You may have already heard the good news: Twice broke free from the kpop 7-year crisis! The contracts in the kpop industry usually last for 7 years, and in many cases some (or all) the members of a group decide to leave the agency once this contract comes to its end. Thankfully our girls broke this curse! Every single one of them decided to stay at JYP Entertainment, and even better than this, they announced a new album right away!! 

A success story.

Source: Channel Korea - Sixteen's Winners (before they became Twice)

It all began 7 years ago, 9 talented girls won the kpop survival show “Sixteen”. These rookies debuted a few months later under a name: Twice. And their first song Like Ooh-Ahh became an immediate success. Their fame kept on growing over the years with cute titles such as Cheer Up, Likey, or TT. And the group later switched to a more mature concept with Alcohol-Free and The Feels. Just a few months ago the girls even performed in the Tokyo Dome for 3 days, with a cumulated audience of more than 150 000 fans! This sets up a new record for a kpop girls group's venture in Japan. 

The girls do not plan to stop anytime soon and after all these record-breaking exploits they remain on the forefront of JYP's new strategy to cater to the American market. 

About the album

After their successful English debut with “The Feels” chances are that their next album will also be in English, however after embrassing a more mature style for the past year they seems to turn back to their basics for the next album. The teaser image reminds us of their debuts, we can see their theme colours and name of their fanbase (Once). As some netizen said: “It is the most Twicey comeback of Twice.”

The album is called Between 1&2, it symbolise the love between Twice and their stans that allowed them to keep working together. You can preorder it from the 26th of July 2022. And if you can't wait until then, you can find all their previous albums and official merch here, and their latest Japanese comeback below!

Twice - 「Celebrate」 (Official MV)

Will The Girls Go Solo?

Nayeon, the lead vocalist of the group has already successfully launched her solo career with her mini album Im Nayeon. Her title track Pop! debuted at the 7th position in the Billboard 100! It is a first for a female solo kpop artist, her album was the best-selling album of the week in the US on the last week of june. And her exploit trascended the world of kpop as she also achieved the best selling week for an album by a woman in the U.S. in 2022!

Nayeon - Pop! (Official MV)

After such a success we can safely assume that other members will go solo sooner or later, the real question is “who will be next?". Our best guess would be Jihyo. She has been a trainee for 10 years and one of the leaders of Twice for the last 7 years. Her versatility and popularity, especially abroad make her the best candidate for the next solo debut. But all of this is nothing but speculations, time will tell! In the meantime you can all admire the song she made for the OST of Twenty Five Twenty One.

 

 

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Source Links:

Billboard
https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/nayeon-no-1-top-album-sales-chart-1235111945/
https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/twice-announce-mini-album-between-1-and-2-1235113301/ 
JYP
https://twice.jype.com/Default/NoticeView?AnSeq=3735
NME
https://www.nme.com/news/music/twice-agency-jyp-entertainment-announces-full-scale-us-expansion-3182579
The Musical Universe
https://themusicuniverse.com/twices-jihyo-releases-first-solo-single/