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Page 1
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3LW's new member gets shut out of auditions ...
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Page 2
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Naturi takes 3LW to the brink of a breakup ...
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Surrounding the trio in the room were three beds. One might think the stars of a girl group often compared to Destiny's Child would have their own accommodations, but 3LW like to stay close, which makes what happened with Naughton all the more difficult for Williams and Bailon to comprehend. Weeks before she filed a lawsuit saying they encouraged her to sleep with rappers they wanted to tour with (see "Ex-3LW Member Says Group Wanted To Pimp Her Out"), Naughton was sharing a bedroom with them.
2LW, as the media playfully referred to Williams and Bailon at the time, spoke assertively about moving on with the group after Naughton's departure, but deep down they were worried (see "3LW: One Story, Two Sides").
"After she left, Adrienne and I were sitting there thinking, do we really want to go on as 3LW?" Williams recalls. "She dented the entire integrity of our group."
"It was a bad demonstration of what girls of color act like," Bailon says. " 'Oh, we hate each other because oh, you're darker than me or you're lighter than me,' you know."
"That's all people need to hear, some black people throwing fried chicken at each other," Williams adds, referring to the now notorious final meeting with Naughton.
Williams and Bailon, who say the real reason Naughton left was because she missed her boyfriend back home ("And we weren't interested in having a fourth member of our group," Williams explains), ultimately chose to forge ahead and focus on their original mission.
"It's still about representing girls of color," Williams says. "It's still about showing that teen girls can come together."
3LW's focus on race raises some interesting questions about their audition process, which included "American Idol"-like tryouts in several cities late last year.
Williams first says color played no part in the auditions. "It was just a girl who represented whatever station of life she came from. Girls could look at her and say, 'She is just like me, I want to be like her. She represents what I want other people to think of my nationality.'
"We had Chinese, we had Indian, we had Native American, white people, black people, people from all over," she continues. "We were like, 'Wow!' It was incredible to see all these people who got it, who got what 3LW was standing for."
Bailon notes, however, that they were looking for someone of a different color than her or Williams and suggests another dark-skin black girl was their preference.
"When people say, 'You have another brown girl,' Well, that was definitely something we kept our eye open for because that's something we are not. There's a group of people who need to be represented in a group like this, and that was the original plan for the group was to have the Puerto Rican chick, or the Latina chick, which was me. Kiely definitely represents for a lot of black girls out there who look similar to Kiely, and then definitely, you know, an urban girl, like our chick here, J. ... I think that was important, that's what we were looking for and we found it."
It's almost noon now and as Nelly famously rapped, it's gettin' hot in here. The spotlights have had a furnace effect on the apartment. "I'm always hot and sweating," Bailon says, fanning her face with her hand. "I'm the new Whitney."
She's joking, of course. Not that Houston isn't a role model for the young singer, but Bailon and company are playing a different game. With 3LW back at three, they're looking to be the new Destiny's Child, the new TLC.
"[Benson] brings a lot to this group — a lot of energy, a lot of attitude, a lot of flavor," Williams says with optimism in her voice. "It's what we were missing in the group all along, and I think that's what we're very grateful to her about."
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Photo: Tse Williams
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