Monochrome (Lee Hyori album)


Monochrome is the fifth studio album by South Korean singer-songwriter Lee Hyori. It was released on May 21, 2013, by B2M Entertainment and distributed by CJ E&M Music. The album, which has an analogue sound and retro feel, departs from her previous style of music. It is her first full-length release after a three-year hiatus since H-Logic.
Unlike her previous work, Lee collaborated with foreign composers such as Norwegian songwriting team Dsign Music, who previously composed Girls' Generation's "Tell Me Your Wish " and "I Got a Boy". She also worked with blues musician Kim Tae-chun, and her then-boyfriend :ko:이상순|Lee Sang-soon for the new record. Beenzino, a member of hip-hop duo :ko:재지팩트|Jazzyfact, Bak Ji-yong from vocal trio Honey G, comedian Ahn Young-mi, and Lee's companion dog Soonshim participated on the album as featured artists.
Monochrome contains a total of sixteen tracks, including the lead single "Bad Girls", the self-composed hit "Miss Korea", and "Show Show Show", a cover of "No No No" originally performed by German pop trio Monrose. A special edition of the album, featuring a 156-page photo book and limited to 5,000 copies, was available for pre-order starting on May 9, 2013.
The album sold about 17,000 physical copies and 2.75 million digital tracks in 2013, making it the 79th best-selling Korean album of that year. Lee bounced back as a musician thanks to the album's success, winning the award for Best Female Artist at 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

Background

Lee's comeback was pushed back multiple times throughout 2012, until it was finally announced that she would return to the stage with her fifth studio album in May 2013. While recording, many rumors floated around on what the album would sound like. Lee rejected the rumors when she tweeted and urged people to "not to be deceived by any of fake information about the album", on February 7, 2013. Two days later, she posted on her official fan club, asking fans to "not to be bored even if there would be more than 10 tracks in her new album". Lee stated that she felt the "greed" to create an album with weighty quality.
Unlike her previous work, it was reported that she collaborated with foreign composers for the new record. According to an official from B2M Entertainment, Lee's agency, Monochrome will contain a number of acoustic and easy listening songs instead of her previous style of electronic pop music. However, the official also stated that the singer has made an effort to reach the nexus between her and the listeners by choosing a dance tune with a powerful group choreography as the title track of her album.

Release

On May 9, it was announced that the singer's fifth full-length album would be titled Monochrome, and its album cover was unveiled. Beginning on the same day, a normal edition and a special limited edition of the album were available for pre-order. Limited to 5,000 copies, the latter features a 156-page photo book, and was all sold out.
Monochrome was released both digitally and physically on May 21, 2013. The album peaked at number four on the Gaon Albums Chart. As of , Monochrome has sold about 17,000 copies in South Korea, with the sales of both editions combined.

Teasers

Vogue Korea announced that Lee would introduce her new song through "Show Girl", a fashion music video of her recent photo shoot with the magazine on April 19, 2013. With the concept of a circus show girl, she donned several sexy outfits in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by abandoned circus sets and props. "Show Girl" was sequentially released on the first of May via Vogue Korea's iPad app, the magazine's website, and then its YouTube channel. According to Lee's agency, the background music for the video was titled "Show Show Show", which is a cover of Monrose's "No No No".
Lee Hyori uploaded a photo via her official Twitter on April 22, 2013, with the sentence "I used to be the sweetest girl ever... 'til I found out being the baddest girl was better" superimposed onto it. Five video teasers were released for the album through B2M Entertainment's YouTube channel at noon the following day. Under the theme of "What Are You Doing, Hyori?", the series of teasers featured footage from Lee's daily life, and recording sessions and photo shoots for Monochrome, with the sound of brass instruments played as background music.

Singles

"Miss Korea"

A music video teaser for "Miss Korea", a pre-release single from the album, was unveiled on May 2, 2013. The video directed by South Korean music video director Cha Eun-taek, and the single itself was released four days later. The self-composed song contains the message of comfort and hope, comparing all women to Miss Korea, as the end of the song follows, "Are others' eyes that important? / Does it feel like it's your fault when something goes bad? / No, it's not like that, come here / It'll be okay, you're a Miss Korea". The lyrics was later donated to the Hangang Bridge, as part of "the Bridge of Life" project promoted by Samsung Life Insurance.
Upon its release, "Miss Korea" debuted at number one on both the Gaon Singles and Download Charts. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 for the week of May 25, 2013. As of , "Miss Korea" has sold about a million digital copies in South Korea.
Lee personally selected 30 non-celebrity women "with love and respect for themselves" who she saw as the genuine "Miss Korea"s, to perform the song together on stage at the 2013 SBS Gayo Daejeon televised concert.
Jessica Jung, former member of girl group Girls' Generation, covered this song at the concert SM Town Week Girls' Generation – Märchen Fantasy.

"Bad Girls"

The album's lead single "Bad Girls" is a dance tune only consisted of acoustic band sound. Lee's self-written lyrics depicts the reality, in which confident women are considered "bad".
CJ E&M Music, the distributor of the album, released a video teaser for the track on May 15, 2013. As a parody of SBS's current affair program :ko:그것이 알고 싶다|The Its Know, the teaser stimulates curiosity through narrations such as "Why did Lee Hyori become a bad girl?" and "From now on, we're going to unleash the truth about her". Lee spoofs Sharon Stone's interrogation scene from the 1992 film Basic Instinct. According to the singer's agency, two versions of the music video, a story-centered one and a choreography-centered one, would be released. The former features cameo appearances from designer Yoni P, Gil of Leessang, model Jang Yoon-ju, SPICA member Ju-hyun, and actress Kim Seul-gi. The latter was released on May 23, 2013.
"Bad Girls" went straight to number one on both the Gaon Singles and Download Charts in the first week of June 2013, as the album's pre-release single did. It also topped the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 for the week of June 8, 2013, becoming her first song to reach the chart's pole position, a week after debuting at number 25. This song won the first place on televised K-pop music shows like SBS's The Music Trend, KBS's Music Bank, MBC Music's Show Champion, and Mnet's M! Countdown, from June 2 to 13. As of , "Bad Girls" has sold about 900,000 digital copies in South Korea.
Lee performed "Bad Girls" as part of a highly praised collaboration stage at the 2013 SBS Gayo Daejeon televised concert, along with CL from girl group 2NE1, who had also released a bad girl themed song that year called "The Baddest Female".

Promotion

Lee held a special comeback show titled 2HYORI SHOW at the Ilsan KINTEX on May 14, 2013, performing her brand-new songs including "Bad Girls", "Full Moon", "Wouldn't Ask You", and "Bounced Checks of Love". The show was recorded in private, and aired through the cable channel Mnet on May 22, 2013, at 6:00 pm and 11:00 pm KST. The show was also broadcast on OnStyle, KMTV, tvN, O'live TV, and StoryOn at 6:00 pm the same day, simultaneously.
Lee began promoting her comeback album on various music programs, starting on the May 24, 2013, broadcast of KBS's Music Bank. Along with the lead single, she promoted "Miss Korea" on Music Bank and MBC Music's Show Champion, "Holly Jolly Bus" on MBC's Music Core and Mnet's M! Countdown, and "Full Moon" on SBS's The Music Trend for her comeback stages, respectively. She performed "Full Moon" also on MBC's Dancing with the Stars.
On KBS's You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook, Lee performed the two lead singles and "Show Show Show", along with her previous hits "10 Minutes", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and "U-Go-Girl".
The singer wrapped up promotions for Monochrome, performing a rock-arranged version of the title track, with featured artists Ahn Young-mi and Kim Seul-gi, at 2013 Mnet 20's Choice Awards.

Track listing

;Notes
Credits for Monochrome adapted from album liner notes.

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Awards and nominations

Annual music awards

Music program awards

Release history

Footnotes