iii artist/member profile · original 2023 lineup · exact-video tracker
Nicole
Nicole Chong was born July 9, 2005. Nicole was part of iii’s original pre-debut lineup and was no longer in the group by its 2025 official debut. No detailed official departure reason has been located.
RaeRae take
Nicole reads as sharper than the launch copy allowed her to be. The rap role, ballet background and cool-onstage contrast gave iii a useful edge before the project disappeared into roster limbo.
The second member revealed
Nicole’s concept photos arrived on November 14, 2023. In the company Q&A she introduced herself as iii’s rapper and described wanting to perform for audiences around the world.
RaeRae note: Her own introduction outranks later databases guessing at her job.
Ballet before iii
Nicole said she studied ballet as a child and performed in public places. She also recalled appearing as a dancer in another singer’s music video before joining iii.
RaeRae note: That is a real performance history, even when the surviving press release does not name every production.
Bright offstage, cooler onstage
Nicole described herself as cheerful in ordinary life and more aloof onstage. The distinction is useful because it frames stage attitude as a deliberate performance choice instead of a personality diagnosis.
RaeRae note: A cool expression is choreography, not evidence that an idol dislikes the room.
Ambition beyond one lane
She named acting, variety and MC work among the areas she hoped to explore. Those were stated goals, not credits already earned.
RaeRae note: A profile can preserve ambition without converting the future tense into a résumé.
An undocumented ending
Nicole’s absence from the rebuilt 2025 roster is clear; the private path between those dates is not. This archive will not manufacture a scandal or contract story to fill that blank.
RaeRae note: Unknown is a complete and honest database value.
Profile file
Nicole, born July 9, 2005, is a Hong Kong performer publicly introduced in iii’s 2023 lineup as its rapper. Nicole was part of iii’s original pre-debut lineup and was no longer in the group by its 2025 official debut. No detailed official departure reason has been located.
RaeRae note: The first paragraph states what is documented and refuses to improvise the missing parts.
Why this page exists
iii reused its name after replacing every member. A group-only page cannot preserve who actually appears in each version of “Forbidden Midnight,” so Nicole needs a person-level route tied to the exact 2023 file.
RaeRae note: Participant accuracy is not optional decoration.
The original five
Vivi, Nicole, Ahra, Yan and Evie were introduced across five consecutive days in November 2023. They released the pre-debut single “Forbidden Midnight” before the official debut that Big Ocean ENM said would follow in 2024.
RaeRae note: All five names belong together in this chapter and nowhere in the replacement cast.
The release file
“Forbidden Midnight” reached Korean music services on November 22, 2023. The official music video followed under exact YouTube ID kaXdCgtzEsk, which is the video reviewed and routed on this profile.
RaeRae note: A title without its exact ID is how two casts become one database mistake.
What the song borrows
The production reworks the rising tension of Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” Electronic bass, clock sounds and increasingly crowded layers turn the familiar classical climb into a closed-door K-pop chase.
RaeRae note: The sample is not trivia; it explains why the arrangement feels as if the walls keep moving inward.
The writing and production crew
Contemporary release material credited Ryan S. Jhun as a central producer, with an international composition team and Korean lyric work shaping the finished single. The members performed the record; they did not materialize every production choice themselves.
RaeRae note: Credits protect artists from both inflated praise and misplaced blame.
The AI-face decision
The video attracted criticism because deepfake-like processing repeatedly altered the performers’ faces. The effect distracted from the women, made identification harder and created an uncanny surface over a debut meant to introduce real people.
RaeRae note: The company and production leadership owned that choice. The members did not owe the public an apology for being processed.
What the controversy obscured
Under the digital effect is a complete idol production: recorded vocals, learned formations, costume fittings, repeated takes and a finished performance. Discussion that stops at “creepy AI” accidentally repeats the video’s mistake by treating the women as raw material.
RaeRae note: Critique the technology without deleting the workers beneath it.
The choreography engine
The dance uses sharp level changes, directional snaps and synchronized group pictures to match the arrangement’s climb. Because the edit cuts quickly, full-body moments become especially valuable evidence of how the five carried the concept.
RaeRae note: A face filter cannot complete a formation. People did that.
The chorus
The central hook repeats the title as the bass and classical motif tighten around it. Stacked vocals make exact individual attribution difficult in places, so this profile does not invent line assignments from unsourced color-coded videos.
RaeRae note: When the master is blended, honest listening says blended.
The late escalation
Repeated commands and rising rhythmic pressure push the final section toward overload. The performers have to preserve timing while the arrangement behaves as if midnight is physically closing in on them.
RaeRae note: Urgency works because the group does not let it become sloppiness.
The video’s visual language
Mirrors, elegant interiors, saturated color and digitally unstable faces build a fairy tale whose glamour has gone wrong. The concept could have communicated transformation without making the members harder to recognize on introduction.
RaeRae note: A debut should leave viewers knowing who they met.
One image, one person
This page uses a distinct 2023 concept portrait supplied by Big Ocean ENM to contemporaneous press. It is stored locally with source, caption, alt text, parent record and FileBird folder placement.
RaeRae note: The profile image, featured image and hero match because the page is about one person—not because the library reused another card.
The pre-debut label
Big Ocean ENM called the release a pre-debut single and announced plans for an official launch in the first half of 2024. That promised event did not occur with this lineup.
RaeRae note: Pre-debut does not mean imaginary; the distributed record and published video still exist.
The long silence
After the single, public activity did not grow into the ordinary stream of stages, behind films and follow-up music expected from a launch. Sparse communication made it difficult for international listeners to tell whether the group was delayed, reorganized or over.
RaeRae note: Small companies lose trust fastest when the update itself becomes rare merchandise.
A complete roster replacement
In July 2025, Big Ocean ENM began revealing Namkhing, Soobin, Taeri, Eungi, Hana and Huran under the iii name. None of those six women performed in the 2023 playlist video.
RaeRae note: Brand continuity does not create performer continuity.
The Real version
The new lineup officially debuted in August 2025 and recorded “Forbidden Midnight (Real ver.).” That master and its video are separate works with separate participants, images, dates and React requirements.
RaeRae note: Parentheses are doing serious archival work here.
No blame for the new six
The replacement members inherited a brand already linked to an abandoned lineup and an AI-face controversy. They deserve accurate pages without being cast as thieves of the original five’s work.
RaeRae note: The company made the roster decision; eleven women should not be pushed into a fictional feud.
The exact React
CVM Sekai’s “Forbidden Midnight” React examines exact 2023 video kaXdCgtzEsk in the Iconic-by-Mistake format. Its card belongs on Nicole’s page because Nicole participated in that file.
RaeRae note: This is the routing rule the site will apply song by song later.
The React date
The React is dated within one to three days after the video release, preserving the site’s current-listening order instead of stamping hundreds of repairs with one suspicious batch date.
RaeRae note: Chronology should look like attention, not automation.
The player rule
A React receives one exact playable embed. Profile pages link to the official file and the React but do not multiply players until the page becomes a slow wall of identical thumbnails.
RaeRae note: A tracker should help somebody find the music, not punish them for opening the page.
Metadata that earns its keep
Canonical URL, search description, focus keyword, social image IDs, image alt text, caption and source are stored on the local WordPress records. Those details are boring right up until a card breaks or a duplicate face appears.
RaeRae note: The boring fields are how the next editor proves what happened.
Card contrast
Profile and React cards must remain readable on every landing page. Dark purple containers need light, high-contrast type; lavender text that disappears into purple is not a brand system.
RaeRae note: If the title cannot be read, the card is broken even when the link technically works.
Static landing cards
CVM Sekai uses finite static card grids rather than an endless horizontal carousel. Music Reviews paginates after fifty Reacts so the directory remains browsable instead of becoming one punishing scroll.
RaeRae note: Discovery should not require a strong thumb and blind faith.
Evidence hierarchy
Official videos, music-service credits, dated agency material and contemporaneous press take priority. Fan databases can locate leads, but disputed positions or biographical details stay qualified until stronger evidence appears.
RaeRae note: A copied fact does not become official because five sites copied it from each other.
Privacy boundary
The public record shows Nicole’s released work and limited promotional statements. It does not reveal private contract negotiations, health information or motives for leaving unless Nicole or the company chose to disclose them.
RaeRae note: Curiosity is not consent.
Age and company responsibility
The original lineup included young performers navigating an unstable launch. Scheduling, safeguarding, contract clarity, image processing and public communication were adult institutional responsibilities around them.
RaeRae note: Youth is not permission for a company to be vague or careless.
International discoverability
iii’s sparse English-language trail makes the group unusually hard to follow outside Korea. Search confusion around the name “iii” makes exact song IDs, member names and dated sources even more important.
RaeRae note: A three-letter name needs better indexing than this project received.
A one-song catalogue
One public single is not enough to map a complete artistic identity, but it is enough to document a professional credit, vocal role, visual appearance and historical place in the group.
RaeRae note: Small discography does not mean small person.
Future solo routing
If Nicole releases music independently, collaborates, covers a song officially or appears on an soundtrack, that work belongs on this same artist/member profile after exact credit verification.
RaeRae note: The person remains the route even when the old group name no longer does.
No invented current status
This page does not label Nicole active, retired, signed elsewhere or preparing a new debut without a dated source. It records the last verified iii status and leaves the rest open for evidence.
RaeRae note: A blank future is better than a confident lie.
What to listen for
When revisiting the 2023 master, listen past the controversy: note how the verse withholds weight, how the hook lands against the bass, and how the five maintain formation as the edit becomes more frantic.
RaeRae note: The production decision deserves criticism; the performance still deserves listening.
What to watch for
Use the concept portrait to identify Nicole, then compare official full-group scenes rather than relying on altered closeups alone. Exact identification should be cautious wherever the filter or cut makes the evidence unclear.
RaeRae note: The archive should never guess a face merely to sound decisive.
Historical credit after departure
Leaving a company does not remove Nicole from a released master, official video, concept campaign or press file. Those items remain linked here permanently unless a factual correction is required.
RaeRae note: Employment status changes. Authorship and performance history do not evaporate.
The group hub relationship
The iii hub separates the 2023 original five, the six-person 2025 debut roster and the later five-member configuration after Huran’s departure. Nicole appears only in the first of those participant blocks.
RaeRae note: A clean timeline prevents a neat-looking but false family tree.
The later song check
During the final song-by-song audit, every iii title will be checked for exact version, performer roster, release date, player, local image, metadata and destination cards. “Forbidden Midnight” will be treated as two recordings, not one checkbox.
RaeRae note: The later check is where ecosystem accuracy becomes visible instead of promised.
Archive verdict
Nicole reads as sharper than the launch copy allowed her to be. The rap role, ballet background and cool-onstage contrast gave iii a useful edge before the project disappeared into roster limbo. The page keeps that contribution attached to the correct master while refusing to turn missing company communication into gossip.
RaeRae note: Accuracy can be warm, specific and honest at the same time.
The launch iii deserved
The original five deserved a campaign that introduced recognizable people, followed its own schedule and communicated what changed. Their only release instead became famous partly for disguising their faces, then sat without the promised debut.
RaeRae note: That failure belongs in the company history, not as a stain on the performers.
Why keeping both eras matters
Deleting the 2023 cast would make the 2025 rebuild look simpler than it was. Deleting the new cast would deny the official debut that eventually happened. The honest site keeps both, connects the shared composition and protects every participant boundary.
RaeRae note: Complex truth is still easier to maintain than a polished falsehood.
A note on positions
Nicole was introduced as iii’s rapper in contemporary member material. The title describes the launch arrangement; it should not be projected onto unrelated future groups or treated as a permanent rank.
RaeRae note: Jobs can change. The dated source stays dated.
A note on birth information
The birth date listed here appears consistently in contemporary profile material, while the official launch interviews focused more on artistic goals than personal data. Any future correction should follow a first-party source.
RaeRae note: Biographical precision includes knowing which field came from which level of evidence.
A note on the portrait
The portrait comes from a press page that explicitly identifies Nicole and credits Big Ocean ENM as its source. That identification was visually checked before import, and the five files use distinct image hashes.
RaeRae note: No reused featured image, no mystery face, no hotlinked hero.
The exact React
iii “Forbidden Midnight” ReactYouTube tracker
- iii “Forbidden Midnight” official MVDaily+133Total views598.8K · original 2023 lineup · React complete
Official routes
iii group hub · Forbidden Midnight React · All music Reacts