theme caused disagreement within the group, and member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes strongly opposed it. She threatened to wear black tape over her mouth in the song's music video.
LaFace and Arista Records released "Creep" as the lead single from the album on October 31, 1994. The song received praise from critics and achieved commercial success. It became TLC's first number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100, staying at the top for four weeks. The track was later certified platinum for sales. After its release in Europe in early 1996, "Creep" reached the top ten in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and the top forty in other countries. A new rap verse added to the remixes, written by Lopes, included a message about safe sex. The song was included in many best-of lists and earned a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
TLC hired Matthew Rolston to film the music video after seeing his work with Salt-N-Pepa. The video became one of the most iconic pop videos ever made, known for its satin pajama costumes and choreography. The song marked a major change in TLC's musical style and image. They performed it at live concerts and on television. The track was also used in films and TV shows, and later covered or sampled by artists such as the American rock band The Afghan Whigs and singer Zendaya.
Development and lyrical content
After their first album, Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip, was released in 1992, TLC began working on their next album, CrazySexyCool, in 1993. They continued working on the project until September 1994. One of the album's songs, "Creep," was inspired by Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' personal experience. She shared this story with Dallas Austin, the group's long-time writer and producer. They had known each other since they were teenagers. Watkins explained that the song explored a difficult topic: how some people feel when their partner is unfaithful and how they might act to gain attention.
Austin wrote "Creep" from a woman's point of view, and he believed Watkins would be the best person to sing it. This was a new experience for Austin, as he was writing about emotions and actions that men often did not understand. The song's female perspective was important to TLC, who often shared messages about equality and empowerment. However, a 2013 movie about the group, CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, suggested the song might also have been inspired by Austin's relationship with member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas.
At the time the song was released, some critics believed that female artists were being unfairly judged in the music industry. As a result, more women, including TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and Tori Amos, began to express their views more clearly. The group denied that the song was inspired by a 1992 song with the same name by the band Radiohead. According to Andy Greene of Rolling Stone, TLC's version of "Creep" focused on a different idea: a woman seeking revenge by cheating on a man who was unfaithful. This idea was considered controversial.
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, another member of TLC, disagreed with the song's message. She was worried that the song might encourage women to respond to cheating with cheating, which went against the group's support for safe sex. Lopes even threatened to wear black tape over her mouth in the song's music video to show her disagreement. She also opposed the song being the lead track from the album. However, she eventually agreed to let the song be released.
Lopes later added a new rap verse to some versions of the song, which discussed the consequences of cheating. However, Watkins and Austin believed the verse was too strong and decided not to include it in the original version.
Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas said that the song's music and dance moves were so appealing that they helped people focus on the fun parts of the song rather than its message.
Jon Parales of The New York Times said the song showed women as strong and independent, not just as victims. Carol Cooper of The Guardian described the track as showing a more serious side of TLC's music, which often focused on enjoying life's pleasures.
Musical style and composition
"Creep" is an R&B song influenced by funk, jazz, soul, and boom bap. This unique sound differs from the trio’s earlier works, which had a new jack swing style. The A.V. Club’s David Anthony noted that the mid-1990s R&B revival in music and Lopes’s time in rehab changed TLC’s musical direction, leading to a stronger focus on pop elements in CrazySexyCool. Like their previous songs, "Creep" includes hip hop samples, such as Slick Rick’s 1989 song "Hey Young World" and Shinehead’s "Who the Cap Fits." The track features a strong beat and lyrics with "forthright sex talk," described as "playful sensuality" and "street aggression." The Telegraph reported that the group performed the song with an "empowered" attitude and Prince-style eroticism. The song’s production uses a "deep" and "infectious" groove, including a trumpet sample with a "late night"-style sound, a "jiggling" funk guitar, and scratching sounds. These elements enhance the "slinky" vocal chorus and the song’s "poppy" hooks. Michael Arceneaux of Complex described the track as having a "darker, mellower, and far jazzier" sound than earlier songs, which suited Watkins’s alto voice.
Musically, "Creep" uses common time with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. It follows a traditional verse–chorus structure in C minor, with Watkins and Thomas’s vocals ranging from the note C4 to F5. Watkins begins the song with the line, "Yes, it's me again/And I'm back," using a "husky" voice. She repeats "oh-I, oh-I, oh-I," a phrase compared by Spin’s Terry Sutton to Watkins finding "a spiritual instruction in vowel sounds" before starting the first verse. In the first verse, Watkins counts her relationship’s "twenty-second of loneliness" and expresses her continued love for her boyfriend, acknowledging his infidelity. In the bridge, she shifts to a lower register to say, "I'll never leave him down, though I might mess around/It's only cause I need some affection." She then sings, "So I creep/Yeah/And I'll just keep it on the down low," lowering the key as if confessing to a few people.
In the second verse, Watkins counts her "twenty-third of loneliness" and continues expressing her love for her partner despite signs of a broken relationship. After repeating the chorus, she "sweetly" explains her cheating as a need for attention from her lover. The song ends with the lines, "I creep around because I need attention/I don't mess around with my affection," fading out with the heavy beat and horn sample. Billboard’s Larry Flick noted that Watkins’s vocals were "tightly woven" and "rife with raspy grit," creating a nice contrast with the song’s horn sample and funk guitars.
Release and remixes
Watkins remembered that Antonio "L.A." Reid, a co-founder of LaFace Records, was very surprised when he first heard the song "Creep." The track became the first single from the album CrazySexyCool on October 31, 1994, even though Lopes disagreed with the choice. Many producers created different versions of the song for its release, including Austin's "DARP Mix." Jermaine Dupri, who was working with TLC and admired the song, partnered with Shannon Houchins to make "Jermaine's Jeep Mix." Austin and Untouchables' versions included a new rap verse written by Lopes, which contains the line: "Prenatal HIV is often sleeping in a creeping cradle." Nate Jones from People magazine noted that this lyric showed the group's dedication to addressing social issues in their music.
In the United Kingdom, the single was first released on January 9, 1995. The next year, in the UK and some European countries, it was re-released or first made available as "Creep '96" on January 13, 1996. This version included mixes by Dupri, Maxx, Tin Tin Out, and a short version of "Waterfalls." On the vinyl version, the "DARP Mix" of "Waterfalls" replaced the short version. In Japan, a mini-CD single was released on December 16, 1994. Over the years, "Creep" appeared on most TLC compilations, including Now & Forever: The Hits (2003), The Very Best of TLC: Crazy Sexy Hits (2006), and 20 (2013). For the 2013 Japanese compilation TLC 20: 20th Anniversary Hits, Watkins and Thomas re-recorded "Creep" and several other songs to celebrate the group's 20 years in the music industry.
Critical reception
The song "Creep" received a lot of praise from critics. Music critic Robert Christgau, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, and Time magazine each said the track was one of the best on the album CrazySexyCool. Steve Baltin from Cash Box wrote, "With a little drama in the beginning, 'Creep' moves smoothly through the airwaves and captures listeners' attention because of its low vocals and catchy rhythm. It became a big hit." Michael Arceneaux from Complex noted that TLC often created their best music when they were subtle, and he found the track's message "refreshing" because it showed women dealing with right and wrong in relationships. Benjamin Chesna and Edwin Ortiz from Complex said the song made infidelity sound "empowering" and praised Dallas Austin's "smooth production," adding, "[Tionne Watkins] made you fall for another person, but now you have to keep it a secret." Simon Price from Melody Maker said the song had "hooks you could hang your coat on." Another Melody Maker editor, Andrew Mueller, named it Single of the Week. Ralph Tee from Music Week’s RM Dance Update wrote, "It’s not as powerful as 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg,' but it is still a good mid-tempo song with a catchy trumpet sound, scratching, and calm vocals." Music & Media said, "Don’t miss this new jill swing of the highest quality." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine reviewed the greatest-hits album 20 and said that both "Creep" and "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" showed TLC challenging traditional ideas about female sexuality. Robbie Daw from Idolator explained that the song’s lasting popularity came from its "provocative" nature, as it discussed the "taboo, down-low" parts of relationships.
Jess Harvell from Pitchfork said the lyrics were "unconscionable" but praised the song's groove for being "so seductive you barely notice what you're singing along to." Harvell also said Austin made scratching, "a noisy hip-hop sound," sound "smooth."
Charles Aaron from Spin wrote a short story about the song and said it marked a "commercial/artistic peak" for Austin's career. Bernadette McNulty from The Telegraph said, "The Dallas Austin groove on this is so deep, it might give you vertigo." Michael A. Gonzales from Ebony agreed that the song helped Austin get closer to his dream of making tracks as enticing and sexy as those Prince made for Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. Smokey Fontaine said the track was Austin's best work, noting the harmonies worked well, the bass line was strong enough to compete in hip-hop, and for a moment, R&B didn’t need a guest rapper.
In 1995, "Creep" was nominated for three awards at the first Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: Best R&B/Soul Single by a Group, Band, or Duo; R&B/Soul Song of the Year; and R&B/Soul Music Video of the Year. It won the first award. The song also received two Grammy nominations: Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It won the latter. TLC’s member T-Boz said, "We were in shock! We made music to help people connect with what we were saying, so we didn’t know how people would feel. Getting that kind of recognition means a lot. The Grammys are like the Oscars of music, so we were very happy to win." Shortly after the win, TLC revealed they were bankrupt during a backstage interview. The song’s publisher, EMI, later received the 1996 ASCAP Pop Music Award for Publisher of the Year.
Commercial performance
Two weeks after its release, "Creep" first appeared at number 71 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on November 12, 1994. The next week, it rose to number 25, and by December 3, it reached number 8 on the chart. One month after its release, the song received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 500,000 copies. In the following month, an additional 100,000 copies were sold, making it the 23rd best-selling single of 1994, according to Billboard. Later, the song became TLC's third platinum single. It reached the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Rhythmic charts, and it peaked at number 3 on the Radio Songs chart and number 9 on the Mainstream Top 40.
After more than a month in the top ten, "Creep" reached number 1 on January 28, 1995, becoming TLC's first number-one hit in the US. It stayed at number one for four weeks before Madonna's single "Take a Bow" took the top spot. The song finished at number 3 on the Hot 100's year-end chart, with 800,000 copies sold in 1995, making it the 18th best-selling single that year. Because of its success, "Creep" won a Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Song and was nominated for Top Hot 100 Song in 1995. Later, it was listed at number 21 on Billboard Hot 100's decade-end list for the 1990s and became the fourth-most-successful song on the chart by a girl group.
In the United Kingdom, "Creep" reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart and number 4 on the R&B Chart. It also peaked at number 4 in New Zealand, becoming TLC's highest-charting single in the country at that time. It received a platinum certification from Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for selling 15,000 equivalent units and reached number 35 on their year-end chart. In other countries, "Creep" entered the top twenty in the Netherlands and Australia and the top forty in France, Switzerland, and Germany. It appeared on Canada's RPM magazine Top Singles year-end dance chart at number 35 and also charted in Belgium, Sweden, and the European Hot 100 Singles.
After being re-released in January 1996 as "Creep '96," the song returned to the UK Singles Chart at number 6, where it stayed for seven weeks. It also reached number 3 on the R&B chart. The re-release helped the song improve its position on the Scotland singles chart, moving from number 44 to number 17. In Sweden, the song peaked at number 56.
Legacy
The song was called a "masterpiece" and a "classic" by many publications and became one of the group's most well-known songs. Nearly ten years after it was first released, Mimi Valdés of Vibe said the song helped raise the "girl power movement" to new levels. Its theme about women's strength inspired other artists, such as Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, and Destiny's Child. The word "creep" is still used in rap music today. Like many songs by TLC, "Creep" showed women as the ones watching and men as the ones being watched. In his book Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 2, Mickey Hess wrote that TLC celebrated women and encouraged them to love men while also asking for respect from men and themselves.
"Creep" was listed at number eight on The Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, along with "Waterfalls" at number five. Bruce Pollock included the song in his book Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era (2005) for helping to create the sound of "chick hop." The song also appeared on several best-of-the-decade lists: Spin ranked it third on its top twenty, The Boston Phoenix listed it among ninety other top tracks, music journalist Smokey Fontaine placed it eighth on his top ten, and Pitchfork listed it at number 114 on its top 200 best tracks. Both Complex and The Guardian named "Creep" the second-best R&B song of the 1990s, with The Guardian's Charlotte Richardson Andrews calling it "90s R&B at its most thrilling." In 2017, Billboard ranked it the second-greatest girl-group song of all time. The Guardian and Paste both listed "Creep" as the third-best TLC song on their lists of the greatest songs by the group.
Music video
In June 1994, TLC filmed the first music video for "Creep" in Atlanta, their hometown. However, the group was not happy with the result. T-Boz later said, "It didn't feel like we had evolved." The next month, they filmed a second version in Los Angeles with Lionel C. Martin, who directed many of their earlier videos. L.A. Reid and the group decided to stop using both versions because they did not show the group's growth or had poor lighting. The first version also had too little footage for the song's length. Martin's version was released in early 2013. The video, which had a blue tint, showed the members sneaking away from their boyfriends to cheat. Other scenes showed them performing in front of trucks and cars. Fact magazine noted the video loosely followed the song's theme about infidelity. Priya Elan from NME said the video might have been "too urban" for MTV. Elan also said the video felt more specific to a genre and seemed outdated.
TLC wanted to show a more mature side visually. While in Los Angeles, they saw a music video for Salt-N-Pepa directed by Matthew Rolston. T-Boz said, "We said, 'Whoever did this video has to do the 'Creep' video.' We fell in love with how it was shot." She mentioned they watched a video called "Whatta Man," but an MTV interview later said they had seen "None of Your Business," another Rolston video with similar visuals. The group wanted to redo the video as they returned to the music scene. When their management suggested editing the existing video, they refused and contacted Rolston to film in August 1994 in Los Angeles.
Rolston brought his team, including a makeup artist, wardrobe and hair stylist, dancers, and a choreographer. However, there were creative disagreements. The original choreographer, Watkins, had created most of the group's early dance moves. She said Rolston's choreographer, Frank Gatson Jr., prevented the group from sharing ideas during practice. The group eventually replaced Gatson because they felt his style did not match theirs, though two of his moves were used in the final video. Watkins said, "I didn't think about choreographing. I just wanted to dance and know when I liked what I saw." The "bend-down-and-jump-up" dance in the video was created by Watkins for a song called "Foe Life" by rapper Mack 10, her husband from 2000 to 2004.
Another disagreement was about the group's clothing. Rolston wanted them to wear "tight and sexy" lingerie, but the group preferred baggy tomboy clothes. They combined both ideas, ending up in bright, flowing silk pajamas that looked edgy when most buttons were unbuttoned and wind machines were used. Each custom outfit cost more than $1,000. T-Boz said filming was exhausting, as they had to wake up early for shoots. She said, "Sometimes being tired gave us our best shots." T-Boz called Rolston's final work "excellent," while Lisa Lopes said the director finally created a "real video" after two failed attempts.
The video premiered on MTV in late October 1994. It began with each member wearing differently colored, loosely buttoned satin pajamas, singing and dancing individually against bright backgrounds. T-Boz wore blue in front of a pink background, Lisa wore red with a blue background, and Chilli wore pink with a red background. Some scenes changed T-Boz's colors to grey for artistic reasons. Close-up shots of a blue trumpet twirling were also included. Later scenes showed the group and their dancers in black-and-white, practicing choreography and joking about Lisa trying to breakdance on her hands. T-Boz called this scene "the most fun part" of the shoot, calling it a "classic TLC moment." VH1's writer described the dance during the chorus as a "modified butterfly with the swing-scoop arm." The Telegraph's writer gave a dance tip: "Feet apart, bounce your knees as low as they will go while winding your hips." In another scene, T-Boz was seen in a closed bar singing into a vintage microphone, backed by a trumpeter, with her love interest, played by Omar Lopez. Throughout the video, T-Boz gave the man skeptical looks, suggesting he might be cheating. The video ended with the group dancing and joking. T-Boz said this was her favorite scene. "Creep" was released in the United Kingdom in January 1996.
The group acknowledged that a scene showing part of T-Boz's exposed chest received public attention.
An alternative version of the video was also made. The original version appeared on three of their video albums: CrazyVideoCool (1995), Now & Forever: The Video Hits (2003), and Artist Collection (2004). CrazyVideoCool included parts of earlier discarded versions and commentary from TLC.
Many publications called the video "iconic" and "classic." David Asante of the MOBO Awards blog said it was "one of the most celebrated pop videos of all time." MTV's Videohead podcast host, Daniel Ralston, said Rolston changed the usual roles in his videos, showing women in control and men in ways often seen in male artists' videos. Idolator's Robbie Daw said the women in the video were comfortable with their sexuality and that many girls in the 1990s wanted to copy their style. Vibe's Anthony DeCurtis said the visuals for "
Live performances
TLC first performed "Creep" on television during an episode of the Nickelodeon show All That on January 7, 1995. They later performed the song on the May 6 episode of Saturday Night Live, along with "Red Light Special." Complex magazine listed the All That performance as one of the best on the show, while "Red Light Special" was included on the SNL25 – Saturday Night Live, The Musical Performances Volume 2 (1999) compilation. Billboard's Michael Paoletta described the performance as "awful." In July 1995, TLC joined other artists on the 16th Annual Budweiser Superfest Tour, where "Creep" was added to their set list. During the tour, they performed the song for audiences of 3,000–6,000 people in front of the letters "CrazySexyCool." Many audience members wore cropped T-shirts and oversized jeans with thick belts. Chicago Tribune reporter Rohan B. Preston noted that their performance "lit torches for female desire" through the songs "Creep" and "Red Light Special." Complex also selected their performance of "CrazySexyMedley"—which included "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg," "Kick Your Game," "Creep," and "Waterfalls"—at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards as one of the ceremony's top 20 performances of all time. Writer Edwin Ortiz stated, "Back in the '90s, no female R&B act could touch TLC." A "Hitmix" medley of three CrazySexyCool singles—"Creep," "Waterfalls," and "Diggin' on You"—was performed during their September 28 appearance on Top of the Pops.
In October 1999, TLC performed "Creep" in their famous silk pajamas during the third act of the FanMail Tour, which featured songs from CrazySexyCool. Their January 29, 2000, show in Atlanta was recorded for the March 18 pay-per-view special TLC: Sold Out. Clips from their January 23, 2000, concert at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., were later included on the CD and DVD TLC 20: 20th Anniversary Hits (2013), a Japan-only compilation. After Lisa Lopes's death in 2002, T-Boz and Chilli performed as a two-piece group at Giant Stadium in New York City for Z100's annual Zootopia concert on June 1, 2003. For what was considered their final performance, they wore baggy white jumpsuits and sang "Creep" with four backup dancers. The duo later included the song in their greatest-hits performance on the finale of their reality show R U the Girl, which aired on September 21, 2005.
Seven years later, T-Boz and Chilli performed "Creep" at the Japanese Springroove Music Festival on April 4, 2009, and during Justin Timberlake's charity concert, Justin Timberlake and Friends, on October 17, 2009, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. This marked their first live US performance in six years, though the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that they lip-synced during the show. On October 16, 2013, TLC performed a medley of their hits on The View, including a separate live version of "Creep" for VH1's Super Bowl Blitz concert at the Beacon Theatre on January 30, 2014, where they wore revealing black lace outfits. Over the years, "Creep" was frequently included in their performances, such as during the 2015 The Main Event tour with New Kids on the Block and other shows in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the Philippines.
Cover versions and usage in media
In 1996, the American rock band The Afghan Whigs performed the song and included it on two extended plays: Honky's Ladder and Bonnie & Clyde EP. Journalist Jason Ankeny from AllMusic said the version showed that "even if [band member Greg Dulli] doesn't have a heart, he at least has a brain—albeit in his pants." According to Spin, "Creep" was also reportedly performed by the famous Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. In 2014, singers Nick Carter and Jordan Knight performed the song as part of a 1990s hits collection during their North American tour. On the 2015 season of Idols South Africa, contestants Mmatema Moremi, Busisiwe Mthembu, and Nonhle Mhlongo performed the song during the show's Hell Week round. On The X Factor UK, contestant Honey G performed the track during the bootcamp episode that aired in 2016.
"Creep" has been covered, sampled, and reimagined by many hip-hop and R&B artists. Two notable versions were released on SoundCloud in 2013: Haitian-Canadian producer Kaytranada's remix, titled Kaytranada's Creepier Edition, in January, and GoldLink's rap version in December. In July 2015, American singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger rewrote and recorded a new version of the song for his album Cuffing Season. He invited T-Boz to contribute vocals for a new verse. Bellinger said in a statement, "When I heard [the original version] flip, I immediately knew I had to try to get T-Boz on it since that was her solo song with [TLC]! Luckily, when she heard the record, she loved it!" The new version includes Bellinger making promises to never cheat on his lover. "Creep" appeared on The Game's Sex Skit from his album The Documentary 2.5, released in October 2015. In February 2016, singer Zendaya sampled the song for her single Something New with Chris Brown. She said, "The song, when I first heard it, already had that TLC sample in it. And that's kind of what made me want to record it." T-Boz is confirmed to have a cameo on the music video, which has not been released.
In other media, "Creep" was featured on the episode "CAT" from season one of the television series New York Undercover, which first aired on February 23, 1995. In December 1995, the song was included on the soundtrack of the film Waiting to Exhale. TLC also recorded a new song, This Is How It Works, for the film's soundtrack album. In 2010, "Creep" and "Waterfalls" were played in the comedy film The Other Guys, with a running gag that Michael Keaton's character would subconsciously reference TLC's lyrics without knowing who the group is. In literature, South African poet and novelist Mandla Langa mentioned the trio's music video in his book The Memory of Stones (2000), referring to them as "the legend." The song can be heard on the soundtracks for video games The Hip Hop Dance Experience, Everybody Dance, and Dance Central Spotlight.
Track listings and formats
European CD; US audio cassette; Japanese small CD single
UK and Germany extended CD single
US 12-inch single No. 1
US 12-inch single No. 2
Credits
The credits below are taken from the liner notes of the CD single "CrazySexyCool" and "CrazyVideoCool."
Recording and Management
– Recorded and mixed at DARP Studios in Atlanta
– Mastered at The Hit Factory in New York City
– Includes a sample from the song "Hey Young World," written by Ricky Walters and performed by Slick Rick. The song is published by Def American Songs, Inc., and made available by Def Jam Recordings, Inc.
– Includes a sample from the song "Who the Cap Fits," written by Edmund Carl Aiken Jr. (also known as Shinehead) and performed by Shinehead. The song is published by African Love Music and Def American Songs, Inc., under a license from African Love Music
– Managed by Hiriam Management
– Published by EMI April Music Inc. and Darp Music (ASCAP)