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.
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.
[ STELLA @ 16 : 13 ] “i think i'm not completely over what happened with him. i want to have a normal relationship but his memory still haunts me, i know it's stupid, he's dead, he can't hurt me anymore, but i'm still scared” she shakes her head in denial and takes a deep breath trying to calm herself, she didn't wanted to dig further in those horrible memories.
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
❝ i don't know why i dropped everything once i got accepted, i guess you can say i followed my heart. surprisingly enough everything turned out better than i could ever expect❞
B A S I C S
stage name— stella
birth name— stella ektawatkul
birthdate— august 26, 1998
birthplace— pattaya, thailand
ethnicity— thai
nationality— thai
zodiac sign— virgo
chinese sign— tiger
languages— thai (native), english (fluent), mandarin (conversational), korean (conversational), spanish (learning).
sexuality— bisexual
C A R E E R
group— monochrome
position— lead vocal, sub rapper, dancer.
training period— 2016 – 2018
survival show— pick! pick! girls (2018) | position: 5th place
there's no information about her family, stella says its because they asked her to keep it private. she also barely talks about her past that much, in her own words "my past isn't interesting i was a regular girl in a regular household, there's not much to talk".
she was street cast by jyp entertainment while filming a singing scene for a friend's project.
she was studying graphic design but she dropped out of college to move to korea, she would like to re-start her career once she has time.
stella confessed on a vlive that "stella" wasn't her real name, she changed it as her eighteen birthday wish, every time someone asks her whats her old name she jokes saying its too ugly to remember.
she learned to play piano from youtube videos, its the only instrument she currently knows.
it's considered one of the weirdest idols for her outgoing and random personality, she also has the bad habit of talking without thinking before which has lead her to get in some small controversies.
a big cartoon and anime fan, they're the main reason she got interested in art and even made her consider becoming an animator.
most popular in the international fandom, because she interacts more in english than the rest of the members.
she wants to improve her abilities to get more rap parts in songs.
stella makes new friends easily, usually before awards shows members place a bet on how many new people she would introduce them by the end of the night.
[ STELLA @ 17:59 ] "give me a sec, my memory it's worse than our company's wifi" stella frowns he eyebrows, looking at the ceiling trying to recall something.
"i remember the first time i saw goldie he was smiling and my mind went oh! he looks like a cute angel, and i wasn't wrong he's indeed an actual angel. my first impression of seok it's that he seemed like a cold person, he's also so tall i was slightly intimidating, but don't get fooled by his looks he's a softie. and enlai i thought he was really pretty, like a fairy!...i'm glad i didn't forget anything " she laughs loudly.
6. What do they love about each other?
"how they actually treasure our relationship, like we all make a big effort to try to see each other often to go to dates and all that stuff. i didn't have any of that in my past relationship" she pauses a moment to avoid thinking of that. "i feel safe being with them"
17. Describe or write a really fluffy scene
"stay still i'm almost done."
"but it tickles." enlai whines between laughs once the wet brush touches his cheeks again. the girl shuts him down with a small sound and grabs his face softly so he couldn't move and ruin the small masterpiece she's trying to paint on his cheeks.
she gives some final touches before leaving the brush down on the table, smiling when she sees the result. "all done." she claps her hands happily.
"you look so cute! " goldie exclaims looking at him with shiny eyes.
"let me see."
enlai grabs the mirror the younger boy lends him to see what her girlfriend is been working on for the past hour. a beautiful night sky adorned his cheeks in pastel colors, his feckless were highlighted with white paint to work as the stars, she even made sure connect some of them to create constellations. enlai couldn't avoid the smile that crawled on his face.
"it's beautiful, thanks ella."
"i'm just making you prettier than you already are." she winks at him playfully
the boy blushes hearing her comment. he then hides his face behind goldie's, who was sitting next to him. stella and goldie laughs at his cute antics, while he tries to calm down.
"okay but why is his punishment less bad." seok complains, returning from the kitchen and sitting next to the girl. pointing at the clown face she drew on him.
"because he didn't tried to buy my properties in monopoly" she answers.
seok pouts crossing his arms like a child throwing a tantrum.
"fine let me draw something cuter" stella grabs her brush again, and get closer to him.
"i'm next. i also want a cute face noona!" goldie gives her a puppy like expression she can't resist to.
"okay... but i better get my cuddles as payment."
enlai and goldie belong to @hollo-cyptric seok belongs to @timelessoffi
"when i say men stink i mean it" icon stella, the best stella i love stELLA
[ STELLA @ 22 : O1 ] “isn't weird how most of them smell bad? i can't stop noticing it whenever a male fan comes closer in a fansign, it's gross. dear stinky men please wear deodorant when you come near, i'm begging you”
