This is the story of a girl group that touches our hearts: Twice
This is the story of a girl group that touches our hearts: Twice
Author: Helen Bosch / Oct 22, 2021
K-Pop Blog > Artists > Twice
The nine-member girl group Twice is best known for their sweet concepts and upbeat music. The group didn't take long to reach the top of the charts and are now an integral part of the K-pop scene!
However, the path to the debut of the girl group as we know them today was not entirely straight: for example, it wouldn't have taken much and Twice would have debuted with only seven members. Would you like to find out more about it? Let's take a look at the making of Twice together!
Here you can find all of Twice's albums and fan articles!
- Pre-Debut (6MIX, Sixteen)
- debut
- 2016: Page Two, Twicecoaster, Signal
- 2017: Successes in Korea, Japan and the USA!
- 2018 - 2022: New hits, milestones and records!
- 2022 - Today: Recent successes
- Bonus
Originally, a new girl group was supposed to debut under JYP Entertainment around 2014. It had been more than 3 years since the debut of the last girl group “Miss A” and the agency’s only other girl group, Wonder Girls, went on hiatus. So it was time for something new! In fact, there was already a trainee group called “6MIX” that was preparing for a debut with six people.
6MIX
6MIX originally consisted of Cecilia, Lena, Minyoung, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo. The final three later debuted in Twice. Cecilia left JYP Entertainment in early 2014 and was replaced by Sana. At the end of 2014, Lena surprisingly left the agency. 6MIX was dissolved and the remaining members took part in the survival show “Sixteen” in 2015.
Sixteen
The first episode of Sixteen aired in May 2015. 16 trainees from JYP Entertainment took part, hoping to end up debuting in the new girl group.
In the first episode, the trainees were divided into two groups: minor and major. Major consisted of the seven trainees who would debut and Minor consisted of the nine trainees who would attempt to replace the members of the Major team by the end of the show. As you may have noticed, there were only seven spots on the Major Team! At that time it was still planned that the new girl group would debut with seven members.
After the last appearance in the finals, the major team consisted of Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Jihyo, Mina, Chaeyoung, Sana and Dahyun. So everything was actually decided and disappointment spread among both the other trainees and their fans. But Jin Young Park turned the tide when he announced that he would be adding two more members! He justified his decision by saying that he found Twice to be incomplete with seven. One of the additional members was Tzuyu, who was particularly popular with viewers.
Anyone who thought that nothing shocking could happen now was surprised again! As the last member of Twice, Park Jin Young unexpectedly called on Momo, who had already been eliminated in the sixth episode! Momo had mingled with the audience with the other three eliminated and, like everyone else, was completely taken by surprise. Park Jin Young explained that Momo was chosen by him, the entire A&R team and the coaches.
With this final surprise, Twice was complete and ready to debut!
| Artist name | Real name | Birthday | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nayeon | Im Nayeon | 22.09.1995 | Korea |
| Jeongyeon | Yoo Jeongyeon | 01.11.1996 | Korea |
| Momo | Hirai Momo | 09.11.1996 | Japan |
| A lot | Minatozaki Sana | 29.12.1996 | Japan |
| Jihyo | Park Jihyo | 01.02.1997 | Korea |
| Mina | Myoui Mina | 24.03.1997 | Japan |
| Dahyun | Kim Dahyun | 28.03.1998 | Korea |
| Chaeyoung | Son Chaeyoung | 23.04.1999 | Korea |
| Tzuyu | Chou Tzuyu | 14.06.1999 | Taiwan |
Several trainees who were eliminated in Sixteen have now also made it onto the stage: Somi debuted in I.O.I in 2016 and has been active as a solo artist since 2019. Chaeyeon made her debut in IZ*ONE in 2018 and has also been on stage solo since 2022. Jiwon debuted in fromis_9, Chaeryeong in Itzy and Natty in Kiss of Life.
debut
The name “Twice” means that the girl group will touch our hearts twice. Once through the ears and once through the eyes. All fans can confirm that the name was well chosen. Or are we the only ones who spent hours watching the girl group perform and listening to the music on loop?
Twice made their debut on October 20, 2015 with their first album “The Story Begins”. In the title song “Like Ooh-Ahh,” the members sing that they just want to fall in love and experience completely new feelings. They even make zombie hearts beat with their upbeat music!
Both were initially moderately successful in the charts; the album debuted at number four on the Gaon Album Charts and the title track peaked at number 22 on the Gaon Digital Charts. However, through subsequent performances and promotions, the girl group managed to turn things around and enter the top 10 of various Korean charts in mid-November! At the end of the year, Twice won the “Best New Female Artist Award” at the Mnet Asian Music Awards.
2016: Page Two, Twicecoaster, Signal
With their first comeback, the girl group proved that the turnaround was not a fluke. The album “ Page Two ”, released on April 24, 2016, debuted at number two on the Gaon Album Charts and number six on the Billboard World Album Charts! In addition, the title song “ Cheer Up ” topped several real-time charts as well as the Gaon Digital Charts and the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100! “Cheer Up” also earned Twice their first win on a music show.
On October 20th, Twice celebrated their first anniversary by releasing a new song called “One in a Million.”
This is also included on the third album “Twicecoaster: Lane 1”, which was released on October 24th. The new album sold more in seven days than "Page Two" did in five months and ended up being the best-selling album by a K-pop girl group in 2016! Additionally, the title track “TT” topped the Gaon Digital Charts for four consecutive weeks!
Not to be forgotten: the gesture in the choreo with which the members copy the crying emoji “TT” in the chorus is probably one of the girl group’s most famous “dance moves” to this day!
At the end of the year, Twice celebrated some significant successes. The music video for "Like Ooh-Aah" reached 100 million views on YouTube in November. Only three K-pop girl groups had previously achieved this milestone. Plus, Twice were the first to do it with a debut video! Additionally, "Cheer Up" won "Song of the Year" at both the "Melon Music Awards" and the "Mnet Asian Music Awards". So the new year could come!
2017: Successes in Korea, Japan and the USA!
The girl group began 2017 with a three-day concert in February entitled "Twice 1st Tour: Twiceland - The Opening". The fourth album “Twicecoaster: Lane 2” was released at the end of February. It is a repackage album that contains the seven well-known songs from Lane 1 as well as two brand new tracks. After several hits, it was no longer a big surprise at this point that both the album and the title track "Knock Knock" reached high chart positions. Among other things, Twice topped the Korean Gaon Album Charts and the Gaon Digital Charts.
This was followed on May 15th by the fifth album “Signal” with the title song of the same name. The girl group then took a new step and announced their Japanese debut!
Japan debut
The first compilation album “#Twice” was released on June 28, 2017. The 10-part tracklist consists of the Korean and Japanese versions of the five singles released so far. The album debuted at number two on the Oricon Album Charts and sold more copies in its first week than any other Korean artist in the last two years!
On October 5th, Japanese fans had another reason to celebrate. Twice's first original Japanese single "One More Time" was released on YouTube:
As you can see, the girl group captured the hearts of fans in Japan just as quickly as in Korea and is now considered one of the most popular Korean idol groups in Japan! The three Japanese members Momo, Mina and Sana are probably particularly happy about this success.
Twice didn't rest on their laurels and presented two more Korean albums in the second half of the year:
The studio album “Twicetagram” (October) and the repackage album “Merry & Happy” (December). With their sixth album “Twicetagram” and the title track “Likey”, Twice took first place in both the “Billboard World Album Charts” and the “Billboard World Digital Album Charts”. This made the girl group the first female K-pop artist to top both charts at the same time! It was only almost two years later that Twice placed in the song sales charts for the second time, this time with the song “Feel Special” from the album of the same name.
2018 - 2022: New hits, milestones and records!
In the first three years of their career, Twice rose rapidly and secured a place in the hearts of fans. And over the next few years, the girl group continued to release hits and break records; so many that it would take too long to list them all here. That's why we picked out the most interesting milestones for you:
2018
With their eighth album "What Is Love?" In 2018, the girl group became the first female artist to be certified platinum by the KMCA (Korea Music Content Association). They received the award for selling 250,000 copies.
In the same year, several major successes followed in Japan: The third Japanese single “Wake Me Up” was the first physical release by a foreign artist to be certified double platinum in 2018!
The Japanese studio album “BDZ” (Bulldozer) sold more than 89,7000 copies on the first day after its release in September. No K-pop girl group has ever achieved such high sales on the first day of an album release in Japan! Additionally, Twice are only the fifth foreign artist in Oricon Chart history to top both the Weekly Singles Chart and the Album Chart!
2019
In 2019, several releases contributed to Twice becoming the best-selling foreign artist of the year in Japan: Among other things, the girl group released the second compilation album “#Twice2” in March, which sold over 200,000 copies in the first week!
Six months later, Twice topped Billboard's World Digital Song Sales Chart with the Korean single “Feel Special” from the album of the same name. The girl group also broke their sales record with the album: in the first week after its release, they sold no less than 150,000 copies of Feel Special!
2020
The mini album “More and More”, which was released in June, was an even bigger success: it sold 563 thousand copies, setting the record for the highest sales by a girl group in the history of the Gaon charts!
In September 2020, Twice topped the Japanese Oricon Charts for the seventh time with “#Twice3”! After BoA, the girl group is only the second female foreign artist to achieve this!
In contrast to #Twice, #Twice2 and #Twice3 consist entirely of Japanese songs.
2021
Twice released the mini album “Taste of Love” on June 11, 2021 including the title song “Alcohol-Free”. With the album, the girl group became the first female Korean artist to chart in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. In fact, Twice even reached number 6.
Even after all these years, Twice is not resting and daring to take on new challenges: On October 1st, the first fully English single “The Feels” was released. With success: It topped the global YouTube music video charts and placed in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, among others. “The Feels” was even certified gold in the United States for selling more than half a million digital units! In Japan, the upbeat song went platinum with 100 million streams.
These numbers are proof that Twice's popularity is still growing and that we can expect a lot more from the singers!
The girl group also outdid themselves once again with the following album: “Formula of Love: O+T=<3” is the third Korean studio album and was released on November 12th. It contains, among other things, a Korean version of “The Feels” and the title song “Scientist”. Fans pre-ordered the album 630 thousand times, more than any other Twice album before! It was considered Twice's best-selling album for a few months, but was replaced in 2022.
2022 - Today: Recent successes
Only two albums were released in 2022, but both were a big hit! The Japanese studio album “Celebrate,” released on July 27, debuted at No. 1 on Oricon's Daily Album Chart on the same day.
The Korean mini album “Between 1&2” (August 2022) exceeded the sales figures of its predecessor “Formula of Love: O+T=<3” and replaced it as Twice's best-selling album. But “Between 1&2” didn’t hold the position for long either, because the next Korean album “Ready to Be” was even more successful! It was released in March 2023 and has sold 1.67 million copies according to the Circle Chart! (As of February 2024) Now the only question that remains is whether Twice can go one better with their next album “With You-th” in a few days!
The girl group also kicked off their “Ready to Be” World Tour in 2023:
Twice have been in business for several years now and have of course given a few concerts and tours. The new tour is Twice's fifth world tour, but it is still special because it has already brought with it many "firsts":
The tour began in Seoul on April 15, 2023 and traveled through Asia, North America and South America. Twice also visited Europe for the first time! Tickets regularly sold out so quickly that over 10 additional dates were added. The tour currently includes 49 concerts and is scheduled to end on July 28, 2024 in Yokohama, Japan. It's Twice's biggest world tour to date: it attracted 345,000 viewers and grossed over $54 million!
Many stadiums on Twice Tour will be the venue for a K-pop girl group's own concert for the first time. These include, for example, the SoFi Stadium (US), the MetLife Stadium (US) or the Jakarta International Stadium. Twice are also the first female artist ever to hold their own concert at Japan's Nissan Stadium!
In the eight years since their debut, Twice have set a number of records and achieved success that others can only dream of. Nevertheless, the girl group doesn't sit back and continues to release one hit after another! We are sure that Nayeon, Momo and the others will be with us for a long time and can't wait to congratulate them on further milestones.
Bonus
Did you know that both Jihyo and Jeongyeon changed their birth names?
Jeongyeon's original name was Kyung Wan. Unfortunately, she was bullied as a child because of this, as “Kyung Wan” is more commonly known as a boy’s name. It got so bad that her mother decided to change her daughter's name to "Jeongyeon." Jeongyeon was and still is very happy about the change. By the way, she has two older sisters, one of whom is an actress! Gong Seungyeon has played several leading roles in K-dramas, including “Are You Human?”.
Jihyo used to be called Jisoo even as a trainee, but before "Sixteen" she changed her name to "Jihyo". It was never officially explained why, but fans believe it's because there are already many Jisoo's in the entertainment industry and she wanted to stand out. Jihyo is also known to have completed one of the longest training periods in the K-Pop industry. She was a trainee for a full 10 years and practically grew up at JYP Entertainment!
Sources: Billboard, Circle Chart (formerly Gaon), Forbes, Sixteen, Social Media
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