By Nekesa Mumbi Moody
The Associated Press

ATLANTA - With the death of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, TLC's most energetic and dynamic member, their last album as a group could have been a sentimental tribute.

Instead, 3D is sexy and danceable - typical TLC, and just the type of album Ms. Lopes would have wanted, says Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, one of the group's two surviving members, with Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins.

"We were always fun, exciting, experimental - a very spontaneous type of group. And Lisa was that to the 10th power," says Ms. Thomas, 31.

"We made sure all the songs were fun-spirited, because she was a fun girl."

The disc, which was half-finished when the 30-year-old Ms. Lopes died in a car crash in Honduras in April, will be released next week. It's the fourth album from the chart-topping, Grammy-winning, headline-grabbing group - and quite possibly their last.

"We don't really know. We don't really want to put it out there like that," says Ms. Thomas. "Right now, we're just handling one thing at a time. Because it's so hard. It's a very emotional point in time in our lives."

Ms. Thomas says she and Ms, Watkins never doubted they would finish the album, and never considered hiring a replacement for Ms. Lopes.

TLC, one of the best-selling female groups of all time, has had its share of drama since debuting a decade ago. The trio once filed for bankruptcy, despite having two multiplatinum albums. Ms. Lopes burned down the house of her then-lover, former NFL player Andre Rison. And she had public spats with the other two members.

Yet despite the Behind the Music-type turmoil, they remained together.

"We love each other very much, and no matter what we've ever been through, that could never change. People always wanted to say that we were going to break up, but did we ever?" says Ms. Watkins, 32.

"She couldn't leave us, we couldn't leave her."

TLC started working on the follow-up to 1999's best-seller Fanmail early this year. Most of Ms. Lopes' raps on the disc were created for other songs; producers sifted through material she had recorded for her solo disc, which was released overseas, and other archive material.

The two women hope 3D will serve as a celebration of Ms. Lopes' life. The video for the first single, "Girl Talk," features a mini-tribute to her; others will follow, they say.

"We're going to make sure that y'all don't forget her," laughs Ms. Thomas.