Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins perform the song with Lopes, who also provides a rap verse (which is removed from some edits).
[16] Entertainment Weekly viewed it as a "Prince-inspired ballad" that "hint[s] at the artistic greatness TLC might achieve if freed from commercial concerns".
"[18] In a separate review, Price named it Single of the Week, writing, "'Waterfalls' is nothing we haven't already heard in 'Sign O' the Times' or 'The Message': a cautionary, moral tale about a bad livin' young brother who upsets his mom by gangbanging and ends up with Aids, and personally, I left all that behind with Aesop's fables.
I'm more interested in the sonics here, the opulent Paisley Park-ish production, the way the freeze-dried, shrink-wrapped street soul beats are wickedly at odds with T-Boz's languorous, husky vocals and Left Eye and Chilli's river-of-clear-honey harmonics.
"[19] A reviewer from Music Week gave it four out of five, calling it "yet another radio-friendly hit", remarking that "TLC swap wackiness for a more mature affair".
[20] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update deemed it a "slinkily croaking and cooing girls' US smash rolling slow sombrely worded message song".
[21] Charles Aaron from Spin described it as "a Princely cautionary groove, in which pop's most intriguing trio offers a more harshly vivid portrait—that of a loved one (who should have known better) gone wanna-be dopeman.
When T-Boz croons, "She gives him loving that his body can't handle / But all he can say is baby it's good to me", her resigned frustration is palpable.
[23] Butler wrote, "The arrangement and instrumentation is absolutely fantastic - if a bunch of great melodies had an orgy, the result would something a little like this - and the lyrics are the best on an album that maintains a shockingly high standard of songwriting.
The accompanying music video for "Waterfalls", directed by American director and producer F. Gary Gray and filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood from June 8–9, 1995, visualizes the two verses of the song, particularly during extended instrumental breaks after each verse: The video also intercuts scenes of liquefied versions of TLC performing to the song while standing atop an ocean and performing in front of a real waterfall.
Watkins later admitted that filming the group's scenes atop an ocean was very frightening, as they were standing on an unstable plastic platform and she was unable to swim;[26] she recalled, "I thought I was gonna fall in.
The numerous computer-generated effects were created by the visual design company Homer & Associates, which used motion capture technology to generate the images.
In September 1995, TLC performed "Waterfalls" in a medley with "Creep" and "Diggin' on You" on the British TV chart show Top of the Pops, aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom.
Remaining members T-Boz and Chilli performed the song along with Alicia Keys and fellow girl groups En Vogue and SWV at the 2008 BET Awards.
Thomas and Watkins appeared on Good Morning America on October 15, 2013, to perform the song during promotion for the greatest hits 20 and the VH1 biopic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story.
Bill Lamb stated that "slinky, gently insistent backing horns and guitar combine with smooth, languid vocals to create an instant R&B classic."
[32] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "Waterfalls, "with its gently insistent horns and guitar lines and instantly memorable chorus, ... ranks as one of the classic R&B songs of the '90s.
"[33] Christine Werthman from Complex wrote that it "is drenched in water-droplet synth notes, live drums, rising horns, and a bass line that walks wherever it pleases."
[3] After Lopes' tragic death in a car crash in La Ceiba, Honduras on April 25, 2002, the lyrics to her verse were engraved upon her casket.
The track was made into a ballad and has a much slower tempo and its production is stripped down with a piano and a soft drum beat echoing in the background.
A music video was released alongside the recording, which included a cameo from the two surviving members of TLC, Rozonda Thomas and Tionne Watkins.