COPYCAT it’s the debut single by c-pop group MONOCHROME. It was released on September 28, 2018 for streaming services and digital download. In September, 30 a physical version was released. Despite all the controversy surrounding the lyrics of the songs, the single was a major success in sales, selling out after two days of its release and topping numerous local charts.
“Showtime isn't over so you better keep playing, copycat.”
The title track “Copycat” its full rap song rich with trap beat and dubstep breakdown. Produced by Starr Chen and Monochrome members Phoebe, Miran, and Hyesung, and also written by the same members in collaboration with Alex Ni and “golden melody award winner for best lyrics” Hsia Yu. The song described a witty conception on how modern society it’s so obsessed with presenting an unrealistic persona just to be more appealing to others, while also focusing the attention on the constant pressure that’s put into idols to act a certain way instead of letting them show their real personalities. The lyrics are full of satirical remarks that combined with the beat, gives a happier atmosphere to the song, in contrast to the more heavy criticisms hidden on its meaning.
“Believe me, you're no trouble. goddess or girl, there's always someone who will love you.”
The track "Miss trouble" was written and produced by Miran, Phoebe, Hyesung, and Starr Chen. It’s a rap song with a trap influenced verses and slightly operatic choruses. In the words of Phoebe, the song talks about how it’s so easy to lose yourself in the blinding lights of fame.
“This girl (miss trouble) seems like a glamorous superstar in front of the cameras. but in reality she’s reality insecure and doesn’t seem to be able to put her life in order because she believes that this idolized image it’s her real self...when reality hits her she prefers to ignore it instead of facing it.” Explains the singer in an interview included in the deluxe version of the single. Members of Monochrome mentioned that they want to use this song as a reminder to keep true to themselves so they won’t become a Miss trouble in the future.
“I am 1, not a lonely individual. Write to imitations, and also write to loss. I am the truth, the farthest extremity.”
"Gentlewomen" was written by Cheer Chan, Miran, Hyesung, Phoebe and Olivia, and produced by Tiger Chung, Hyesung, Phoebe, and Miran. It was inspired by Simone de Beauvoir's book “The second sex”, which talks about the existentialism and feminism. The song merges the genres of noise rock and alternative dance, and it combines with distorted guitar riffs as it progresses.
— ALBUM CONTENT
Regular ver. : disc + photobook (twenty photos) + one random photocard + two poster + stickers
Deluxe ver . : disc + photobook (fifty photos ) + two random photocards + two posters + video interview of the making process of the single + stickers
— ACHIEVEMENTS AND SALES INFO
The single received generally received favorable reviews from music critics, but mixed reactions of the general public. People considered it something new and bold or too disrespectful and noisy.
Copycat was a commercial success with every song topping Chinese music charts, and selling a total of 15 million digital copies and 4 million physical copies, becoming the bestselling single of that year.
“Copycat” broke 12 records and peaked at number 1 on four of QQ Music's charts as well as ranking first on Billboard China's V Chart for 8 consecutive weeks, the song stayed in the top 10 for the rest of the year. As for “Miss trouble” and “Gentlewomen” both peaked at number 2 and 3 respectfully and stayed in the top 20 for the rest of the year.
The music video for “Copycat” had over 10 million views on YouTube and 97 million views on Weibo.
The song received several awards for “Best song of the year” and Monochrome as a group won eight awards including “Best newcomer”, “Best female group”, “Most popular group of the year” and “Best producer of the year”.
— STYLING
( from left to right. phoebe, hyesung, stella, miran, olivia, kiseki )
— ERA HIGHLIGHTS
They didn’t have lots of stage performances, they performed in a few award shows, music festivals and some variety shows. Their most-viewed performance was in 2018 MAMA’s.
Styling this era was very hip-hop inspired and colorful. The stylist allowed the members to give their opinions on some outfits, and made sure they were comfortable on stage.
On November 12 they had their first showcase where they performed all their songs, included original songs from “Pick! Pick! Girls”, and every member had a special solo stage.
They released two dance practices, a normal one and a pajama ver.
The girls also did a live stream to thank the fans for all their support.
A fancam of the girls performing in the rain during a music festival and looking ethereal became viral on Twitter and Weibo.
Another fancam, this time a Miran fancam performing “No company”, went viral on stan twitter, ad kpop stans started calling her chinese short haired goddess.
They also have a bunch of appearances on variety show where they had some funny moments. Like when they asked Stella what’s something she had that her members didn’t and she answered “bobs”, or when Kiseki did a small gymnastic performance and then Olivia tried to recreate a move and her back cracked so hard everybody stopped the filming to make sure she didn’t break a bone, or when they had to recreate a drama scene and everybody started clowning Phoebe because she got her dialogues wrong. And the list goes on and on. What can i said? My girls were happy to be out of the dungeon.
Talking of the dungeon… the happiness’ didn’t last long. After the showcase, they went back to being more of an endorsement group rather than an idol group.
That’s all for now. Overall they had a great debut and all the girls were happy and healthy during this era. Highly overworked? Yes, but happy that they could release their music at the end.
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N.1 it's the debut mini album by MONOCHROME released on February 27, 2020 for physical/digital purchase and streaming services. It features seven songs with “No” being the title track. The girls promoted for four weeks and managed to accomplish 10 music show wins as well as achieving 8 perfect All-Kills. They held an online showcase on February 26, and appeared on multiple variety shows this era.
— TRACKLIST
No ( inspo. )
Tempo ( inspo. )
Devil's hand ( inspo. )
Silver spoon ( inspo. )
My city ( inspo. )
Girls like us ( inspo. )
Sweet dreams ( inspo. )
— ALBUM CONTENT
Regular ver. : disc + photobook ( 125 photos) + one out six random photocard + one out six individual posters + one out five group poster + postcard + stickers
Deluxe ver . : disc + photobook ( 150 photos ) + two out six random photocards + one out six individual posters + two out five group posters + postcard + stickers
— ACHIEVEMENTS AND SALES INFO
The general public loved the song, but many music critics called the album a softer version of their previous release “Ugly beauty” and discussed how the group was recycling the same formula. Songs like “Silver spoon” and “My city” also got heavy criticism, one for being to disrespectful towards elder generations while the other for not talking enough about Korea's cities, even when the song was about each member's hometown.
“No” music video received 100 million views on YouTube during the first 28 hours.
“No” topped all charts. And stayed in that position for three weeks straight in Melon and Gaon.
N.1 sold a total of 5.5 million physical copies.
All the songs in the album occupied the first places on music charts, but only for the release day.
“Tempo” peaked at 2 on Gaon, and “Devil's hands” peaked at 4. Both songs stood in great positions for the rest of the era.
— STYLING
( in order. phoebe, hyesung, miran, olivia, stella, kiseki )
Tries her best to have different content so it’s not just her face.
Her captions are either philosophic quotes or emojis.
Often gives behind the scenes and hard to get spoilers, once she literally posted an encrypted spoiler through emojis and expected highlights to understand it.
Sometimes she post short videos of her playing guitar covers.
Tries to reply as much comments as she can or at least leaves a like.
KISEKI
Soft, soft, soft. Did I say soft? I’ll say it again SOFT.
Her captions are full of support messages for highlights or asking them how they doing, pure wholesome content.
Uploads a weekly totoro (her dog) appreciation post.
Is the member that gives the most updates. Dear.us are never starving.
Comments on the girls post with cute messages. Except Stella, she gets light roasts.
She still has the youtuber.exe installed and relates her whole day on stories.
Everybody claims her cookies recipe is amazing.
PHOEBE
Her, that’s all.
Queen of mirror selcas, she posts one daily.
Before debuting most of the girls had to deactivate their accounts, well she didn’t. She wasn’t going to lose all her followers that easy, so she just deleted all controversial posts and continued with her life.
Sometimes she post a group pic with the girls. Emphasis on sometimes.
Flirts with every comment that calls her pretty.
She also post many ootd and other fashion related content.
Her captions are basically hyping herself up.
STELLA
Hates taking selcas with her whole soul.
She also tends to forget her password.
Let’s all thank her manager and Olivia for keeping this account alive.
Sometimes her captions has nothing to do with the photo at all, it’s just crack.
Always flexing her art.
Simps on other members comment section.
She was once banned from using instagram for a month after posting 32 stories talking about conspiracy theories.
MIRAN
She has no clue on how social media works.
After Hyesung gave her a masterclass she started understanding a bit more, she’s still kind lost though.
Rarely adds a filter or edits her photos.
What she does is post many aesthetically pleasing photos or videos of night views.
Captions look like: “Here’s a selca now stop crying” “I’m a boomer, i don’t do tech “Don’t be intimidated by my face is not my fault that i’m so pretty”
Another one who flirts with fans on the comments.
Reinforcing her womance with Hyesung by calling her my wife whenever she posts a photo with her.
OLIVIA
She’s not the group’s photographer for nothing.
Her posts are just so high quality and well edited.
A lovebot for the girls, her family and the staff.
“My friends are the prettiest you wished you could be this pretty” Olivia every time she post a photo with other member.
Roasting haters on the comments 24/7.
She’s that girl posts a selca and quotes poesy on the caption.
Last time they went to Tokyo she got lost and instead of using her phone to check google maps she went for a walk and showed of pretty places on stories.
❝ if i want to see everything through my pink-colored glasses let me be. after all, we all know pink makes everything prettier and this life is everything but that. ❞
B A S I C S
stage name— phoebe
birth name— zhao ying-yue
birthdate— july 25, 1998
birthplace— hangzhou, china
ethnicity— chinese
nationality— chinese
zodiac sign— leo
chinese sign— tiger
languages— mandarin (native), korean (fluent), english (conversational), japanese (learning)
sexuality— heterosexual
C A R E E R
group— monochrome
years active— 2018 – present
position— main rapper, main dancer, face of the group, center, producer, songwriter.
training period— 2008 – 2018
survival show— pick! pick! girls (2018) | position: 1st place
her aunt became her legal tutor after her mother abandoned her when she was 9 years old. she’s very grateful towards her aunt for being an actual maternal figure to her.
wanted to be an idol since she was four-years-old, when her mom didn’t let her join a dance academy she made part of her room a studio gluing to her wall a bunch of mirrors to create a big one, learning to dance from videos and tv shows. she joined a dance academy later at ten-years-old.
a classmate introduced her to missy elliott since then she fell in love with female rappers from the ’90s and started to get more interest in rap.
in 2010 she created her soundcloud account. she had around ten mixtapes until the account was deleted in 2015.
debuted as a soloist in 2015 under the pseudonymous y.z. gaining popularity quickly when she appeared on the rap of china. she canceled her contract in 2017 due to disagreements in the royalties division.
known as the diva of the group for her flashy personality, fashion sense, and killer stage presence.
phoebe, miran, and hyesung are the producing team of monochrome.
she’s the closest to olivia within the group, their ship name is yingyang.
most hated member but also one of the most popular ones.
she’s in a relationship with cai xukun since 2018, but they aren’t public.
MONOCHROME is a six-member girl group formed by JYP ENTERTAINMENT and TENCENT MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT trough the online reality show PICK! PICK! Girls. MONOCHROME debuted on September 28, 2018 with the single “Copycat” receiving mixed opinions for its heavily satirical lyrics, but it ended up topping charts and became one of the most played songs of 2018. The group was supposed to be only China-based but after gaining popularity worldwide the companies decided to debut them in South Korea, with plans of also debuting in other countries like Japan and U.S.A.
— BASICS
NAME ⟶ monochrome
LABELS ⟶ jyp entertainment, tencent music entertainment
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♥ (01) Is your OC in love? If so, with whom, and for how long?
[ PHOEBE @ 13 : 39 ] “i love xukun. It might not see like it but i really do. i don't know for how long...maybe since last year, i think,” she looks up in the ceiling to gather her thoughts, and nods. “yeah, i think so. it's hard for me to know a specific moment 'cause i tried to deny my feelings for so long. all i know it's that i'm in love with him.” she hides her face with one hand as she feels her cheeks heating up.
♥ (11) What do others love most about your OC?
[ MIA @ 13 : 00 ] she's pretty good at helping others in her own weird way, its very subtle if you don't know her that much it can be seen as if she's trying to mock you but she's actually trying to help. when you get to know her better it's easier to notice those small gestures. if she sees that this person has a big problem, or they seem overwhelmed, she's more straight to the point and tries her best to help them.
♥ (30) What is your OC’s favorite romantic movie?
[ PHOEBE @ 13 : 00 ] “10 things i hate about you. i cry everytime i watch it.”
❝ everyone has a chance but only six will debut. ❞
PICK! PICK! GIRLS was a chinese online survival show. the program had a slightly different concept from others of it’s kind. the auditions were open to the public; anyone could send their audition tapes if they meet the basic requirements, fifty girls were chosen by the production team to participate, fourty five trainees from jyp entertainment and fourty five independent trainees. contestants had to pass a different mission each week where the public could vote online for their favorite trainee. besides, there was a section called top pick that consisted of monthly live streams so the girls could interact with the audience, depending on the popularity ranking they gained a bonus of 300,000 to 90,000 votes.
the final ranking was revealed during the last episode aired in march 10, 2018.
1st. zhao ying-yue (indepent)
2nd. han hye-sung (jyp entertainment)
3rd. hirano miranda (jyp entertainment)
4th. olivia xu (indepent)
5th. stella ektawatkul (jyp entertainment)
6th. hanaeda ran (indepent)
MOST VIEWED PERFORMANCES
position battle “dance” NON DAILY REVELRY | final members who participated 〉 yingyue (center, main rapper), olivia (leader, main dancer), ran (lead dancer, vocal)
position battle “vocal” FLAMMABLE AND EXPLOSIVE | final members who participated 〉 miranda (center, main vocal), stella (leader, vocal)
position battle “rap” SINGLE EYELID GIRLS | final members who participated 〉 hyesung (leader, center, main rapper)
concept battle “cute” A LITTLE SWEET | final members who participated 〉 ran (center, main dancer)
concept battle “dark” MAMA | final members who participated 〉 hyesung (main rapper, leader), miranda (main vocal), stella (rapper)
concept battle “badass” AMBUSH ON ALL SIDES 2 | final members who participated 〉 yingyue (center, main rapper), olivia (leader, main dancer)
group battle “original song” LIGHT ORANGE ISLAND | final members who participated 〉 kiseki (rapper, main dancer)
group battle “original song” HUNT | final members who participated 〉 miranda (center, rapper, leader)
group battle “original song” A LITTLE BIT | final members who participated 〉 olivia (leader, center, vocal), stella (rap), hyesung (rap, vocal), yingyue (main rapper)
final NO COMPANY | final members who participated 〉 hyesung (center, lead rapper), yingyue (lead dancer, main rapper), miranda (main vocal), ran (lead dancer, vocal), olivia (main dancer, vocal), stella (vocal, dancer)
RELEVANT FACTS/MOMENTS
when ran got so nervous during her audition that halfway through the song she shifted to japanese and only went back to chinese to sing the last line.
one of the judges asking yingyue why she decided to participate in the show despite having a solid career and her answering "well first of all i was robbed… not like a joke. they literally stole my money"
" hello my name is olivia i'm from england and before you ask me, no i don’t like tea."
miran surprised everyone in her audition with how much she improved since "stray kids".
stella showing her unexpected leadership skills as flammable and explosive team leader.
hyesung was the only rapper in single eyelid girls team, she taught her teammates the basics of rap and helped them practice their lines.
during the ghost prank olivia kicked the staff member in the face when she tried to grab her feet underneath the table, yingyue almost broke a camera trying to escape, stella laughing and asking the ghost to become her friend, hyesung and ran already suspected it was a prank so they weren’t surprised at all, miran just looked at the ghost unbothered and left the room.
miran throwing shade to the producers for giving ran screentime only when she cried or was feeling sad.
the producers pushed the hyesung vs yingyue agenda so hard that the girls couldn’t even look at each other without being evil edited, in reality, neither of them felt like they were competing against the other.
ran won top pick category most of the competition, following her were stella and olivia.
no company was the only performance with all the final girls in the same team.
lilly; what’s something you love watching/reading but you are too embarrassed to admit you do? + pansy; do you like poetry?
[ HYESUNG @ 14 : 37 ] “during the last vacations i had to take care of my little brother he made me watch baby shark all day. i heard that stupid song so many times that after that i needed to listen to it at least once per day. it became my most played song on spotify”
---
“ yes, i've always loved poetry. my mom and i used to sneak into the local library and spend the whole afternoon reading poetry... i miss those times a lot” she says with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
[ PHOEBE @ 14 : 53 ] “i think around last year for no reason at all i started whatching peppa pig. i really don't know where the impulse came from but i don't regret it. peppa is a queen”
---
“not that much... i mean, i was good at literature in school, and i can enjoy it but sometimes i get a little lost and don't get it”
