Twice (Hangul: 트와이스; Japanese: トゥワイス) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment through the 2015 reality show Sixteen. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. The group debuted on October 20, 2015, with the extended play (EP) The Story Begins.

Twice rose to fame in 2016 with their single “Cheer Up”: the song charted at number 1 on the Gaon Digital Chart and became the best-performing single of the year. It also won “Song of the Year” at two major music awards shows—Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their subsequent single “TT”, from their third EP Twicecoaster: Lane 1, claimed the top spot for four consecutive weeks. The EP was the highest selling K-pop girl group album of 2016, which sold 350,852 copies by year-end. Within 19 months after debut, Twice has sold over 1.2 million units of their four EPs and special album.

The group officially debuted in Japan on June 28, 2017, under Warner Music Japan with the release of their first compilation album titled #Twice. The album debuted at number 2 on the Oricon Albums Chart, which sold 136,157 copies within seven days, the highest first week album sales of a K-pop artist in Japan in two years. It was followed by the release of Twice’s first original Japanese maxi single titled “One More Time” in October. With over 250,000 unit sales, Twice became the first Korean girl group that earned Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for both album and CD single in the same year. Twice ranked third on Top Artist category of Billboard Japan’s 2017 Year-End Rankings.

On December 19, 2013, JYP Entertainment (JYPE) announced that they would debut a new girl group in the first half of 2014, the first female group to come out of the company since the debut of Miss A in 2010. On February 27, 2014, JYPE trainees Lena and Cecilia were confirmed as members of the group tentatively called as 6mix, while other rumoured members included JYPE trainees Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Jisoo (later Jihyo) and Minyoung. After Cecilia’s departure, JYPE trainee Sana replaced her and 6mix was about to debut when Lena left the company, effectively canceling their debut.

On February 11, 2015, Park Jin-young announced that the lineup of JYPE’s upcoming seven-member girl group would be decided through Sixteen, a competition survival show that would air on Mnet later that year. The show began on May 5 and ended with Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, and Chaeyoung as the seven Twice members. Park then announced that he would be increasing the size of the group from seven members to nine by adding Tzuyu, who was the “audience’s pick” since she was the most popular contestant by the show’s end, and Momo, who was added by Park himself since he felt the group needed someone with Momo’s performance abilities. The decision was controversial at the time with many people complaining about eliminated contestants being able to join the group.

On October 7, 2015, JYPE launched the band’s official website and announced via SNS that the group would debut with the extended play (EP) The Story Begins and single “Like Ooh-Ahh”. The track was described as a “color pop” dance track with elements of hip-hop, rock, and R&B. The composition team included Black Eyed Pilseung, known for composing successful releases such as Miss A’s “Only You.” The album and the song’s music video were released on October 20. The group held a live showcase the same day, where they performed all tracks from the EP. The music video hit 50 million views on YouTube within five months of their debut and became one of the most-viewed debut music videos for any K-pop group. On December 27, the band performed a remix version of their single “Like Ooh-Ahh” at SBS Gayo Daejeon, Twice’s first-ever attendance on a year-end music program.

Twice’s second EP, Page Two, was released on April 25, 2016. The album includes title track “Cheer Up”, a remake of Park Ji-yoon’s “Precious Love”, and “I’m Gonna Be A Star”, which served as the theme song for Sixteen. Twice won their first music program award with “Cheer Up” on May 5, on M Countdown, exactly one year after the initial airing of Sixteen. This was soon followed by wins on Music Bank and Inkigayo. By August, Page Two had sold over 150,000 copies, making Twice the first girl group having a sales record of more than 100,000 units that year.

In celebration of Twice’s first anniversary since debut on October 20, the group unveiled their new song “One in a Million” from their upcoming third EP, Twicecoaster: Lane 1, through a live broadcast on V Live. Twicecoaster: Lane 1 and the music video of pop dance song “TT” were released online on October 24. “TT” became the first music video by a K-pop female act to surpass 200 million views.

On November 11, the music video for “Like Ooh-Ahh” hit 100 million views on YouTube, making Twice the fourth K-pop girl group to reach 100 million views, as well as the first K-pop group to reach this milestone with a debut music video. On November 19, Twice’s “Cheer Up” won Song of the Year at the 8th Melon Music Awards. It was then followed by another Song of the Year award at the 18th Mnet Asian Music Awards on December 2.

On January 10, JYPE announced Twice’s first solo concert tour within just a year and four months after debuting in October 2015. The three-day sold-out concert titled Twice 1st Tour: Twiceland – The Opening was held on February 17–19 at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium. A tour across Thailand and Singapore was also held after the first stop in Seoul. After the Korean leg of the concert tour, Twice released a special album on February 20 titled Twicecoaster: Lane 2, along with its lead single, “Knock Knock”. It is the reissue of Twicecoaster: Lane 1.

Twice launched their Japanese website and other social media channels in early February. On February 24, they officially announced that their Japanese debut with a compilation album titled #Twice was set on June 28, 2017. On May 15, Twice released their fourth EP titled Signal with the lead track of the same name produced by Park Jin-young. This marked their first collaboration with Park. The EP contains six tracks, including “Eye Eye Eyes” co-written by members Jihyo and Chaeyoung, and “Only You” written by former Wonder Girls’ member Ha:tfelt.

On June 14, Twice digitally released “Signal (Japanese ver.)”, along with the short version of its music video, as a preview and countdown to their Japanese debut album release. A week later, they released the full music video of the Japanese version of “TT”. They officially debuted in Japan with the release of #Twice on June 28. It consists of ten songs including both Korean and Japanese-language versions of their first five singles. On July 2, Twice held their two-part debut showcase titled Touchdown in Japan at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, attended by a total of 15,000 people. #Twice debuted at number 2 on Oricon Albums Chart with 136,157 copies sold within seven days since its release. On October 18, the group released their first Japanese single, “One More Time”. The single achieved the biggest first-day sales and became the fastest-selling release of any South Korean girl group in Japan. Both #Twice and “One More Time” earned Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

Twice released their first full-length Korean album, Twicetagram, on October 30 with its lead single titled “Likey”. The music video for the song was filmed in Canada in early September. “Likey” was composed by Black Eyed Pilseung and Jeon Gun, and was the group’s fourth collaboration with Black Eyed Pilseung. Several composers and songwriters participated in the album including the Korean members of Twice as lyricists and former Wonder Girls’ member Hyerim who co-composed the eighth track titled “Look at Me”. The album and its lead single debuted atop both Billboard’s World Albums and World Digital Song Sales respectively—the group’s first number 1, making Twice the first female K-pop act to lead on both charts. They also rose on the Heatseekers Albums as the album debuted at number 10, one position higher than Signal’s peak at number 11. The Christmas-inspired reissue of Twicetagram, titled Merry & Happy, along with its title track “Heart Shaker” was released on December 11, 2017.

On November 16, it was officially announced through a press conference in Tokyo that the group would debut on the 68th Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the top-rated annual year-end musical show in Japan produced by NHK. It was held live at NHK Hall on December 31, where Twice performed “TT (Japanese ver.)”. They were the first Korean artist to attend the event in the last six years and the fourth K-pop group after TVXQ, Kara and Girls’ Generation.

Twice’s second Japanese single titled “Candy Pop” was released on February 7. The group also embarked on their first concert tour in Japan titled Twice Showcase Live Tour 2018 “Candy Pop”, starting on January 19 in Aichi Prefecture. On April 9, they released their fifth EP, What Is Love?, with the single of the same name produced by Park Jin-young. Twice’s third Japanese single, “Wake Me Up”, was released on May 16 and Twice 2nd Tour: Twiceland Zone 2 – Fantasy Park began in Seoul on May 18–20. The concert tour attracted over 90,000 fans in six cities across Asia.

Twice performed a cover of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” as the theme song to the Japanese film adaptation of Sensei Kunshu. The song was released as a digital single on June 15, along with the music video. A second version of the music video featuring the cast of the film was released on June 26. In July, an expanded reissue of What Is Love? named Summer Nights, along with its title track “Dance the Night Away” written by Wheesung, was released.

On September 12, Twice released their first Japanese studio album BDZ. Its lead single of the same name was pre-released as a digital single on August 17. It was followed with their concert tour named Twice 1st Arena Tour 2018 “BDZ”, beginning in Chiba on September 29. They released their sixth EP Yes or Yes on November 5.

With wide recognition and popularity in the general public and big fan base that resulted to consecutive hit singles, Twice has been dubbed as the [new or next] “Nation’s Girl Group” and “Top-trend Girl Group”. The group was also praised for its teamwork with unique charms and individuality among the members. Their “addictive with the repeated and cute killing part”, the highlight or point choreography, including “shy shy shy” line in “Cheer Up”, “TT pose” in “TT” and “jjirit jjirit” (“tingling tingling”) in “Signal” became dance craze and viral meme and was imitated by many celebrities. Male acts typically dominate physical sales due to large fan bases, but Twice has been able to surpass gender and age boundaries as their second EP became the 5th highest selling K-pop album of 2016. Twice also topped the list of Korea’s most popular music video on YouTube for two consecutive years with “Cheer Up” (2016) and “Knock Knock” (2017).

Twice ranked second in the top ten artist of Gallup Korea survey for three consecutive years. In 2016, the group was included in Variety’s Youth Impact Report 2016, an annual list of young actors, digital content creators, musicians, and other artists who have made an impact on showbiz over the past year. They ranked at number 54, the only K-pop group in the list. In 2017, Twice was included in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity, ranked third over-all and first among recording artists. They also appeared in 18th place and the only Asian act on Billboard’s 21 Under 21 2017: Music’s Next Generation, an annual ranking that highlights some of the world’s most powerful young voices across various musical genres, taking into consideration their popularity, creativity, and social media impact.

During the 2017 South Korean presidential election, candidate and now elected president Moon Jae-in from the Democratic party and candidate Yoo Seong-min from the Bareun party both used Twice’s song “Cheer Up” with modified lyrics as their campaign jingles.

In Japan, Twice debuted in June 2017 with events such as KCON, debut showcase and Hi-Touch. According to local shows and interviews, the group became popular even before its official debut, especially among female teenagers, because of the presence of the Japanese members—Momo, Sana and Mina—as stated that “fans can relate and feel close [to them]”. NHK News ran a feature about the group, centered on how it is mending relations between the two countries, Japan and South Korea. Japanese daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun called Twice as the “new protagonist in the dominance of Japan’s Korean wave content market”, while Korean press remarked that the group is “reigniting the heat of K-pop in Japan”. In November, Twice ranked second on Oricon’s Breakout Artists of 2017. They also became the first overseas female artist to achieved triple crown for rookies on the 50th Oricon Annual Ranking. Twice achieved first place for rookie artist total sales in 2017, which reached 1.54 billion yen, as well as No. 1 among albums and singles for #Twice and “One More Time” respectively.

It was also reported that Twice is the biggest contributor of the rise of JYP Entertainment’s stock, which increased in value by a factor of seven in less than three years. Since the group’s debut in 2015, it rose from ₩4,500 to ₩31,400 in 2018.

Even before the official debut of Twice, the nine members signed contract as exclusive models for school uniform brand Skoolooks, alongside Park Jin-young. By December 2015, Twice had signed ten CF contracts, totaling earnings of KRW1.8 billion. By February the next year, they had one of the fastest growths in the advertising industry as the group’s rate for endorsement hit 200 million won for 6 months and 300 million won for a year.

Twice is one of the celebrity endorsers of Lotte Duty Free. They also collaborated with shoe company Spris and created their own shoe brand called “Twice by Spris”.

In early 2017, Twice was selected by beverage maker Donga Otsuka to promote the company’s flagship sports drink Pocari Sweat on its 30th anniversary. They became the first-ever idol group to model for the iconic drink product. Pocari Sweat recorded 100 billion won sales for the first half of the year, a 10% raise compared to the previous year.

As of 2017, Twice has represented about 30 different brands including cosmetics, clothing, online and mobile games, foods and beverages, credit cards, and more.

Twice’s first TV commercial in Japan for Ymobile was aired nationwide from February 2, 2018, incorporating a pop arrangement of “Y.M.C.A.” and “TT pose”.

Twice received its first-ever nomination and award at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards with the Best New Female Artist award, followed by another New Artist Award at the 2016 Golden Disc Awards.

In 2016, Twice won its first music program award with “Cheer Up” on the May 5 episode of M Countdown. The group also won several main and grand prize awards including Song of the Year with “Cheer Up” in two major music awards shows, Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. In 2017, “Signal” from their fourth extended play of the same name achieved Twice’s second Song of the Year award at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, making them the first artist to consecutively win the grand prize. With a total of 36 music program trophies in 2017, Twice recorded the most wins received in a single year. By May the following year, they became the first artist to win seven consecutive Triple Crowns on Inkigayo. Twice received their third consecutive Song of the Year award at the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards with “What Is Love?” from their fifth extended play of the same name, making them the first group to win the award for three consecutive years.

Source: wikipedia