Comparisons to K-pop’s Blackpink don’t bother Dolla: Malaysian girl group say ‘we are quite different’ but that it’s a compliment all the same

Many Malaysian K-pop fans have attacked the Kuala Lumpur-based girl group for being a bad copy of Blackpink, but the group says ‘we never intended to copy them’
Dolla are one of the first mainstream M-pop bands to sing about female empowerment – ‘A big part of our goal is to let girls know that gender is no boundary’

K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop

Marco Ferrarese

Published: 2:15pm, 5 Dec 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

It can’t feel good to be accused of ripping off another music act. For Kuala Lumpur-based girl group Dolla, though, being called a clone of K-pop superstars Blackpink has turned out to be something of a career boost.

Dolla, signed by Universal Music Malaysia in 2019, are a multi-ethnic group formed by Malay girls Sabronzo and Syasya and Chinese members Tabby and Angel. “We hope that each member will translate her culture along with her own unique abilities into each song, so that Dolla proudly represents Malaysia as the melting pot that it is,” 25-year-old Sabronzo, the oldest member of the group, tells the Post.

Unlike typical K-pop refrains, Dolla’s music leans more towards global dance-pop spiced with hip-hop bursts, some reggaeton beats, and lyrics in Bahasa Malaysia – the form of Malay used as the official language in Malaysia.

Still, K-pop fans in Malaysia – the seventh most significant K-pop market in the world, according to a report titled #KpopTwitter 2020 by Twitter – are not entirely happy with Dolla. Instead of appreciating the quartet’s localised spin on the genre, many have attacked them on social media and accused them of being a bad copy of Blackpink.

“We take it as a compliment as […] Blackpink are the most famous girl group in the music industry right now,” says Syasya. “That being said, we never intended to copy them, as we also want people to know us for who we are.”

Apart from Blackpink, Syasya says girl bands such as Britain’s Little Mix and the US-based Fifth Harmony were equally influential in defining Dolla’s image and sound.

Dolla are a multi-ethnic group formed by two Malay girls, Sabronzo and Syasya, and two Chinese members, Tabby and Angel. Photo: Universal Music Malaysia

The K-pop comparisons, which started before Dolla released their second single, Impikan, on October 30, have been no bad thing. After making headlines in Malaysia, they were mentioned on South Korean news portal Allkpop – and, as a result, Make You Wanna (their first video released in March 2020), has had more than 2.8 million views.

While it’s easy to dismiss the four Malaysian girls singing and dancing in glamorous outfits as yet another group putting a globalised spin on the K-pop phenomenon, Dolla’s international influences are evident in their dance moves.

“We may sing and dance like K-pop bands, but we think we are quite different as we don’t sing in Korean,” says Angel. She adds that the band chose to sing in Bahasa Malaysia to clearly identify themselves as M-pop, or Malaysian pop.

There aren’t many other Malaysian girl bands Dolla can look to for inspiration. Besides 1990s all-girl groups such as Elite and Feminin, or Billboard chart-topping singer Yuna, the country has not produced many successful female pop groups. Malaysia’s female performers do not tend to express themselves with the sexual innuendos or revealing outfits that can be a trademark of K-pop acts like AOA, Girls’ Generation and Blackpink.

Dolla, however, are also a far cry from tame Malaysian Chinese girl groups like Four Golden Princesses, M-Girls and Q-Genz – groups that focus on producing songs sung in Chinese for the Lunar New Year. Perhaps the closest thing to Dolla’s youthful energy and sultry image is Ella Aminuddin.

Known as the “Queen of Rock”, Ella was the first Malay woman to sing Western-influenced hard rock in the 1980s – a time before Malaysia’s progressive Islamisation – when long-haired, all-male rock groups such as Search, Lefthanded, Sofea and Rusty Blade ruled Malaysian stadiums.

Angel says the band chose to sing in Bahasa Malaysia to clearly identify their music as M-pop. Photo: Universal Music Malaysia

Tabby says a big part of the group’s goal is to let girls know that gender is no boundary. Photo: Universal Music Malaysia

Dolla are one of the first mainstream Malaysian pop bands to sing about female empowerment, defying Islamic stereotypes of women as modest wallflowers in headscarves.

“As a girl group, a big part of our goal is to let girls know that gender is no boundary […] while inspiring and uplifting both our female and male fans,” says Tabby.

Composed by Swedish producers Ludwig Lindell, Daniel Caesar and Karl-Oskar Gummesson – the names behind some of the K-pop hits by the likes of Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet and Loona – Impikan (which translates as “dreaming”, though the song is titled Watch Me Glow in English) is an ode to women finding their own path.

“Both our songs, and especially Watch Me Glow , have been about not letting anyone stop you from being yourself and achieving your dreams,” says Tabby.

“We hope that each member will translate her culture along with her own unique abilities into each song, so that Dolla proudly represents Malaysia as the melting pot that it is,” Sabronzo says. Photo: Universal Music Malaysia

Syasya says girl bands such as Britain’s Little Mix and the US-based Fifth Harmony were equally influential in defining Dolla’s image and sound. Photo: Universal Music Malaysia

“You have to master the ability to do multiple things like singing and dancing with good stamina, and balance it all with the other members in the group,” adds Angel. But she believes it’s worth the effort, as the band keeps pushing boundaries in the local music scene.

“[Whatever happens,] we’ll keep trying something new and different with our music and sound.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Send in the clones: Malaysia’s lookalike K-pop girl band have last laugh

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