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| Nicole Huang |
| Discography |
Nicole Huang (Chinese: 尼科尔 黃; Korean: 니콜 황; born on January 15, 1999 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan), known in Taiwan as Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲), is a Taiwanese-born Malaysian singer, rapper, soloist, and model under SKYME Label of Malaysian-Hakka Chinese descent. She is best known for being a former member of Malaysian girl group W.I.L.D under Universal Music Malaysia, a former contestant of MBS's reality talent search competition SOL SIGNAL as a member of three-member temporary co-ed group G03.
Known as "New Pop Queen of Malaysia" by her fans all over the world, Nicole is also known for her solo career. She made her solo debut on June 15, 2019 with EP FEARLESS GIRL in Malaysia and on May 5, 2022 in South Korea with a Korean EP FEARLESS GIRL, which consists of all title tracks from her Chinese releases from 2019 to 2021 recorded in Korean. Since her participation in SOL SIGNAL, Nicole has been one of the most popular non-winning contestants of the show. Despite her departure from Universal Music Malaysia in 2021, she continued releasing solo releases as independent and later as SKYME Label's artist. Since 2022, Nicole is under SKYME Label. Due to her huge international fame, she is considered as one of the most anticipating members of agency's upcoming girl group - NOVA, which will be formed by survival show GIRLS' PARADISE: Road To Glory.
Early life[]
Nicole Huang Wen-ling (also known by her Cantonese name Wong Man-ling) was born on January 15, 1999 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan as the only child to Huang Wen-yin (b. 1965), Taiwanese father of Malaysian-Hakka Chinese descent, and He Jing-pei (b. 1969, d.2006), Taiwanese mother. Both of her parents were active in entertainment industry during the 80s and 90s. HERCULES's Welbie is Nicole's cousin, as her mother and Welbie's father were sibblings. Grandparents on both sides emigrated to Taiwan from China in 1948 in fear of reprisals by the communist authorities. Nicole's family was very wealthy and never experienced financial difficulties, but was also known for its charity to people in need. Her father is the head of a charity organization working for people repressed by the Chinese authorities and supporting the independence of Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as for orphans and people with disabilities. Unfortunately, her mother died in a car accident in 2006, she was 37 years old. In addition, the father was wrongly accused of expropriation of money and tax fraud. These two events were the reasons for moving from Taiwan to Hong Kong.
During the stay in Hong Kong, Nicole's father met his second wife, Wong Chun-chuk, a popular actress and model. Although her father never returned to Taiwan, he continued his charity work there. His work wasn't well received by the local goverment and authorities. He was even threatened with arrest for supporting the struggle for independence. Shortly after their marriage in 2007, the family left Hong Kong for Malaysia. Nicole lived there until 2021, she attended to Chinese-language primary school, middle school and high school, which she gradulated in 2020. During her While in Malaysia, she grew up listening to artists such as Girls' Generation, 2PM, 2NE1, Big Bang and FINEKIZ. Her parents also made sure that she knew the culture of her country, Taiwan. Her first record, which she got from her parents, was the eleventh album of a popular Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai - Myself. Despite her parents support, Nicole didn't want to become a singer. Insted she decided to be a model and an actress. However, one of her classmates from high school convinced her to record covers of songs. After a few days of throghts, Nicole agreed to do so. She opened a YouTube channel where she posted covers. One of them, a cover of I'm Not Yours by Jolin Tsai and Namie Amuro, which she posted in 2016, became a viral in Internet. Suddenly, she started feeling the drive to carve a path for herself igniting within her, and auditioned for Universal Music Malaysia.
Career[]
2017-2021: W.I.L.D, solo debut, first solo mini tour, departure from Universal Music Malaysia[]
On January 1, 2017, Universal Music Malaysia annouced that a new Mando- and Cantopop girl group formed by an audition, which was held in 2016, would debut soon. On January 10, the label released a statement that the group's name will be W.I.L.D (see more). The management also added that the girl group will consist of 5 members. On February 1, Nicole was revealed as the first member of the group.
Over 4 months later after an annoucement, on May 15, 2017, W.I.L.D released it's 1st EP titled GIRLS. The album was well received by both fans and critics. The release even entered Bilboard Top 100, it's highest ranking was 40th. Following the success of GIRLS, W.I.L.D became a very popular girl group, even beyond Malaysia. The title track from the EP - Da Girls was nominated for win in Music Bank. The song won the episode on June 22nd, being the first Malaysian and non-Korean girl group to do so. During it's 4 years of promotions, W.I.L.D released 1 studio album, 7 EPs and 6 non-album digital singles, which most of them became viral hits. The group had also 3 tours (2 in Asia and 1 World Tour) and was received/nominated for many prestigious musical awards.
Because of W.I.L.D's rising popularity, on March 8, 2019, Nicole annouced that she will debut this year with an EP. On May 5, she released her first EP FEARLESS GIRL. Nicole wrote the lyrics for all of 5 tracks from the release. Like W.I.L.D's releases, FEARLESS GIRL was also well received. However it was critisized for it's explict lyrics on some of the tracks. Despite the critical opinions, Nicole promoted the EP during her first solo mini tour NICOLE 1ST MINI SOLO TOUR - FEARLESS GIRL. The concerts were hold in Kuala Lampur, Kajang, and Johor Bahru. Nicole also performed in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sydney, Australia, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Hong Kong and in Singapore.
During her time as Universal Music Malaysia's artist, Nicole also released 2 more EPs: Metropolis (January 2019), and My Vision (August 2020), and 1 studio album titled I Dream (February 2020). Metropolis is strongly infuenced by hip-hop and K-pop, while My Vision is a combination of electronica, EDM and hip-hop. I Dream is Nicole's first release to feature an English-language track - the English version of the album's title track I Dream. Nicole was going to promote the album on world tour I DREAM - The World Tour, unfortunatelly she performed only 4 times (in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, Taipei, Taiwan, Seoul, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan), as the rest of the tour got cancelled due to COVID-19. In addiction, W.I.L.D's members decided to halt group's activities in March 2020. However, the group released one more EP titled Extraordinary Girl on September 15, 2020. The EP was their final release a group, as W.I.L.D disbanded on January 15, 2021 due to 4 from 5 members' departure from Universal Music Malaysia, on that day the group had a graduation ceremony. Nicole remained as solo artist in the agency until May 2021.
2021-2022: SOL SIGNAL, independent soloist, moving to SKYME Label[]
Sometime in 2021, Nicole, along with Lucas Lim and June Huang - the soloists who were featured in My Vision, participated in MBS's reality talent search competition SOL SIGNAL as member of project three-member co-ed group G03. Despite that her team didn't won, they were got to know other contestants, who debuted after the show such as H6bble's Jeong Hancheol, SOLVIZ's members, ORCHID's Insu and KAILLEO. On June 29, 2021, Nicole released her first and only release as independent artist, a four-track EP Good Mood Maker, which is a description of her childhood and successful career.
2022-present: Korean solo debut, I'm Nicole Tour, GIRLS' PARADISE: Road To Glory, Sunday Night, reunion rumors[]
On February 10, 2022, Nicole annouced that she will debut in Korea. Later that day, she stated that she was having talks with K-pop agency. On March 1, she was officialy confirmed as SKYME Label's artist. The agency released a statement regardling of her Korean solo debut. On May 5, 2022, Nicole released her first Korean EP FEARLESS GIRL. The EP consists of all title tracks from her Chinese EPs and studio album recorded in Korean. The title track of EP is a Korean-language version of her solo debut song FEARLESS GIRL. She promoted the release in Korean music chart shows for 3 weeks, winning there 4 times (2 times at Music Bank, once at The Show and once at M Countdown).
On October 29, 2022, Nicole released her first Korean full album titled I'm Nicole, which was promoted on South Korean music chart shows. The title track from the album, "Tiki Taka", won 10 times (3 at Music Bank, 3 at M Countdown, 2 at Show! Music Core, 1 at The Show and 1 at Show Champion). She also went on her first (second when including I DREAM - The World Tour) world tour - I'm Nicole Tour from December to February.
On January 26, 2023, she released her first digital single Have A Nice Day. The single was also released in Mandarin Chinese, it marked her comeback to Chinese-language releases since over 1.5 year. On February 25, 2022, she was announced as one of four idols who will be debuting in the winning group formed by SKYME Label's survival show GIRLS' PARADISE: Road To Glory. She was also comfirmed as one of Special Mentors of the show. On February 27, 2023, Nicole signed a contract with Japanese music corporation avex trax for her future musical promotions in Japan.
On February 28, Nicole annouced that she will release her first English digital single Sunday Night on March 3, which was her entry for Asiavision Song Contest 2023 as Malaysia's representative. The single includes 2 tracks: Sunday Night and English version of Have A Nice Day.
On March 2, Nicole posted a photo featuring with her fellow members from W.I.L.D. The photo caused rumors that the group would have a reunion soon.
On March 8, she decided to not participate in Asiavision Song Contest 2023 due to her busy schedules for this year.
Personal life[]
Nicole can speak six languages: Mandarin Chinese (native), Cantonese (fluent), Malay (fluent), Korean (advanced), English (advanced) and Japanese (fluent). She is also proficient in French, Spanish and Tamil. Until moving to South Korea, she was relatively private about her personal life and had a limited social media presence outside YouTube and Instagram, due to problems with her family's foundation. Back in 2017, Nicole has also had no confirmed romantic relationships or dating rumors since debut. She is also bisexual, as she dates anyone, regardlss of gender.
After 8 years of training in Malaysia and Korean, in 2022, Nicole became a fourth-degree black belter in taekwondo. Sangwon cites several artists as his role models and biggest inspirations, namely Jolin Tsai, Namie Amuro, BLACKPINK's Lisa, Sangwon, REVICE's Masumi and SABERA's Angela. She also looks up to her cousin - HERCULES's Welbie.
Musical inspiration[]
Nicole's solo discography is strongly infuenced by electronica, hip-hop and pop music. She also stated in 2021 during W.I.L.D's disbandment concert, that the group was another musical artist, that influenced her: "Even now, when our group's journey comes to end, I will never forget this time in W.I.L.D. I'm really grateful to all my bandmates and to you, fans. They (her bandmates) have been infuencing me since I debuted in the group. I hope that we'll perform again. Thank you, everybody, for your suport."
Public image[]
Nicole is considered as one of the most popular Malaysian pop singers in the world. She has gained recognition worldwide for all three of his works : as a member of popular Malaysian girl group W.I.L.D, M-pop and K-pop soloist, who sold over one million physical album copies combined between 2019 and 2022. In 2020, Nicole came in Forbes Power Celebrity Malaysia for the first time, ranking at 20th place. Nicole mentions many prominent K-pop idols, her parents and her cousin - HERCULES's Welbie. She said, that she is looking up to many people for motivation and encouraged many young people to never giver up on their dreams.
Other ventures[]
Apart from being an idol, Nicole has worked as model for many prominent fashion magazines and endorsements for over 8 years. She is the Malaysian ambassador of many worldwide popular brands such as YSL, Puma, Adidas, and Paco Rabane. One of her non-idol passions is visual art. Because of that, W.I.L.D gained worldwide attention for the band's elaborate aesthetics, great quality MVs, and promotional material, most of which Nicole created herself. She was even proposed in 2020 to be a creative director of Universal Music Malaysia, but she declined due to her young age. Despite that, had a certain degree of involvement in several projects for other companies such as Universal Music, Pepsi, Toshiba and Samsung. Many key executives have admittedly desired Nicole's unique marketing style, which fully utilizes art and diversity as one of the important components in entertainment industry.
Endorsements[]
Nicole has been amassing numerous endorsements for over 6 years, appearing in commercials, campaigns and advertisements as both a solo artist and with her fellow members of W.I.L.D. Since her rise to international popularity, Nicole made gradual efforts to focus on supporting both small-medium businesses and monopolistic corporations.
- Toshiba (2017)
- YSL (2017)
- Turkish Airlines (2018; with W.I.L.D)
- Puma (2018)
- Adidas (2018)
- Calvin Klein (2019; with W.I.L.D)
- Pepsi (2019; with W.I.L.D)
- Visit Hong Kong (2019)
- Visit Malaysia (2019)
- Starbucks (2019; with W.I.L.D)
- Samsung (2020; with W.I.L.D)
- Paco Rabane (2021)
- Huawei (2022)
- Visit Seoul (2022)
- Acer (2023)
- Huawei (2023)
Discography[]
Korean[]
Studio albums[]
- I'm Nicole (2022)
EPs[]
- FEARLESS GIRL (2022)
Digital singles[]
- Have A Nice Day (2023)
Other releases[]
- SOL SIGNAL - We Are Young (2021) (as member of G03)
- SOL SIGNAL - COOL TEENZ (2021) (as member of G03)
- SOL SIGNAL- Newcomers (2021) (as member of G03; original by Arriviste)
Features[]
- Bang Yongguk - Hot and Cold (2023)
Chinese[]
Studio albums[]
- I Dream (2020)
EPs[]
- FEARLESS GIRL (2018)
- Metropolis (2019)
- My Vision (2020)
- Good Mood Maker (2021)
Digital singles[]
- Have A Nice Day (2023)
English[]
Digital singles[]
- Sunday Night (2023)
Concerts[]
World tours[]
- I DREAM - The World Tour (2020) (cancelled after 4 concerts)
- I'm Nicole Tour (2022-2023)
Mini tours[]
- NICOLE 1ST MINI SOLO TOUR - FEARLESS GIRL (2018)
Filmography[]
Survival shows[]
- SOL SIGNAL (2021; MBS) - contestant, member of G03
- GIRLS' PARADISE: Road To Glory (2023; KBC) - special mentor, debuting member of NOVA
Awards and nominations[]
As of 2022, Nicole has received 74 nominations (including 25 solo) for domestic and international awards as both a soloist and W.I.L.D member, winning 56 (16 solo) of them. Ceremonies he has successfully received prizes in include Anugerah Industri Muzik (10 trophies), Mnet Asian Music Awards (5 awards), MelOn Music Awards (4 trophies), KBS Entertainment Awards (4 trophies), and Golden Disk Awards (3 trophies). In addiction, she also received many certificates from Billboard, MelOn, Genie, and Oricon for solo albums.
Trivia[]
- Nicole was the tallest member of W.I.L.D and the second tallest member of G03 (behind Lucas Lim and before June Huang), standing at 183 cm.
- She is the first Taiwanese artist under HYPE Corporation.
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