Waterfalls

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes wrote "Waterfalls" with Marqueze Etheridge and Organized Noize, the Atlanta production team that also handled the track. The song took shape around heavy subject matter: the illegal drug trade, promiscuity, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins said the group wanted to get the message across without seeming like preaching. Lopes contributed a rap verse about personal problems of her own, drawn from a turbulent period that included her relationship with Atlanta Falcons player Andre Rison. In June 1994 she burned his tennis shoes in a bathtub, setting his $2 million mansion on fire, and pleaded guilty to arson.

Released on May 29, 1995 as the third single from CrazySexyCool, the song spent seven weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and gave TLC their second US chart-topper. It also reached number one in New Zealand, Switzerland and Zimbabwe. According to BMG's Jarett E. Nolan, it was the first number-one song to refer to AIDS. CeeLo Green, then of Goodie Mob, sang background vocals alongside Debra Killings and the group members; Watkins recalled that they grew up together on the same label, though Green admitted he did not realize how big the song would become.

F. Gary Gray directed the music video, filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood in June 1995 on a million-dollar budget. It won four MTV Video Music Awards that year, including Video of the Year, making TLC the first African-American act to receive the trophy. Watkins later admitted the ocean-top performance scenes frightened her, since she could not swim.