TWICE leads hallyu revival in Japan
K-pop girl band sweeps charts with ‘Likey’
Popular K-pop girl band TWICE of JYP Entertainment has been delivering hit after hit with its songs such as “Like Ooh-Ahh,” “Cheer Up,” “TT,” “Knock Knock” and “Signal,” which all swept the local online music charts as soon as they were released.
Thanking fans for their tremendous support and love, TWICE released their first full-length album “Twicetagram,” Monday, expecting to top major online music charts here again.
TWICE’s new lead single “Likey” ranks third on the No. 1 online music streaming service Melon as of Tuesday, followed by Epik High’s “Love Story” at top and MeloMance’s “Gift” at second on the list. Melon owns over 60 percent share of the online music streaming market.
The girl band’s new album performance on the other platforms are showing success as “Likey” ranks second on Genie and Bugs and fourth on Mnet.
However, the K-pop girl group’s unprecedented success on the local music chart seems to be not as easy a step as many music fans thought. Alternative hip-hop trio Epik High’s new album in three years and indie musicians MeloMance’s unexpected success became obstacles for TWICE in continuing its winning streak on the K-pop scene.
“This year we celebrate the second anniversary of our debut and we are excited about our new album,” said group member Jihyo during the press showcase at YES24 LiveHALL in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. “We know Epik High and Lim Chang-jung released new albums recently and we are honored just by being one of the expected returning singers with them. They are super seniors to us and we are nervous.”
TWICE has recently emerged as a new rising hallyu star in Japan after Girls Generation and Kara by topping Oricon Daily Album Charts with their album “#TWICE” in Japan and selling over 270,000 copies. The group became the only Korean band to have their album recognized as a platinum piece by the Japanese Record Association.
The K-pop group gave credit to the preceding girl bands for paving the way in Japan.
“Before we even made our debut in Japan, many people showed interest in us and we appeared in magazines and starred in the morning news there. At first, we were surprised that they were interested but later we learned it was because previous girl bands such as Girls Generation and Kara paved the way for hallyu there. We are still lacking in many areas and I will put in more effort to visit our Japanese fans often in the future,” said Japanese member Sana.
All nine members of TWICE took part in writing the 13 songs of the new album with popular music producers Black Eyed Pilseung and Jeon Goon. Black Eyed Pilseung has been writing title tracks for the K-pop band since their debut album and pioneered a new music genre called “color pop.”
TWICE’s new music plays future electro pop genre with “Likey.” However, the members’ favorite song is “Turtle” written by songwriter e.one.
“I like ‘Likey’ very much but my favorite is the second track ‘Turtle.’ It’s a ballad and it adopts a good melody and lyrics,” said member Chae Young.
Meanwhile, “Twicetagram” topped the iTunes Album Chart in 11 countries such as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.